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Gordy G 7047 (A), September 1965
b/w Don’t Look Back
(Written by Smokey Robinson, Pete Moore and Bobby Rogers)
Tamla Motown TMG 541 (A), November 1965
b/w Don’t Look Back
(Released in the UK under license via EMI / Tamla Motown)
I don’t really get what’s going on here.
Smokey Robinson and his Miracles bandmates had written two of Motown’s biggest and best hit singles of 1964 – the Temptations’ My Girl and Mary Wells’ My Guy – and so I suppose it made sense to try and mine that seam a bit further. It’s easy to understand the reasoning; this was probably commissioned as a mashup of the two similarly-themed and similarly-titled records, equal parts “Girl” and “Guy”, the combination even resulting in a gender-neutral title. In fact, the result is far closer in tone and sound to My Guy, rather than the Tempts’ own legendary 45, but even that makes sense if you think about it; the group that sang “Girl” now, effectively, sings a variation on “Guy”. Fair enough. I get that part.
What I don’t get, though, is: …why now?
Sure, I could understand Motown (and Smokey) striking while the iron was hot, greenlighting this as a response either to Mary Wells’ controversial walkout or to the million-selling success of My Girl. Motown, after all, were never shy about pushing “soundalike sequels” hot on the heels of big hits; by adopting the maxim that one should never mess with a winning formula, they could almost always rely on a big hit being followed by another decent-sized hit. Money in the bank. But a year and a half had passed since Mary’s big smash and subsequent departure, while the Temptations had already issued two absolutely magnificent follow-ups to My Girl, both of them penned and produced by Smokey, the group building their legend with the excellent It’s Growing and the even better Since I Lost My Baby.
After three slowies, perhaps someone wanted to see the Temptations cut a more upbeat 45 to reinvigorate their live sets, but riffing on My Guy after all this time seems a strange idea at best. The iron was decidedly cold, and yet for some reason either Motown or Smokey decided now was a good time to give it a good ol’ bash anyway.
My Baby is on a hiding to nothing, then, right from the get-go; not only will it invariably (and unfairly) be compared with not one but two masterpieces, it’s also being set up for a fall by comparison to Smokey and the Temptations’ other collaborations as well. Expectations are sky high, too high for anyone to possibly hope to meet, and when the record turns out to be a nice enough diversion, a passable, sweet little snack of a single rather than the all-but-announced gourmet banquet for the senses, the disappointment feels even sharper than if this had just arrived as an unheralded stopgap 45 between albums.
The problems with My Baby run too deep to be easily fixed, then, and they start with the very concept. Having written two timeless musical poems of love and romance, songs that will in all likelihood long outlive anyone reading this blog, the idea of trying to take the best parts from each of them and shuffle them around to come up with a “new” third song was somewhat redundant to begin with – and Smokey doesn’t seem to have been particularly interested in that task anyway, of which more in a moment. But perhaps more importantly, Motown should have learned by now that lightning only strikes once; deliberate attempts to recapture the spontaneous, once-in-a-lifetime joy of a record, a record that only sounded that way by accident because everyone involved was in the zone, just never really work. (Ask the Contours, for instance.)
And without that spark, this just never comes close to having the impact of either of its forebears. Where we imagined Mary Wells bumping into passers-by as she skipped along the street surrounded by cartoon love hearts, or David Ruffin mocking the very forces of nature for their inability to break love’s spell, both swept along on a majestic, unstoppable tide of everlasting love, well, how does My Baby set out its stall? What’s the initial pitch our hero makes, taking on the almost-impossible task of convincing us, the listener, that that was mere child’s play, and that this is the real deal?
(deep breath, and…)
“Whose hairstyles are out of this world?
Whether it’s straight, or bouffant, or it’s curled?
(My baby! Pretty baby!)
Hair soft like a baby lamb
And I love to run my fingers through it…”
Yep – having come up with some of the most evocative, most enduring imagery in the history of the love song, the first and best thing this follow-up can tell us about the girl who supposedly occupies the narrator’s every waking thought, the girl of his dreams, the girl he can’t live without, is that she has hair.
Interesting thought here: neither My Girl nor My Guy spend much time actually telling us anything about the girl and the guy. Despite the titles, both those songs are about the narrators, and the way the girl/guy makes them feel. As soon as you start getting into specifics, you’re venturing away from the universal, narrowing your song’s appeal; and if you shift the focus to the guy/girl anyway (but stay away from describing this otherworldly creature, this eternal love of yours, in physical terms), you end up with a mush of platitudes. The second verse sticks out for this – Her personality contains more gold / Than any bank in the world could hold, our hero says, and then never follows it up with any kind of an explanation – I can’t take his word for it, especially since the subsequent lines are just full of more gold-based puns (“no guy’s gonna stake his claim…!”) before we get back to her appearance again. The sweetest part (and not at all coincidentally, I think, the part which most closely resembles those earlier masterpieces) comes at the end – she’s got his mind in a haze, got him walking around in a daze – which, briefly, I can believe.
