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Tamla T 54109 (B), November 1964
B-side of Come On Do The Jerk
(Written by Smokey Robinson)
Stateside SS 377 (B), January 1965
B-side of Come On Do The Jerk
(Released in the UK under license through EMI / Stateside Records)
As if to purposely show up the throwaway nature of the A-side, Come On Do The Jerk, Motown chose to pair the Miracles’ latest, weakest single with this, another beautiful, previously-shelved Smokey Robinson ballad. If it’s not quite the sound of Smokey and the Miracles at their best, Baby Don’t You Go is at least the sound of Smokey and the Miracles getting back to what they do best, which is almost as good.
Originally cut back in early 1963, this is very similar – in tune and tone – to Mary Wells’ lovely What Love Has Joined Together, produced and co-written by Smokey and recorded a couple of months before this one. While the Miracles would eventually turn in their own radically revised reading of the Mary Wells song in 1970, this one is actually closer to what a Miracles cover “proper” of What Love Has Joined Together might have sounded like. Which is to say, it’s lovely.
Sure, it’s got a simpler, blander chorus than What Love Has Joined Together, meaning Smokey doesn’t have to choose whether to attempt Mary’s incredible game-winning bounce up the scale on the word “love” (a bounce the Temptations and Brenda Holloway both shied away from, pulling up just before the jump, and which just doesn’t feature in the Miracles’ own rewritten 1970 rendition).
It’s more streamlined than What Love Has Joined Together, more direct; I’d guess it was chosen for these qualities, so as not to scare off easily-spooked Jerk fans while gently exposing them to the genius of Smokey Robinson and what he could do when he was allowed to write a proper song instead of a lunkheaded dance rocker – but had people really not heard much of the Miracles by the end of 1964?
Whatever the reason, I’m very glad this was resurrected. It’s a very pretty song, full of angst and longing while carrying a nice tune. It’s got all sorts of things to recommend it: a tremendously likeable vocal from Smokey (he spends a lot of his time in a quavering falsetto right at the top of his range, but there’s a slight rasp of pain, emotional and physical, in his voice throughout, seemingly right on the verge of cracking all the way through), clever use of loungey horns, lots of attention-grabbing dead air stops, and – most winningly of all – a great unexpected break at 1:35, when Smokey slips from harmonic crooning to proper heart-on-sleeve pleading –
No matter what you do
No matter what you say
Do me wrong, but STAY
– the tremulous wobble as he belts out the word stay is remarkable.
Left on the shelf for more than eighteen months before its unlikely rescue, Motown promptly forgot this song as quickly as they’d retrieved it from the waste bin, and it didn’t resurface for thirty more years. But while I’d never group it in with the Miracles’ best work, it’s a surprising song, unexpectedly intense despite its intentionally small scale, not to mention it being a nice twist on a previous success. Most of all, after the bland rock-out blind alley of the A-side, it’s just good to hear the Miracles back on something like their usual form.
MOTOWN JUNKIES VERDICT
(I’ve had MY say, now it’s your turn. Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment, or click the thumbs at the bottom there. Dissent is encouraged!)
You’re reading Motown Junkies, an attempt to review every Motown A- and B-side ever released. Click on the “previous” and “next” buttons below to go back and forth through the catalogue, or visit the Master Index for a full list of reviews so far.
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.. and we’re beginning to see what Smokey can do with an interjection…. nice to think that those lovely cries ‘oh baby oh’ are going to be transcendentally transformed into the imprending miracle (yes, they earned their name) of ‘Ooo baby baby!’
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First off, I want to admit, those looking for Smokey with his poet’s cap securely on his head, are never going to list this one as their favorite, but I don’t think that’s why it exists anyway. Maybe anyone at the company could have wrote it, but only one man was ready at that moment to sing it.
According to the great book of information included with the Miracles 35th Anniversary set, “Baby Don’t You Go” was recorded March 6, 1963, so Smokey, according to Wikipedia, would have only been newly 23. With this record, I think he (maybe deliberately) set himself a laryngeal obstacle course that he could only ace -and does- while he was still a young man. While in many areas of “Ooo Baby Baby,” the same is true, after about age 30, there’s a time limit when any falsetto singer, no matter how great, could hit all the notes, all the way through. No set of vocal cords stay at their supple prime forever.
