Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DII--The Temptations: Get Ready

This tardiness will just not do....

While I am certain that I'd heard this week's featured tune numerous times in the past, it was its inclusion in a Motown documentary (Hitsville:  The Making of Motown--well worth the watch) that my youngest son and I watched on Showtime at the height of the pandemic shutdown that made me cock my head and think, "How the hell did I never notice how great this song was?"  As the saying goes, better late than never....

I wrote about The Temptations in Jukebox, Vol. CCCXVIII and as nothing new has happened to the band in the last three and a half years, I'll let that bio stand--other than to note that founding member Otis Williams (the only surviving original member) still takes The Temptations out for a dance move or two on the oldies circuit.

"Get Ready" was the first single released from their 1966 LP, the rather elongated entitled Gettin' Ready.  The single would reach #29 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100 (#1 on the R & B singles chart), while the album would peak at #12 on the Billboard 200.

Fun Fact:  The band Rare Earth recorded a twenty-one-minute cover version of "Get Ready" which was edited down to 2:46 for a single released in 1970.  Their version would climb to #4 on the Billboard singles chart--if I had a guess as to why it charted higher than The Temptations version, my guess would be that at the time, rock and roll was still king....

A man is in love, and he's absolutely, positively going to make the girl of his dreams love him, too. Written and produced by Smokey Robinson, "Get Ready" packs as much into two and a half minutes as a music fan could ask for.  From Eddie Kendricks wondrous falsetto to the rest of the band's empowering backing vocals, from the horn section (listen for a wicked, wailing short trumpet solo) to the playful nature of the lyrics, Robinson and the Temptations make musical magic, Motown style.  Another in a long line of songs that makes me go, "Yup, this is why I devoted so much of my life to music."  Just a compelling and stunning effort.

Lyric Sheet:  "So, fee-fi-fo-fum/Look out, baby, 'cause here I come..."

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CXCIII--Smokey Robinson: Being with You

This week's tune was released just a short while after I began managing my first Camelot Music store, and not only did it teach me that the business end of music was often forgettable, but it also taught me that music artists can make some serious magic when they combine the best of pop with the best of soul.  The first lesson probably explains why I never made it to Executive Vice President (there was a lot more to it than that...), while the second led me to many a fine R and B tune over the course of my life.

William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. has been in the music business longer than I've been alive.  Starting out in my adopted hometown of Detroit, Michigan in 1955, Robinson began making music when he was still in high school with The Five Chimes, who eventually became the much better known the Miracles.  In 1957 Robinson met one Berry Gordy, who helped him and the Miracles release their first single ("Got a Job"), and it would lead to one hell of a collaboration.  Between 1960 and 1970, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles would release 26 singles that reached the top 40 (including Motown's first million selling record, "Shop Around").  When Robinson wasn't writing songs for the Miracles he kept plenty busy writing hit songs for other Motown artists--"My Guy" for Mary Wells, "My Girl" for the Temptations, and "I'll Be Doggone" for Marvin Gaye, among many others.  In the early 1970's Robinson departed the Miracles to focus on his duties as VP of Motown, but eventually returned to music and went solo, and while not quite having the success he did with the Miracles, did pretty darn well for himself (including winning his only Grammy Award).  He last released an album in 2014 (the obligatory--these days--duet album) which reached #12 on the Billboard 200.  Robinson was elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 (though, oddly, the Miracles weren't until 2012), and also elected into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 1989.

"Being with You" was released in 1981 on his appropriately enough entitled LP, Being With You.  It would go on to reach #2 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.  Surprisingly, for all the hits Robinson has had throughout his career, he's only had one #1 single--the classic "Tears of a Clown."

Fun Fact:  Robinson got his nickname from a favorite uncle who used to take him to cowboy movies (which Robinson loved) when he was a child.  The uncle wanted to give him a cowboy name and came up with "Smokey Joe."  Eventually Robinson dropped the Joe and just became Smokey.

Somewhat like last week's (yesterday's?) tune, there's a subtlety to "Being with You" that's easy to miss at first listen.  With Robinson's silky smooth vocals and a dreamy melody, one could easily mistake the song for a walking on the beach, holding hands with the wind in our hair kind of love ballad.  Alas, this one's about a man whose friends are warning him about the woman he's crazy about, but he doesn't care because he likes being with her (thematically, it's somewhat similar to Wilson Pickett's "When a Man Loves a Woman"), and he's willing to give them up rather than lose her.  Robinson shows a maturity as a songwriter, though, as the protagonist does wonder whether he's been made blind by love, and if he's being a fool.  There's some nice saxophone work throughout, Robinson coos wondrously in the background (one could probably write a post just about Robinson's vocals--a gift from the gods of music), and even some twenty-six years into his career, he can still write a tune that you'll be singing and humming for days.  While Robinson has had any number of singles that could be called classics, this one is a nice reminder that although artists get older, they can still make a little magic.

Lyric Sheet:  "Or can it be, that like love I am blind?/Do I want it so much 'til it's all in my mind?"

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee