"Where Were You When I Needed You" by The Triplets

   Hello friends! It’s the beginning of the month, and with that, another overlooked song and corresponding review has been posted on the ever lovin’ blog! Today’s tune should’ve had a shot at the hot 100, but as it remained an album cut, most pop music fans never heard it. Stay tuned for Latin American sisters The Triplets, and their 1991 tune “Where Were You When I Needed You”.

“Don’t bother cryin’, don’t bother crawlin’… It’s all over now, no use in stallin…”

Diana, Sylvia, and Vicky Villegas, actual triplets who hail from San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, first made waves in the U.S. by winning the 1986 MTV Basement Contest for their song “Boys”, which led to a contract with Elektra Records and the release of an English language EP entitled “Break the Silence”.

The sisters’ first full length album, 1991's “… Thicker Than Water” (yes, the album’s official name begins with the ellipsis, but I will omit that for the ease of reading throughout this article) contained “Where Were You...”, a cover of a minor top 40 entry by The Grass Roots (US #28) from 1966. 

Written by the songwriting team of P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri, “Where Were You” is a “kiss off” to a prior lover that the singer wants no part of anymore. The song is a bit deceptive, because Diana, Sylvia, and Vicky harmonize sweetly on the track, but there exists an anger and frustration toward the former love interest that bubbles just below the pop sheen.

I was expecting that this tune would be the follow up single to the girls’ US #14 uptempo charter “You Don't Have to Go Home Tonight”, the only sizable hit from this LP, but the remake was destined to remain an album cut.

“The love I once felt, I don’t feel anymore for you… this time, I’ll even open the door for you.”

I had no idea this was a cover when I first heard The Triplets LP playing in store at the Square Circle record store at which I was a cashier. Even though I was well versed in “oldies” pop tunes by this time, and I was already a fan of The Grass Roots, especially “Midnight Confessions” (#5 / ‘68) and “Temptation Eyes” (#15 / ‘70), I had never heard the original version of “Where Were You”. XTRA 104 (my local oldies station) wasn’t playing this lower charting single, so as a result, the very first version of the song I heard was courtesy of The Triplets. So even though I have since learned of the song's history, my ears still hear their version as the “original”.

“Livin’ with you, is worse than without you, I won’t spend a lifetime worrying about you…”

Interestingly enough, "Where Were You" was also covered by The Bangles as the B-side to their 1984 single "Hero Takes a Fall". Had I heard the Bangles recording first, I certainly would have assumed that The Triplets were covering Suzannah Hoffs and her bandmates! On a related note, I’d love to hear the Villegas sisters cover the Bangles’ hit “Walking Down Your Street”. That would be cool.

So take a listen below, and enjoy the beauteous Villegas sisters’ rendition of this overlooked ‘60s pop nugget. And be sure to check back in about two weeks, when the Dial will bring you another classic tune that is rarely heard anymore - a late ‘80s summertime party jam that unites a then-contemporary hip hop act with a pioneering ‘60s pop and rock group. But you gotta wait until the review is posted!

Kyle’s Radio Dial… the more you listen… the MORE you remember!

“Where were you when I needed you…

Where were you when I wanted you…

Where were you when I needed you…

Where….”