The 1960s File Feature
Follow Your Heart
Follow Your Heart: The Manhattans and Early Soul on Carnival Records "Follow Your Heart" by The Manhattans represents one of the earliest chart entries for a…
01 The Story
Follow Your Heart: The Manhattans and Early Soul on Carnival Records
"Follow Your Heart" by The Manhattans represents one of the earliest chart entries for a vocal group that would go on to become one of the most consistently admired soul ensembles of the late 1960s and 1970s. The single's modest appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1966 marked an important early milestone for both the group and for the Carnival Records label that released it, signaling that the New Jersey-based quintet had the commercial potential to break through on a national scale.
The Manhattans formed in Jersey City, New Jersey, in the early 1960s. The original lineup included George "Smitty" Smith as lead vocalist, along with Winfred "Blue" Lovett, Edward "Sonny" Bivins, Kenny Kelly, and Richard Taylor. Smith's warm, expressive tenor was the group's primary commercial asset during their early years, and his delivery on "Follow Your Heart" demonstrated the emotional directness that would come to characterize the group's approach to soul music throughout their career.
The group signed with Carnival Records, a small independent label based in Newark, New Jersey. Carnival was one of dozens of regional soul and R&B imprints operating in the mid-1960s, competing for attention in a market dominated by larger operations such as Motown, Stax, and Atlantic. The label had limited distribution resources compared to those majors, which meant that charting even modestly on the Hot 100 required strong airplay in specific regional markets where the record had managed to penetrate.
"Follow Your Heart" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 1, 1966, entering at number 96. The following week it climbed to its peak position of number 92, representing a modest but genuine national chart presence for a group that was still establishing itself beyond its regional base of support. The single spent exactly two weeks on the Hot 100, which while brief, was sufficient to register the group in the national consciousness of soul music listeners and industry observers.
The record performed considerably better on the R&B charts, where it reached higher positions and attracted more sustained airplay. This pattern, in which R&B chart success preceded or exceeded Hot 100 performance, was common for soul acts on independent labels in the mid-1960s, reflecting the segmented nature of American radio and the slower pace at which records from smaller labels could spread beyond their core markets to crossover audiences.
The Manhattans continued recording for Carnival through the latter half of the 1960s, gradually building a catalog of soul recordings that earned respect for their emotional depth and harmonic sophistication. The group developed a reputation for ballads in particular, establishing a style that drew on the deep soul tradition while also incorporating elements of the emerging Philadelphia sound. When lead singer George "Smitty" Smith passed away in 1970, the group faced a significant transition, ultimately introducing Gerald Alston as his replacement.
The group later signed with Columbia Records, where they achieved their greatest commercial success, including the number one Billboard Hot 100 hit "Kiss and Say Goodbye" in 1976, one of the best-selling singles of that year. That eventual mainstream breakthrough made the early Carnival recordings including "Follow Your Heart" all the more significant in retrospect, as documents of the formative period when the group was developing the musical approach that would sustain a career spanning more than three decades.
The production of "Follow Your Heart" reflected the sonic conventions of mid-1960s soul, with the kind of tight rhythm section, lush string-influenced arrangements, and close vocal harmonies that defined the genre at a time when it was still defining itself against the backdrop of earlier rhythm and blues and gospel traditions. The song's arrangement gave Smith ample space to demonstrate the full emotional range of his voice while keeping the ensemble sound coherent and accessible to mainstream radio audiences.
Looking back, "Follow Your Heart" occupies a modest but meaningful place in the broader story of American soul music, representing the kind of regional independent label recording that collectively built the infrastructure of a genre and career-launched artists who would later achieve major commercial recognition.
02 Song Meaning
Romantic Sincerity and the Soul Ballad Tradition in "Follow Your Heart"
"Follow Your Heart" by The Manhattans operates within a specific and well-established tradition of soul music: the romantic ballad that counsels trust, emotional courage, and the willingness to commit fully to love despite its inherent uncertainties. The song's central message is delivered with the earnest directness that characterized the group's vocal style, and the thematic content places it firmly within the emotional landscape that soul music was mapping in the mid-1960s, when the genre was asserting its capacity to speak to universal human experiences of love, vulnerability, and hope.
The title phrase itself is a familiar cultural instruction, but the song gives it specific weight by embedding it within the context of romantic commitment. The call to follow one's heart rather than succumb to doubt or caution is presented not as a naive sentiment but as an act of genuine courage. Soul music of the mid-1960s frequently explored this territory, framing romantic love as a domain where authentic selfhood could be discovered and expressed, in contrast to the social performances demanded by the wider world.
The vocal performance by George "Smitty" Smith is the primary vehicle through which the song's meaning is communicated. His tenor carries the emotional urgency of the message, translating what might otherwise read as a simple platitude into something that feels genuinely felt and personally meaningful. This was the essential skill of the great soul vocalists of the era: the ability to inhabit a lyric so completely that the listener experiences it as testimony rather than performance.
The harmonic texture created by the full group also contributes to the song's meaning in important ways. The interplay between Smith's lead and the supporting harmonies of the ensemble creates a sense of communal affirmation, as though the message of the song is not simply one person's romantic advice but a shared understanding among a group of voices who have collectively arrived at the same conclusion. This communal dimension was central to the gospel roots from which soul music drew so much of its expressive vocabulary, and it gives "Follow Your Heart" a warmth and depth that extends beyond its romantic subject matter.
The production framing of the song, with its characteristic mid-1960s soul arrangement of rhythm section, backing vocals, and lush harmonic support, places the emotional content in a setting designed to heighten its impact. The musical context signals to the listener that what follows is sincere and emotionally significant, priming the interpretive frame through which the words are received. This relationship between musical setting and lyrical meaning was a foundational technique of soul music production throughout the decade.
Considered within the early career of The Manhattans, "Follow Your Heart" also reads as a statement of artistic identity. The group was in the process of establishing what kind of vocal ensemble they wished to be, and the choice of a sincere, emotionally direct ballad as an early chart entry signaled a commitment to the deeper, more introspective end of the soul spectrum rather than the more uptempo, dance-oriented direction other groups were pursuing. That choice would prove to define their legacy, as their later recordings confirmed a consistent dedication to emotional authenticity over commercial calculation.
→ More from the 1960s File
View all 1960s hits →
Keep digging