So, it’s not another My Girl or My Guy. What is, it then? In short, it’s a nice, bouncy little record, a small-scale vignette unfairly saddled with a big fanfare of unrealistic expectation. One of Mary’s proposed follow-ups to My Guy was a lovely, springy number called When I’m Gone, left manifestly unfinished by Miss Wells’ unexpected departure from Motown, the backing track later “spruced up” (some might say burdened) with big string overdubs and generally more of an A-side treatment in a revised version by Brenda Holloway. My Baby, though, sounds like an evolution of Mary’s original version of When I’m Gone, with the same flex and snap and bounce.
The whole thing just rolls along like a happy cloud; so long as you’re prepared to ignore the lunkheaded words, the vocals themselves are lovely (the song may be nonsense, but the Temptations are clearly having a ball singing said nonsense, and the vocal melody in the verses is one of Smokey’s prettier contributions.) It’s not as taut as When I’m Gone, the whole thing coming uncomfortably close to a juddering halt as the chorus loses its way, meandering down a musical dead end which Smokey can only resolve with something approaching a complete dead air stop – but one more of those “doorbell” jingles and barrelling drum rolls, and we’re straight away back in business. It’s not enough to make me forget the second-rate lyrics, or the creatively bankrupt concept that got us here in the first place – but it’s nearly enough to make me want to forgive them. Nearly.
Is it a worthy follow-up to either My Girl or My Guy? You’d have to say no. Is it a worthy continuation of the recent glorious string of Temptations singles? Again, surely the answer would be no. But for all of that, is it a bad record? Of course it isn’t.
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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| The Miracles “Since You Won My Heart” |
The Temptations “Don’t Look Back” |
DISCOVERING MOTOWN |
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…I promise this blog isn’t just going to be me saying “It’s not great, but it’s not awful. 5/10” for another eight years.
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Don’t worry. We eagerly anticipate every new review, for each song is unique and, therefore (though it may not seem like it to you), gets a unique and witty review. Just keep on walking, don’t look back. (Couldn’t resist, can’t wait.)
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Reading your assessment gave me a major case of deja vu. I remember thinking the exact same thing when this record came out 38 years ago! Why do a “My Guy” and/or “My Girl” knock-off at this point? Sure, the Temps’ two previous singles didn’t match the success of “My Girl,” but they weren’t bombs either. And this thing, nice as it is, certainly wasn’t going to equal the success of that classic either.
Still, I like it and have grown fonder of it over the years. I love the way it gathers momentum and builds from that overly fluffy beginning toward the group singing their “oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-I love-my baby!” refrains. This disc is another case of expectations raised far too high to realistically meet. It deserves a “7” at least.
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It’s an enjoyable record but, like you said, if you’re prepared to ignore the rather trivial lyrics. (Never really paid much attention to them.) Not the worst Tempts track but definitely not one I reach for on its own. It’s one of those that when it comes on unexpectedly I’ll smile and think “oh yeah, this song”. I’d give it a 6 but I feel like I’m being churlish in doing so. Will have to put this tune into tonight’s listening stack.
I actually prefer the B side and always have. WIll be interested in reading your take on it.
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I find the opening line rather hilarious, but endearingly so – difficult to imagine a lady navigating all those hairdo modulations with aplomb – The performance, for me, comes close to making the song credible – and certainly makes it enjoyable. But for me it is light years away from ‘My Girl Has Gone’ – not to mention the immortal ‘Since I Lost My Baby’ – both in credibility and in musical impact. I’d go for six or seven – simply because of the buoyancy and genuine good feeling which permeate the song.
It doesn’t wear out its welcome, unlike ‘Since You Won My Heart’ . Thanks, Nick, for calling our attention to those lovely cascading ‘ohs’ – one of the many fine touches which save the song from mediocrity. In the spirit of its title, I’m eagerly looking forward to ‘Don’t Look Back!’
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A solid 8 for me. Maybe this is a case of you had to be there and an impressionable 11 years old. I’ve never compared it to “My Guy” or “My Girl,” just a stand-alone Temptations single.
The record was a relief. We last left David sounding like he’d never get up again, and here he was positively bursting with renewed optimism and happy with life. The record, along with it’s more substantial (but troubled) b-side, carried us all the way to the new year.
