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Tamla T 54113 (A), March 1965
b/w All That’s Good
(Written by Smokey Robinson and Pete Moore)
Tamla Motown TMG 503 (A), March 1965
b/w All That’s Good
(Released in the UK under license through EMI / Tamla Motown)
For all the fabulous records Smokey Robinson had written and produced for other people in 1964 – of which million-selling classics My Guy and My Girl, which bookended the year, were only the tip of the iceberg – his own group, the Miracles, had been through something of a quiet twelve months.
Of the four singles the Miracles had released in ’64, none had been a big hit; the understated but lovely I Like It Like That had only managed to scrape the pop Top 30, and the public had been underwhelmed by the rest of the group’s efforts, with good reason; Smokey’s star was in the ascendant as a writer-producer, but his career as a performer had yielded three decidedly sub-par non-classics (You Can’t Let The Boy Overpower The Man In You, That’s What Love Is Made Of and Come On Do The Jerk) that no-one would be putting in the Smithsonian any time soon.
But that was then, and this is now. After an unusually low-key start to the new year, the early spring of 1965 saw Motown pack the schedules with hot new 7″ releases from its big guns, on both sides of the glass. Both Smokey and Holland-Dozier-Holland were well-represented in the run, which presented listeners with Martha and the Vandellas’ Nowhere To Run, the Supremes’ Stop! In The Name of Love, Marvin Gaye’s I’ll Be Doggone, and new 45s from the Temptations and Stevie Wonder just round the corner, all within five weeks of each other. Talk about your Golden Age right here.
As a writer and producer, Smokey’s position in the “A” crowd was safer than ever; but as a performer, he must have known the Miracles would have to up their game to remain part of that conversation. He’d have noticed the Marvelettes, the company’s first stars, not being included in the new wave of releases by the supposed top-drawer acts (in fact, they’d have to wait seven long months between singles, and we won’t be meeting them until we get to May), while Mary Wells, wracked with TB, couldn’t buy a hit over at Fox. If the Miracles were to avoid the dreaded fate of – whisper it, blasphemer! – irrelevance, they’d have to cut a song as strong as the ones Smokey had been so readily giving away.
They called it Ooo Baby Baby, and it’s magnificent.
I CAN’T GIVE UP HOPE
Considering Smokey Robinson’s place in history was already assured, that he’d not want for work again even if he never stepped up to another mic in his life, it’s exceedingly lucky for us that he still felt the need to do more as a singer, that he apparently either loved to sing or had a point to prove. It’s lucky because Motown – heck, because the world – had precious few vocalists as talented as Smokey. Here, he gives probably his best performance to date, a textbook exercise in how to do howling pain when you can’t actually howl, keeping his beautiful falsetto, well, beautiful.
The “quiet storm” label wasn’t applied to Robinson’s work for several years, but it surely applies here; never possessed of a thousand-megawatt voice, he learned at an early age to use his high, soft, trembling tone to more devastating effect, building tension and then landing the killer blow – and this is surely his greatest vocal so far. As a writer and producer, he’d pioneered the matching of not only tone but also metre and scansion to the individual strengths of his artists’ voices; now, he sits down and thinks what he’d do with himself, how he’d react if 25-year-old pop singer Smokey Robinson walked into his own studio. What song would he write for that voice?
The results are nothing short of spectacular, and they nail me right in the heart every single time. Words are elongated, stretched, twisted, smeared together, the boundaries between lines are blurred and sometimes even completely painted over. Without ever sounding as though he’s lost control, without ever relaxing his grip, he throws open curtains, lets the light flow through windows we didn’t even know were there before. What he’s doing here is new, as though he’s suddenly discovered some vast, hitherto-unexplored territory between lead vocal and harmony, between singing the lyrics and singing a scale, and the highlights are many and thrilling.
I can’t possibly pick my favourite moment from the record – the leap of faith on “I’m just a-BOUT-at / the END of my… rope”, maybe? ‘Cos I-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i be-LIEVE, one day…, with the “I” panelbeaten into some bizarre and unexpected shape? Or possibly the genuinely astonishing pre-chorus refrain: when Smokey sings I’m crying, there’s a tiny rick in his voice – a hiccup, a teardrop caught in the throat, bouncing right up his range during the syllable “cry”, not on the syllable but during it – before the bow-legged descent to finish the line ready for the first Ooo. Remarkable enough the first time I heard it, before I even realised John Lennon had copied it directly for I Am The Walrus.