That’s a key reason I like this so much, give it an 8, and am glad it got itself to tape and vinyl when it did. Poetry or not, nobody does bended-knee desperation better than Smokey Robinson. The record conjures a semi-iconic image of breaking up-lovers, one near prostrate on the floor, grasping the departing leg of the other.
And yet, it’s not really happening; the lyrics are permeated with “if.” Apparently, this relationship is not in trouble, and Smokey, perhaps because things are going so wonderfully is, in an idle moment, indulging the fear of what could devastate it. There’s an honesty in that too; when love is new and so totally blissful, lone moments occasionally foster scary fantasies of ‘what’s going to take this away from me?’
The great Pulitzer winning columnist Leonard Pitts -for years earlier, a rock and roll reporter- once wrote about trying to explain “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” to his young son. His son didn’t understand how any man could beg a woman not to leave him. Leonard replied, “Sometimes the begging is the best part.” He’s right; in select circumstances, it’s not unheard of for groveling to contain a concomitant, if paradoxical, sense of exaltation.
I love the song, and there was some shrewd marketing at work here too. Thanks to Smokey, the b-sides of both Gordy 7037 and Tamla 54109 were rendered must-have Motown singles, long after any dance craze became a relic, or even an embarrassment. But, like “That Day When She Needed Me,” “Baby Don’t You Go” too was consigned to limbo with the inauguration of Motown’s Yesteryear oldies label in 1972. It never appeared on any vinyl LP (and no CD until February 1994), but was well worth hunting a remaindered, drill-holed 45. I’ve had my current copy of it since November 1977, and treasure it.
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Of course age takes its toll – but I find it (not to overwork the adjective) pretty miraculous to hear Smokey’s ever-poignant falsetto (with the tremulousness Steve noted perhaps slightly enhanced) in such gems as the recent ‘Don’t Know Why’ and ‘Time Flies’ – the former song also giving us yet another memorable incarnation of the forlorn and bemused lovelorn soul of some of his best songs. Beautiful essay, Dave L, fully worthy of its subject! – By the way, I also first came to know this song through a second-hand 45…
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Great commentary Dave L
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Begging is a staple in male R&B singing. No one begs better than Smokey. This is Smokey at his begging best. I never get tired of listening to this track.I would have loved to see him sing this live on the chitlin’ circuit. My rating = 8/10
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A very good, heartfelt ballad by Smokey deserving of a “7.” It also seems to me to be the basis of his best ballad still a few years away. (Hint: similar titles!)
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This song is really the precursor of OOO Baby Baby, think it is written in the same key, at least when I worked it out on the piano. Always gets a play when I am listening to music, one of my favorite Miracle records of all times, and I had my copy since 1979.
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One of the most played tracks for me on the 35th Anniversary Set. At the time of that sets release, mid 90’s R&B was drowning from all of the boy bands that were cousins of Boys To Men. Not that they are in the top 250 all time R&B male vocal groups themselves. The bad news is that these fellows sold boatloads of units compared to what their counterparts in the 60’s did. Which to me does not speak to the quality of the productions, just the state of music at that time. But anyone who could right now name 10 of those groups in a minute, has my respect. My point being that I would use this track to support my argument that a throwaway track from the Miracles is far better than most of what was current and high on the charts at the time. With a little more TLC, this song ,”could have been a contender”. As it is I give it an 8. If we continue the comparison to “What Love Has Joined Together”. Mary Wells version was nice, but not on the same planet as the Temps. Too bad Smokey did not have someone revisit this song, the bottom line is that it is a very good song.
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Completely agree with you Henry!
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This song reminds me of a Keith Sweat song. The reason it does is because Sweat is the first man I can recall hearing begging on the radio & begging is exactly what Smokey is doing on this record! Lol
I must add he does a fantastic job. I love the subtle quality his voice had during this era. If I was the object of his affection I wouldn’t let him go. He’s very convincing! Lol
The first time I listened to this song I thought this should have been the A-side, but wising up it was a smart move to release the dance record. I bet this song was a good basement slow dance song though lol.
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I always had the feeling that this was an old track. I figured it was recorded during the “Whatever Makes You Happy” sessions (“Mickey’s” flip). It sounds like the same musicians anyway.
It was also a regional double-sider so the mystery was how this song just disappeared without a trace. Was it too new to be on “Greatest Hits From The Beginning”? Was it too dated to be included on “Going To a Go-Go”?
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