No, it’s not “My Girl,” not “Since,” and not “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg,” but between “Symphony” and “You Can’t Hurry Love,” even the Supremes released two sturdy records that are nevertheless not the first on anyone’s list of the best from Motown’s starship group. Same with “My Baby” and “Get Ready” – two songs certainly good enough to keep the affection of fans between the pinnacles of “Since” and “Beg.” A happy go lucky confection that went down nice and smooth. 🙂
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🙂 🙂 Your final paragraph… oh my word.
I’ve often been accused of being contrary for the sake of it – which isn’t true, it’s just that as a comparative latecomer I have little idea of how my opinions stack up against the accepted majority view. However – and without going into any specifics to spoil the fun – well, If that’s an example of the accepted majority view of Motown’s upcoming story arcs, then the next eighteen months are going to make for surprising and/or frustrating reading…
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I’m with Dave here – ‘My Baby’ has been in my head all day, and if ever there was a song more than the sum of its parts, it’s this one! – There’s a deep and abiding satisfaction in the way it unrolls its cumulative treasures. It occurred to me that there’s an interesting inverse reflection of the regrettable sentiments of ‘I’ll Be Doggone’ – ‘I hope she digs me the way I am / but if I have to change, you know I’m gonna do it…’ I suspect I will have to work hard to avoid apoplexy when we get around to ‘Get Ready’, Steve, judging by your last sentence! (Please insert about twenty emoticons here expressing continued delight with Motown Junkies and with your insights, even when they clash with my own, combined with deep chagrin that some of my golden moments ring a cracked bell in the ears of one whose judgments I deeply value – and finally a Zen-like (hah!) acceptation of this gloriously complex state of affairs!)
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Well, Dave from your youthful & carefree perspective you have made the song sound better. I guess sometimes you had to be in the moment instead of being critical & analytic.
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I am in total agreement with Nixon on his assessment of “My Baby” . I bought this 45
because It was The Temptations. Not one of their best , but still good. The cool thing about 45’s is that there are 2 sides. Gordy 7047 is a good example of a great “B” side. Can’t wait to read Nixon’s next review!
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A couple of things occur to me here. One is the criticism often aimed at Motown for the follow-up syndrome (“Heat Wave” begets “Quicksand,” which begets “Live Wire”). I think it used to surface so much because Motown (and especially Holland, Dozier, Holland) were so adept at it. When Smokey tries to offer a bald-faced clone, though, (“My Girl Has Gone” is one of the more obvious, complete with solo guitar intro, but there’s also “You’re the One” by the Marvelettes), he doesn’t seem to be challenged or intrigued by the effort, so the follow-ups overall are blander. Not that they don’t have their charms. You just have to search a little harder for them.
The other thought is that, Motown being a profit-making entity, the follow-up is just part of the business plan. “The Tracks of My Tears,” now widely acclaimed as a masterwork of the rock era, initially had the same kind of chart run as “My Girl Has Gone,” with the latter placing higher on the chart but lasting fewer weeks. Judging from the responses to your essay, fewer people remember “My Girl Has Gone,” and you’re surprised that it was even a single. The same phenomenon with the Tempts’ “Since I Lost My Baby,” pretty much a masterpiece, and “My Baby,” a pastiche and a dead end. “My Baby” charted higher though over fewer weeks than its predecessor. At the time it’s safe to say that the artists, writers, and producers were thrilled with the reception of all four singles.
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Agree with this rating. I don’t understand why this passed quality control and was made a single. If anything this is definitely cutesy album filler. I could hear this song being used in one of those old school tv specials or if they appeared on a variety show.
With that said I love the orchestra mid-way thru the song and everyone one did a great job vocally. This is not a bad song, just isn’t great or memorable.
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While no “My Girl”, this song makes for a good fit into the “B” category for airplay – good every once in awhile, if only to prevent the top shelf cuts from getting burnt out.
The lyrics are a bit saccharine for my taste, but the backing track keeps it moving along so I don’t mind as much. The opening horns are especially great before the vocal kicks in.
Not my favorite, but I still nudge the volume up a notch when it comes on 🙂
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When I saw the song being reviewed, only one thing came to mind. I said I wasn’t going to do this, but when it comes to Motown s Golden Age”, I have no restraint. Picture this. Two city dwellers on holiday in a remote cabin in Upstate NY circa mid seventies. My future ex-wife becomes ill. To comfort her, I sing this song to her. This was twelve years after the song came out. Did she remember it, or was she too sick to care? This was my first time ever singing to her, but I knew that David Ruffin or Dennis Edwards had nothing to worry about as far as me replacing them. She was already sick, so I don’t think I made her sicker. But, I do remember her going to sleep, (or faking sleep), because I did stop. Sadly over the following 13 years that we were together, she never asked me to sing to her again, even though she did get sick again. My point is that the song is no frills and to the point. Even on the DVD from about 7 years ago of the Tempts performing their songs, there was not elaborate choreography, just swaying to and fro.