At a Q&A event in a high school classroom later in the year, Berry Gordy was asked by one of the students: “How do you find guys like Smokey Robinson?” His reply was curt: “You don’t find guys like Smokey Robinson.”
THREE VOWELS
If it’s most unlike Smokey for him to have written a song with an onomatopaeic title, using a word that isn’t really a word, well, it’s entirely appropriate in this instance, because nothing could better represent this song than that little string of O’s.
With the departure of Singin’ Sammy Ward from the Motown roster, and before we meet Marv Johnson again, the Miracles were now the sole survivors from Motown’s earliest days, the days of scrounging around for work and money, sleeping in cars, eating cheap food, delivering records to stores by hand; the days before Hitsville was even Hitsville. They survived not only because of Smokey, but because they were a great vocal group in their own right, the company’s only real mixed-gender vocal act until the arrival of the Elgins (although the Four Tops and their longstanding partnership with the Andantes should really be counted too).
Claudette, Ronnie, Pete and Bobby were capable of bringing the house down with or without Smokey; with him, they sounded like nobody else at Motown or anywhere, a kind of residual echo of the space-age doo-wop sound of 1961 that had somehow soaked into the very walls of the studio when the Miracles sang together, infusing every Smokey vocal with the spirit of those hardscrabble early days, or rather the purity and desperation of hope from the time when the biggest challenge at Motown was keeping the lights on.
For the group to use that here as an instrument in its own right – on a song featuring none of Smokey’s usual trademark wordplay, a song that just carves away the flesh and leaves the heart exposed – is just another sign of the talent we’re dealing with; a throwback to the days of doo-wop, but with a sound so bang up-to-date that many people have found the whole thing so sensual, so sexy, as to be irresistible, despite it being a self-loathing plea made from a desperate place. It’s never struck me like that, the pain is too close to the surface, but I can see how this could have soundtracked any number of dimly-lit parties and bedroom encounters over the years, provided people were dazzled by the beautiful hooks and didn’t accidentally listen to the lyrics.
Here, the biggest vocal hook isn’t a word at all, it’s a sound. In what feels like a million different configurations, Smokey and the Miracles find ways to turn an ooooh into an overture, a rhythm bed, a plaintive cry for help, a rueful, ruminative sigh, and a sexy, gasping caress, all using just one letter of the alphabet.
That’s some songwriting alright. Smokey (and Pete, who cops a co-write here following his similar turn on the storming but lyrically-wretched I’ll Be Doggone) do their best MacGyver job: armed only with a noise and two back-to-back repetitions of the most hackneyed, overused word in pop music, their strange alchemy takes that distinctly unpromising base metal and turns it into gold. I’m not sure anyone else could have done that. Not with these ingredients.
It can’t get a ten, because those are only given out to my agonisingly-chosen and set-in-stone Top 50, and this is quite literally number 51 on the list; there are Miracles songs that, deep down, I like better than this one, and eventually, through countless, endless whittlings-down of the final fifty picks, in the end Ooo Baby Baby proved less painful to eject this from the playlist than some of my 10s. (You may be spluttering with rage depending on your opinion of those which have already been awarded at this one’s expense). But if you were to argue this was the Miracles’ best record, never mind your favourite? I couldn’t really put up much of an argument.
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.
(Or maybe you’re only interested in Smokey Robinson & the Miracles? Click for more.)
Marvin Gaye “You’ve Been A Long Time Coming” |
The Miracles “All That’s Good” |
DISCOVERING MOTOWN |
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Blank Frank said:
Nixon, beautifully well considered and written, thank you. I don’t mind taking a few bullets for my opinion, but as much as o love the vocal performance, the poor recording/ harsh compression of the backing track has always left me cold and has always made this one tough sledding for me. For years I’ve looked for a cleaner sounding version – and now I’m resigned to the fact that no matter how much, no one can change the laws of recorded sound.
So unfortunately, this one can get no higher then a “7” for me.
OK, the bullet-proof vest is on!
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Blank Frank said:
** I love** damn iPhone!
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Dave L said:
I don’t even have that good excuse, and I’ve cringed and noticed many of my own errors: a missing ‘a,’ ‘an’ or ‘the,’ and I think my most frequent mistake is mixing ‘how’ and ‘who’ or ‘put’ and ‘but’.
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Damecia said:
lmao! you guys are spot on with problems typing with a smart phone.
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Dave L said:
It’s a masterpiece, was and always be.
It’s a record from a time when no one imagined sex, romance and love separated from one another. People didn’t cruise the internet for partners with the only mystery being who would ‘host,’ didn’t think in terms of ‘hookups,’ or ‘friends with benefits.’ The ‘sexual revolution’ and ‘liberation’ that was just explosively around the corner was going to be -ultimately- very expensive.
But romantics, to this day, still somehow manage to survive which assures me this record always will too. Maybe it’ll always be a tougher task depending on any further coarsening of society, but it’ll always win some new audiences as long as human beings seek love, and especially seek forgiveness when they’ve wronged a loved one.
Your ‘9s’ are as thrilling as your ’10s,’ so don’t trouble about it; like Wanda’s round with “Forever,” this is 9 that dents the ceiling.
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Damecia said:
LOL I always love your commentary = )
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Nick in Pasadena said:
This one merited my meager allowance money in 1965 and, I remember at that time, I wasn’t sure why. It didn’t sound like any of the other Motown or Miracles records at the time, and as I was just a young kid with no experience yet in the perils of romance, I couldn’t exactly identify with Smokey’s pain. Something, however, must have caught my attention. It didn’t get much rotation on my record player that year, but over the years I grew to love it. I think a “9” is acceptable for this one, although a “10” certainly wouldn’t have surprised me.
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John Plant said:
Ah, Steve, I was on the verge of forgiving you everything! – It’s a beautifully written post, almost doing justice to this song (perhaps only John Keats could do that )- but this is my FAVOURITE Motown song, edging out even ‘Heat Wave’, ‘Reach Out’, ‘I’m Losin’ You’ and Smokey’s other innumerable masterpieces – the melisma on ‘I feel one day I’ll hold you near..’ is, I think, the most beautiful in all pop, surpassing even those of Otis Redding in ‘A Woman, a Lover, a Friend’ and Aretha Franklin in ‘Goin’ Down Slow.’ My only quibble (apart from the 10) concerns the self-loathing – I hear the heartbreaking remorse, but not self-hatred – this is the song of a man who intends to set things right, and has belatedly (but please, not too late!) discovered oceans of tenderness which he never dreamed he possessed. Glad you caught the Walrus echo! I remember the first time I heard what is still my favourite Beatles’ song, and was thrilled by the echo of Smokey – mixed in with the bits of King Lear. (Digression: – I played the extremely nasty character Oswald in King Lear at university – and it’s Oswald’s death scene which is going on the background of Walrus….) – Anyway I would rather have your penetrating analysis than the validation of a long-held conviction; and I know no two pantheons can be identical. (I remember being taken aback at Dave Marsh’s estimable book on the top 1000 singles: at the very top of the list was Marvin Gaye’s ‘I Heard it Through the Grapevine’ – and that’s not even my favourite version of that SONG.
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Damecia said:
Great John!
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Landini said:
Very nice record – beautiful song – good review Mr. Nixon. I have some thoughts … I agree this was a definite throwback to the doo wop era yet brought up to date with a sophisticated production. To me, this record at first listen doesn’t sound like a typical Motown song of that period. To some ears this song may have even sounded a bit old fashioned. Also, most of Motown’s hits up to this point were mid to up tempo songs. (in fact, some of my friends still refer to any upbeat soul song as “Motown”. Oh well!) I believe this song may have single-handedly helped influence the later sweet Philly soul of the Delfonics, etc. It is hard to imagine “La La Means I Love You” without this song coming out first (not that “La La” is a copy but there is a definite influence there). Also, I could maybe picture Little Anthony & the Imperials doing this song. I know that Smokey/Miracles later did a nice job on Little Anthony’s “I’m On the Outside looking in”. I also wonder if Motown/Smokey’s successes helped encourage Anthony to update his group’s sound, resulting in their mid-60’s hits.
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
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Robb Klein said:
One of my favourite Miracles’ cuts. I’d give it a 9. It’s not quite perfect, but very, very good. Yes, it’s a type of ‘throwback” to the “Bad Girl” style, but with a modern background.
I doubt that this song had an effect on Little Anthony’s new style, it it was released AFTER The Imperials had already started working with Don Costa, and his big orchestration, and after already recording several of their new style cuts, including “I’m on The Outside Looking In”, “Please Go” and several others. Now, Costa and Little Anthony couldn’t have been totally unaffected by what Motown had been doing (and The Miracles were one of the main exponents of “The Motown Sound”. So, it’s probably true that The Miracles’ earlier songs had some effect on Little Anthony’s new style. Motown DID push pop and Soul music towards a new sound during 1964-66.
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Damecia said:
Lmao! you’re friends made me laugh with the Motown reference to any uptempo songs.
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Mickey The Twistin' Playboy said:
I agree. It’s doo-wop and sweet soul all rolled into one track. “Oooh, la la la laaaa!” This is arguably Motown’s ultimate bump and grind, slow drag, record. I wonder how many kids were conceived as a result of their parents getting into a “mood” while listening to this? lol! The lyrics and arrangement conjure up images of house parties, blue lights in basements, and teenage lust. My favorite Miracles single.
Rating: 10/10
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I LOVE THE SUPREMES AND TEMPTATONS said:
Oh man… Probably my favorite Miracles song
8/10
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Rob Green Nashville TN said:
Agree with Frank, the recording quality is unfortunate, even worse is the stereo version, it’d be great if it could be remixed and cleaned up, if that is possible. This was done on some earlier tracks a few years ago but they stopped short of the material on the “Going To A Go Go” album.
I’ve been listening to this track for 47 years and never tire of it, but then again The Miracles have always had a special place in my heart. The double Lp “Greatest Hits From The Beginning” gets a lot of play around here!
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Ron Leonard said:
Thanks again another eloquent review! The Drums at the very beginning of “Ooh Baby Baby” sets the mood!! This for me is only heard on the single version. Absolutely love this!! Also, another great B side coming up some time and it’s from the ” Going To A Go Go”..Choosey Begger”!!
Happy Thanksgiving to all my Motown friends!
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Dave L said:
Yes, that is worth pointing out; only in the mono version do the drums crisply crack open the song, whereas the stereo version doesn’t sound nearly as confident it even wants to ‘come in.’ The same trouble can be found in the difference between the mono and stereo versions of The Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”; the alarmed, no-bullshit opening guitar licks, in the stereo version jump left, right and back again in somebody’s idea to be gimmicky. Bad decision.
Going To A Go-Go, proudly, was the first Miracles LP to climb all the way into the Top Ten of Billboard’s Pop album chart. It didn’t hurt that it carried both sides of all their four 1965 singles, but the four ‘filler’ cuts easily shame limp outings like “You Can’t Let The Boy Overpower The Man In You” and “Come On Do The Jerk.”
There’s “Let Me Have Some,” “From Head To Toe,” and Frank Wilson’s “My Baby Changes Like The Weather,” which I’ve no doubt Smokey fell immediately in love with. Read any Smokey quote about life with Claudette in these years, and he’s always mentioning her changeable, hot & cold Gemini personality, and “Weather” speaks directly to that. Smokey sells it to the last note. And “In Case You Need Love” is grinding, muscular and defiant, and would have made a sturdy single in its own right. Still a powerfully good album, 47 years later.
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John Plant said:
The record sleeve photo awakes waves of nostalgia – in buying this glorious LP I feel that the kernel of my nonclassical collection was established. I already possessed the Supremes WDOLG, the Beatles’ so-called Second Album (with She Loves You), Dusty Springfield’s first, Dylan’s Another Side of B.D., the first Stones, Otis Redding’s Soul Album (simply because I was seduced by the beautiful cover – what splendid instinctual luck!) – and yes, soon to be supplemented by the double LP with the sunset on the cover – and two or three Joan Baez albums, the first chink in my classical armour – Henceforth Motown was to cohabit joyfully and promiscuously with Mahler, Mozart, Verdi, Stravinsky. The ‘Going to a Go-Go’ is surely one of Motown’s very great albums, with 4 hits (of which at least three are 10s for me), the heartbreaking ‘Fork in the Road’ , the impudent ‘In Case You Need Love, and the sweet pastoral satisfaction of ‘Choosy Beggar….’ My sister Mary would repair the most yawning gap in this shining nucleus by giving me The Temptations Sing Smokey for my next birthday… Thank you again, Mary!
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Mary Plant said:
You’re very welcome! I do love this whole album – and I’ve been thinking a lot about the contrasts in it – from completely joyous – the title track, In Case You need Love – tot he completely heartbreaking – this song, Tracks of My Tears, My Girl Has Gone. The whole album is completely amazing. Having listened to the vinyl to the point where it was just about transparent, I went on line and found it along with Away We A Go-Go on one cd – causing me to completely rethink my aversion to on-line shopping!
As for the song – it’s wonderful – love the jazzy overtones, the beautiful lyrics, the singing, and everything. I totally agree with the 9 – hope you’re saving the ten for The Love I Saw in You Was Just a Mirage!
Blank Frank & Dave L – this post would be a lot less readable but for wonderful spell check!
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!
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144man said:
One of the few Motown hits not to have a fadeout ending.
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John Plant said:
And what a glorious ending it is! Similarly satisfying is the closing chord of ‘The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game’ – and I remember being bitterly disappointed when it was replaced with a fade in the Anthology LP set. (Since rectified on CD).
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144man said:
I think the only other Miracles’ single not to have a fadeout is “Yester Love”.
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Tom Lawler said:
One of my favorites from The Miracles – I love doo wop, as well as soul/funk/R&B, so this hits the sweet spot for me. The strings are pure heaven, as are the vocals.
It took me awhile to tweak the stereo version to have the “snap” opening of the mono version – but the stereo version has an openess to it that I love, especially with headphones. Since most people heard the songs on AM radio or jukeboxes, mixing for stereo was an afterthought (the Stereo Motown Box tries to correct it – since I didn’t grow up with owning the 45’s, I like the newer versions, but my older friends swear by the original mono 45 mixes).
Great review, as always – I’d give it a 10, but The Miracles are my favorite Motown group, so I am a bit biased.
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Rupert Kinnard said:
This is one of Smokey’s masterpieces and deserves no less than 10 stars!
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Damecia said:
Steve D I have nothing to say except man I wish you would’ve gave this a 10, but I understand your personal system. Well written review….IMO one of your best!
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Damecia said:
Oh yeah forgot to mention I really love Linda Ronstandt’s version of this song. IMO she did a great job of covering it.
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W.B. said:
I’ve long considered this version by The Miracles to be, to quote a modern-day vernacular, “da bomb”; while the blogster may’ve given it a 9 rating, it would make 10 if only compared to Ms. Ronstadt’s cover which I’m not all that enthusiastic about.
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The Nixon Administration said:
Thanks WB! I always like it when people give their own marks.
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jyx95k said:
Magnificent Smokey: It’s a 10 in my book. There is one greater Smokey record, but that won’t come until 1967 (and it’s not ‘Tears Of A Clown’)
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Roy M. said:
OOO Baby Baby is my all time favorite song. I would have to give it a “10”.
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Kevin Moore said:
>”before I even realised John Lennon had copied it directly for I Am The Walrus.”
Ha! I listened before I read this, and when I heard that oonnection, and checked the two tracks against each other, I decided I’d better not add a comment because people would think I was crazy, so I was thrilled to find it in the essay. I feel much less nuts now. Of course, maybe it’s just that you’re also nuts, but there’s comfort in numbers, and knowing how huge a Smokey fan Lennon was, I’m pretty sure this is almost as conscious a reference as “rather see you dead little girl” from Elvis’s “Let’s Play House” (now, if you want to talk misogyny, there’s an example that makes Marvin seem like saint), or “here’s come old flat top” from Chuck Berry.
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Double O'Soul said:
Count me in as “spluttering with rage” that ANY Supremes song would be higher on your list than this absolute gem. It’s pop music-making at its finest (slightly muddy production values aside). The drums, the vocal performances, the words — perfection. 10 out of 10 for me ….
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Z-Man said:
As I approach 70, there is no slow song that takes me back to my first love–Donna Miller– like this song. From the very beginning I am transported back to Boulevard Dance in Philadelphia and wrapped around the sweetest youing lady of my youth. That is the legacy of Motown. A label with artists, writers and of course musicians that were unsurpassed in making growing up at this time something that can never be duplicated. Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson were twin geniuses and thank God their music was there when I was “coming of age”.
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Joseph Piggott said:
Hey sir/madam
I am making a shirt skate film and I would love to use the song “ooo baby” from the 1965 record ‘going to go-go’ by the miracles. Who would I need to talk about to have permission to use this song.
Yours kindly
Joseph Piggott
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