Last Time I Saw Him (song)

"Last Time I Saw Him" is the title of a 1973 single release by Diana Ross, being a composition by Michael Masser and lyricist Pam Sawyer: the track was produced by Masser and released in December 1973 at the same time as Ross' Last Time I Saw Him album.

Original version

Michael Masser had also composed and produced the precedent solo Diana Ross single "Touch Me in the Morning", a dreamy ballad which had hit #1, but "Last Time I Saw Him" took a drastically different musical direction: AMG would note that on the "arguably campy" last-named track, arrangers Michael Omartian and Gene Page "throw in everything but the proverbial kitchen sink with a score that is all over the musical map from Dixieland-band jazz to banjo-pickin' and even an orchestrated string section",^[1] while Billboard would describe "Last Time I Saw Him" as "a light romp in the Tony Orlando and Dawn style."^[2]

The song's narrator recalls how she saw her "honey" off on a Greyhound bus having given the man a large amount of money to establish future living arrangements for the two of them; six months have since passed with no word and the narrator resultantly announces her intention to go in search of her errant swain in the naive belief he has been stranded by some ill-fortune from which she can retrieve him.

Ross scored her seventh Top 40 hit with "Last Time I Saw Him", which peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1974, and a Top 20 R&B hit, where it peaked at 16. The track had its greatest impact in the easy listening market, where it was number 1 for three weeks on the Billboard Easy Listening chart. "Last Time I Saw Him" was named the biggest Easy Listening Hit of 1974.^[3]

Ross also charted with "Last Time I Saw Him" in Australia at number 18 and in the UK at 35.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Chart (1973–74)	Peak position
Australia^[4]	18
Canada	8
UK	35
US Billboard Easy Listening^[5]	1
US Billboard Hot 100	14
US Cash Box Top 100^[6]	9

Year-end charts

Chart (1974)	Rank
Australia^[4]	156
Canada^[7]	86
US (Joel Whitburn's Pop Annual)^[8]	129

Dottie West version

"Last Time I Saw Him"

Single by Dottie West

from the album House of Love

B-side

"Everybody Bring a Song"

Released

February 1974

Format

7" Single (45 RPM)

Recorded

January 1974

Genre

Country

Length

3:00

Dottie West singles chronology

"Country Sunshine"
(1973)

"Last Time I Saw Him"
(1974)

"House of Love"
(1974)

Dottie West expediently covered "Last Time I Saw Him" for the C&W market in the January 1974 recording sessions at the RCA Victor Studio in Nashville which resulted in the House of Love album produced by Billy Taylor. West's "Last Time I Saw Him" reached #8 on the C&W chart in Billboard in February 1974 marking the first time West had scored back-to-back C&W Top Ten hits, her precedent single having been her career record "Country Sunshine"; this success was followed by a progressive drop in West's hitmaking power with her longtime label RCA Victor eventually dropping her in 1976. Although West's subsequent signing with United Artists boosted her chart profile, her first C&W Top Ten hit since "Last Time I Saw Him" did not occur until 1980 when "A Lesson in Leavin'" afforded West her first #1 solo hit (four Dottie West/Kenny Rogers duets had reached the Top Ten in 1978-79 including #1 hits "Every Time Two Fools Collide" and "All I Ever Need Is You").^[9]

Charts

Chart (1974)	Peak position
US Billboard Hot Country Songs	8

Other versions

Michele Lee recorded "Last Time I Saw Him" for the soundtrack album of the 1995 TV-biopic Big Dreams and Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story in which Lee portrayed West. The song has also been recorded by Elke Best (de) (as "Du bist der Größte"), Lea Laven (as "Jää Vielä Aamuun") and Lill-Babs (as "Du alter Gauner").

References

↑ Lindsay Planer (1973-12-06). "Last Time I Saw Him - Diana Ross | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
↑ Billboard Vol. 85 No. 51 (December 22, 1973), p.56.
↑ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 210.
1 2 Steffen Hung. "Forum - 1970 (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
↑ "Adult Contemporary Music Chart". Billboard. 1974-02-23. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
↑
↑ "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
↑ Whitburn, Joel (1999). Pop Annual. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. ISBN 0-89820-142-X.
↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 379.

Diana Ross

Studio albums	Diana Ross (1970) Everything Is Everything (1970) Surrender (1971) Touch Me in the Morning (1973) Last Time I Saw Him (1973) Diana Ross (1976) Baby It's Me (1977) Ross (1978) The Boss (1979) diana (1980) Why Do Fools Fall in Love (1981) Silk Electric (1982) Ross (1983) Swept Away (1984) Eaten Alive (1985) Red Hot Rhythm & Blues (1987) Workin' Overtime (1989) The Force Behind the Power (1991) Take Me Higher (1995) Every Day Is a New Day (1999) Blue (2006) I Love You (2006) Diana Ross Sings Songs From The Wiz (2015)

Compilations	Greatest Hits (1972) Diana Ross' Greatest Hits (1976) 20 Golden Greats (1979) To Love Again (1981) All the Great Hits (1981) Forever Diana: Musical Memoirs (1993) One Woman: The Ultimate Collection (1993) Diana Extended: The Remixes (1994) Voice of Love (1996) Love & Life: The Very Best of Diana Ross (2001) The Definitive Collection (2006) The Greatest (2011) Upside Down: The Collection (2012)

Live albums	Live at Caesars Palace (1974) An Evening with Diana Ross (1977) Greatest Hits Live (1989) Live: Stolen Moments: The Lady Sings... Jazz and Blues (1992)

