My Baby (Temptations song)
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“My Baby” | |||||
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Single by The Temptations from the album The Temptin' Temptations |
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B-side | "Don't Look Back" | ||||
Released | September 30, 1965 | ||||
Format | 7" single | ||||
Recorded | Hitsville USA (Studio A); August 4 & August 11, 1965 | ||||
Genre | Soul | ||||
Length | 3:05 | ||||
Label | Gordy G 7047 |
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Writer(s) | Smokey Robinson Ronald White Pete Moore |
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Producer | Smokey Robinson | ||||
The Temptations singles chronology | |||||
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"My Baby" is a 1965 hit single recorded by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label. Written by Miracles members Smokey Robinson, Ronnie White, and Pete Moore and produced by Robinson, the song was a top 20 pop hit in the United States, and a top 5 hit on the R&B charts.
An extension of the theme from the group's #1 hit "My Girl", which had been released the previous December, "My Baby" features The Temptations, with David Ruffin on lead, bragging about the qualities of a special lady. Ruffin praises his woman's hairstyles ("hair soft like a baby lamb/and I love to run my fingers through it") and personality ("the gold in her personality/could set Fort Knox to shame"), and hopes that "she digs me the way I am/but if I have to change/you know I'm gona do it for my baby".
"My Baby" was a notable attempt to create an uptempo danceable number for the Temptations; all of their previous Top 20 hits to this point had been either ballads or mid-tempo numbers. The single immediately following "My Baby", "Get Ready", followed the same plan, and was produced with an even faster tempo and a brassier arrangement.
Unusually for Temptaitons singles, "My Baby's" b-side, the Paul Williams-led "Don’t Look Back", was a minor hit in its own right, becoming a top 20 R&B hit and serving for several years as the Temptations' live-show closing number.
[edit] Credits
- Lead Vocals by David Ruffin
- Background Vocals by Eddie Kendricks, Melvin Franklin, Paul Williams, and Otis Williams
- Written by William "Smokey" Robinson , Ronald White, and Warren Moore
- Produced by Smokey Robinson
- Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers.