Don't Look Back (The Temptations song)

"Don't Look Back" is a 1965 song recorded by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label. The flip side to their Top 20 hit "My Baby", "Don't Look Back" broke out and became a hit among the R&B audience on its own, reaching #14 on the R&B charts. Considered one of original lead singer Paul Williams' showcases, "Don't Look Back" was regularly employed as the closing number for Temptations live performances. Although the original flip side, "My Baby", was initially more popular with pop audiences at the time, over the decades, "Don't Look Back " has proven to be the far more popular and enduring tune, having inspired cover versions by Al Green, Bobby Womack, Peter Tosh & Mick Jagger, The Persuasions, and Teena Marie. It was also performed by the group on The Ed Sullivan Show . There are no known cover versions of "My Baby".

Written by Miracles members Smokey Robinson and Ronald White, the authors of the #1 Temptations hit "My Girl", "Don't Look Back" is a reassurance to the tentative that finding true love is worth the heartbreak and failed relationships it takes to reach it. As the song's narrator, Paul Williams promises his lover, in his trademark gritty tone:

If you just put your hand in mine

We're gonna leave all your troubles behind

keep on walkin' and don't look back.

Smokey Robinson, the song's producer, specifically assigned Paul Williams to sing lead on the song. Although Williams had been the group's original lead singer during its formative years, his role had by 1965 been eclipsed by David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks, who had both sung lead on Temptations hit singles. As such, Williams was often overlooked for leads, even on album tracks and b-sides, prompting him to complain, "shit, y'know, I can sing too!"

In fact "Don't Look Back" was originally this single's A-side but was passed over by the nation's DJ's in favor of the Ruffin led "My Baby", which indeed had a much bigger pop success than this song, and placed on the B-side. The song nevertheless was promoted as if it were an A-side, and would the only b-side to chart in the Hot 100 for the group (but would miss the Top 40 as it peaked at #83).

Interestingly, although the song's relatively modest initial chart success prevented Paul from getting any more leads on Temptations singles releases, the fact is that "Don't Look Back" actually became a huge belated hit, because his dynamic performance of the song on the Temptations Live! lp received huge airplay by R&B DeeJays nationwide, and propelled sales of the album into the Top 10 of the Billboard Pop album chart. Both sides of the single would receive a 2nd pressing and the tracks remixed, with the following statements added on: "Taken from the album #G 914 The Temptin' Temptations." With the 2nd printing, the sides were reversed , making "My Baby" the A-side, while 'Don't Look Back, the original "A"-side , was relegated to "B" side status.*

• • (Reference,"Ain't Too Proud To Beg : The Troubled Lives and Enduring Soul of The Temptations"- by Mark Ribowsky (2010) Pgs. 144-145).

"Don't Look Back" was more often performed at Temptations live shows than My Baby. In fact, on the 1967 Temptations Live! album, the women in the audience can be heard demanding that the group perform the song, which they proceeded to do. Paul Williams, who developed many of The Temptations's dance steps, developed a routine for the live shows that had him following the song's advice to "keep on walkin'" and performing a strut across the stage, to the delight of the audience.

As Paul Williams' specialty number, "Don't Look Back" was retired from The Temptations' repertoire after Williams, suffering from complications of sickle-cell disease and alcoholism, was forced to leave the group in 1971. The group did perform the song at their induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a tribute to Williams, along with Darryl Hall and John Oates who announced the induction.

Peter Tosh scored a minor hit in 1978 with a reggae version of the song, sharing vocals Mick Jagger on the song. This version bore the modified title "(You Gotta Walk And) Don't Look Back".^[1] Tosh had previously recorded the song with The Wailers in ska style in 1966.

Phil Collins recorded a cover during the sessions of his 2010 album Going Back

Personnel

• Lead vocals by Paul Williams
• Background vocals by Eddie Kendricks, Melvin Franklin, David Ruffin, and Otis Williams
• Written by William "Smokey" Robinson and Ronald White
• Produced by Smokey Robinson
• Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers.

Chart history

References

1. ^ Joel Whitburn, Top Pop Singles 1955-1999 (Menomonee Falls, WI: Record Research, 2000), 658.

• Williams, Otis and Romanowski, Patricia (1988, updated 2002). Temptations. Lanham, MD: Cooper Square. ISBN 0-8154-1218-5.
• Williams, Otis and Weigner, Harry (2002). My Girl: The Very Best of the Temptations (Compact disc liner notes). New York: Motown/Universal Records.

External links

• "Don't Look Back" - Original Studio Version
• "Don't Look Back" - Live Version