On to the song! When you are at work, driving in your car, or watching the telly. Look at the People of Color, what is the thing you notice about them in most cases? The hair. So the first line resonated with me, because hair is very important to us. Only Smokey could have pulled off those lyrics without getting laughed at…or laughed at too much.The arrangement is in a swinging, cool style, sung the same way. It is confident and assured. How many ladies at the time wished they were who David was singing about. What surprised me at the time was to see that William Robinson, wrote and produced it, it was unlike anything else he had done up to that point that I was aware of. It is a 6 for me.
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Although this song isn’t nearly as good as the other Temptations songs around it, it’s still very listenable and likable. Therefore, I’d give it a weak “7”.
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Surely one measure of great artistry is to take what might otherwise sound totally naff & make it sound great! The Tempts could sing the phone book & put it over; not the best song but the great performance makes it very memorable, 7 or 8 for me!
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Hi Gang,
A little late for the party. Okay a major dissenting voice here. I absolutely love this record. I can understand people’s opinions having it follow several “classics” but still there is just something about this record that I love. Some awesome harmonies & call & response. This record might have gotten more attention if perhaps it had been done by another group – maybe a Non-Motown group. This sounds more like an R&B record with Motown trappings.
With the Temptations, I feek like Motown had to walk a fine line – appealing to crossover fans but not alienating the more hardcore R&B fans.
In some ways, I think of this record as “My Girl” for the more hardcore R&B fans. I imagine this is a great song to dance to (maybe one of the few Motown records that could quailty as “Beach Music”)
I think this song works very well as an album track especially on its excellent parent album. I actually broke down & purchased a copy of “Temptin” because I realized I didn’t have this particular song in my collection.
On a more serious note, plesae keep us here in the Maryland/DC area in your thoughts & prayers with yesterday’s shootings at the Navy Yard. One of my best friends used to work in that very building several years ago & he has already lost one former colleague & friend.
Thanks friends!
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Okay, so the song won’t be considered the Holy Grail and the lyrics can at times be trite but remember something. With today’s music a lot of times i find myself taking a chance when purchasing cds based record reviews in magazines and newspapers. I havae to do it this wat because new acts get NO airplay. Theres no room because all of the Mariahs and Alicias and Gagas take it all up. So i have to base my opinion of the product going in blind.
Back in 1965 there was a lot more airtime so chances were very good you would hear the product as soon as it came out. Since the slant then was what was “Happening Now” a lot of us were hot on the latest product. I said all that to say that we didnt first heard “My Baby” we didnt sit around and say “It ain’t no ‘My Girl’ but i’ll take it”. No. It was a new tune by The Temps and wed judged it on its own merits.
And to Henry—good call on the whole hair thing!
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“Both sides of this are as good as each other in my opinion. My Baby follows the tradition of My Guy and My Girl in a finger-popping bounce vein, and has that typical Temptations’ sound and feel running all through it. 4/5
“Paul Williams takes the lead on the flip which is (and I might be wrong in this guess) a number that seems to have been recorded a little while ago and saved till now. I might be wrong, but it has all the touches of their first LP on which Paul took lead on many of the numbers. 4/5
“Yet another two numbers written by the Miracles. Very good.”
[Dave Godin, Hitsville USA 10, 1965]
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oh but i of my favorites by them, I only wanna know who was the lead singer??? Help! doesn’t sound like David??? con’on help a sister out somebody!! I could swing off this song FOREAL!!!!
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Check again–it is David.
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you sure????? listening I thought maybe Paul???
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If you can’t believe your ears, trust your eyes 🙂
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First, of all, THIS video proves nothing, because the music playing is an alternate version of the song. Secondly, David is lip sinking to it. But the lead voice on this version, and ALL versions of the song I’ve ever heard., was always clearly David – without a doubt. And the lead never sounded, even remotely, like Paul.
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OMG!!!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!! AND YOU FOR CLAIRFIYING IT FOR ME!!!!! I never seen this before and like my cd, played this over and over!!!! ….cause I love this song!!!!!!!!!! I have the cd in my car on REPEAT! The memories!!! .Thank You sooooooo much for this! Baby David was something else indeed!!!!!!!!! …..ok gotta go so I can replay this video!!! THANKYOU AGAIN SOOO MUCH!!lets stay in touch!!!
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Lip-syncing or not, this is a thrilling, breathtaking, moving video…and in my opinion the choreography makes a very strong case for the song! We’re missing you, steve, and longing for your take on Fading Away! Hope all is well!
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