Soundtrack albums	Diana! (1971) Lady Sings the Blues (1972) Mahogany (1975) The Wiz (1978) Endless Love (1981)

Other albums	Diana & Marvin (1973) Christmas in Vienna (with Plácido Domingo and José Carreras) (1993) A Very Special Season (1994)

Singles (US/UK Top Ten)	"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" "Remember Me" "Surrender" "I'm Still Waiting" "Touch Me in the Morning" "All of My Life" "You Are Everything" "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" "Love Hangover" "Upside Down" "I'm Coming Out" "My Old Piano" "It's My Turn" "Endless Love" "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" "Mirror, Mirror" "Work That Body" "Muscles" "Missing You" "Chain Reaction" "When You Tell Me That You Love Me" "One Shining Moment" "Not Over You Yet"

Tours	Return to Love Tour (2000) I Love You Tour (2007-08) More Today Than Yesterday: The Greatest Hits Tour (2010-12) In the Name of Love Tour (2014)

Related topics	Discography The Supremes Rhonda Ross Kendrick (daughter) Tracee Ellis Ross (daughter) Evan Ross (son) Arne Næss, Jr. (second husband) Arthur "T-Boy" Ross (brother) Berry Gordy List of awards and nominations received by Diana Ross Diana Ross Playground

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Diana Ross singles discography

1970s	1970 "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)" "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" "Remember Me" 1971 "Reach Out (I'll Be There)" "Surrender" "I'm Still Waiting" 1973 "Good Morning Heartache" "Touch Me in the Morning" "You're a Special Part of Me" (with Marvin Gaye) 1974 "Last Time I Saw Him" "My Mistake (Was to Love You)" (with Marvin Gaye) "You Are Everything" "Don't Knock My Love" (with Marvin Gaye) "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)" (with Marvin Gaye) 1975 "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" 1976 "Love Hangover" 1977 "Gettin' Ready for Love" 1978 "Ease on Down the Road" (with Michael Jackson) "A Brand New Day" (with Michael Jackson) "Pops, We Love You (A Tribute to Father)" (with Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder & Smokey Robinson) 1979 "What You Gave Me" "The Boss" "It's My House"

1980s	1980 "Upside Down" "I'm Coming Out" "My Old Piano" "It's My Turn" 1981 "Endless Love" (with Lionel Richie) "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" 1982 "Mirror, Mirror" "Muscles" 1983 "Pieces of Ice" 1984 "All of You" (with Julio Iglesias) "Swept Away" "Missing You" 1985 "Eaten Alive" "Chain Reaction"

1990s	1990 "When You Tell Me That You Love Me" 1994 "Someday We'll Be Together" (re-mix) "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" (re-issue)/"I'm Coming Out" (re-mix) 1996 "I Will Survive" 1999 "Not Over You Yet"

2000s	2001 "Goin' Back" 2005 "When You Tell Me That You Love Me" (with Westlife) 2006 "I've Got a Crush on You" (with Rod Stewart)

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Dottie West

Studio albums	Here Comes My Baby The Country Girl Singing Sensation Dottie West Sings Suffer Time With All My Heart and Soul Dottie West Sings Sacred Ballads I'll Help You Forget Her What I'm Cut Out to Be The Sound of Country Music Country Girl Feminine Fancy Dottie Sings Eddy Makin' Memories Country and West Forever Yours Careless Hands Have You Heard ... Dottie West I'm Only a Woman If It's All Right With You/Just What I've Been Looking For Country Sunshine House of Love Carolina Cousins When It's Just You and Me Dottie Special Delivery Wild West High Times Full Circle New Horizons Just Dottie

Collaboration albums	Dottie and Don (with Don Gibson) Country Boy and Country Girl (with Jimmy Dean) Every Time Two Fools Collide (with Kenny Rogers) Classics (with Kenny Rogers)

Compilation albums	The Best of Dottie West I'd Be a Legend in My Time Would You Hold it Against Me Loving You Once You Were Mine Dottie West The Best of Dottie West Dottie West's Greatest Hits Are You Happy Baby: The Collection The Essential Dottie West Dottie West: RCA Country Legends

Notable singles	"My Big John" "Here Comes My Baby" "Would You Hold It Against Me" "What's Come Over My Baby" "Paper Mansions" "Like a Fool" "Country Girl" "Reno" "Careless Hands" "Country Sunshine" "Last Time I Saw Him" "When It's Just You and Me" "Tonight You Belong to Me" "Come See Me and Come Lonely" "You Pick Me Up (And Put Me Down)" "A Lesson in Leavin'" "Leavin's for Unbelievers" "Are You Happy Baby?" "What Are We Doin' in Love" (with Kenny Rogers) "(I'm Gonna) Put You Back on the Rack" "It's High Time"

Collaboration singles	"Love Is No Excuse" (with Jim Reeves) "Rings of Gold" (with Don Gibson) "Till I Can't Take It Anymore" (with Don Gibson) "Every Time Two Fools Collide" (with Kenny Rogers) "Anyone Who Isn't Me Tonight" (with Kenny Rogers) "All I Ever Need Is You" (with Kenny Rogers) "'Til I Can Make It on My Own" (with Kenny Rogers)

Guest singles	"There's a Story (Goin' 'Round)" (with Don Gibson) "Together Again" (with Kenny Rogers)

Related	Albums Singles Shelly West Chet Atkins RCA Victor Records Grand Ole Opry

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