Temptations – I Can’t Get Next To You

Back when I was dating…Whenever I broke up with a girl…I would drag the Temptation’s greatest hits out. I would play them for at least two weeks and wallow in self-pity…just a phase I had to go through. After that, I was ready for the next one.

In the mid-eighties, they came to Nashville when the theme park Opryland was still open. They had a theater inside the part but it was sold out. No problem…I had a friend who worked there and we borrowed his sister’s work ID that worked there also. All you had to do was flash the card really quickly so they never saw that I wasn’t a Sarah. He took me the back way and we snuck into the theater and saw the Temptations. I’m not proud of it…but I did get to see the Temptations. It was the only concert that I never got a ticket stub from.

The song was off on their album Puzzle People. which peaked at #5 on the Billboard Album Charts, #1 on the R&B Charts, #8 in Canada, and #20 in the UK in 1969.  The Punk Panther reviewed this and some of their other albums. On this one, he said: First off I Can’t Get Next To You has a super intro in the opening door and “wait a minute” vocal before it kicks into a magnificent piece of lively, funky, punchy Motown pop.

The song was written by Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield.  They also wrote Cloud Nine for the group. I like how all 5 Temptations trade verses on this song…everyone got a turn. I also like the party atmosphere of the song.

The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #1 on the Billboard R&B Charts, #11 in Canada, and #13 in the UK in 1969.  It knocked off “Sugar, Sugar” by the Archies and was replaced by “Suspicious Minds” by Elvis Presley.

There have been numerous covers of the song. Other versions include those by The Osmonds, Al Green, Savoy Brown, The Jess Roden Band, Annie Lennox, Toto, and David Cassidy.

I Can’t Get Next To You

Hold it, everybody
Hold it, hold it, listen

I can turn the gray sky blue
I can make it rain whenever I want it to
Oh, I can build a castle from a single grain of sand
I can make a ship sail, huh, on dry land

But my life is incomplete and I’m so blue
‘Cause I can’t get next to you (I can’t get next to you, babe)
Next to you (I can’t get next to you)
I just can’t get next you (I can’t get next to you, babe)
(I can’t get next to you)

I can fly like a bird in the sky
Hey, and I can buy anything that money can buy
Oh, I can turn a river into a raging fire
I can live forever if I so desire

Unimportant are all the things I can do
‘Cause I can’t get next to you (I can’t get next to you, babe)
No matter what I do (I can’t get next to you)
Uh-yah

Ooh
Ooh
Chicka boom, chicka boom
Chicka boom, boom, boom

I can turn back the hands of time, you better believe I can
I can make the seasons change just by waving my hand
Oh, I can change anything from old to new
The things I want to do the most, I’m unable to do

Unhappy am I with all the powers I possess
‘Cause, girl, you’re the key to my happiness
And I, oh I can’t get next to you

Girl, you’re blowing my mind
‘Cause I can’t get (next to you)
Can’t you see these tears I’m crying?
I can’t get (next to you)
Girl, it’s you that I need
I gotta get (next to you)
Can’t you see these tears I’m crying?
I can’t get (next to you)
I, I, I, I, I can’t get (next to you)
I, I, I, I, I can’t get, now (next to you)
Girl, you’re blowing my mind
‘Cause I can’t get…

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

59 thoughts on “Temptations – I Can’t Get Next To You”

  1. As you said, I love how the lead vocal moves around. It’s not just one lead singer with window dressing. They had a great string of hits. When we heard the first notes of “My Girl” at high school dances, we were quickly looking for someone to ask to slow dance. “Cloud Nine” was the topic of an essay question on an exam in the course “Black Music and American Cultural History” (as well as a prior post from you). “Papa was a Rolling Stone”, “Ball of Confusion” – great songs with something to say.

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    1. They did give a great variety of songs. I did like their late sixties and early seventies commentary songs…my favorite by them for some reason is I Wish It Would Rain.

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      2. I agree totally. Sometims difficult is worth it…and in this case it was. Ruffin and Kendricks are the two I remember the most.

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    1. Well that would be one way…it’s like that Police song…”Don’t Stand So Close to Me” which a deordorant company wanted to use but Sting thankfully refused it.

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  3. so the ‘temptations’ were too great not to sneak in and see a show, eh? Good of your friend to set it up for you! Certainly a great group through and through and as you say, a good part of their magic is that they all could sing and would get to do so.

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    2. lol perfect! Yep it was too big of one. He led me through a maze of paths…and around Roy Acuff’s place he had on the grounds…it was worth the risk lol.

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    1. That is me also…I like so many of them. I do remember listening mostly when I broke up with some one or was ditched myself.

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  5. You should be VERY proud of your ingenuity!
    Temptations are one of those bands that everyone likes, no matter what their preferred genre of music, right? Like Abba. I mean, I don’t have any of their records, but every time I hear them, I make a mental note to at least buy a compilation CD for my collection.
    (Just done it again. 😉 )

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  6. “To this day, if I had to choose one album that was the most extraordinary in terms of the craft, the arrangements, the production and the performances, it would be a greatest hits of The Temptations’. They were just a remarkable group.” Steve Van Zandt

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    1. They were my soundtrack for breakups…I Wish it Would Rain, I Can’t Get Next To You, I Know (I’m Losing You), ‘I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You) and the list goes on.

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  7. Tell the truth now: when you’d try to sing along with this, did you try and do the voices? I could never get as high as Eddie Kendricks, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t try. I loved The Temps and The Tops…

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    1. I’ve seen that movie…. I had their greatest hits and wore it out…that is the reason I know it so well. The song that gets me the most is I Wish It Would Rain.

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      2. There were several songs in there that made me seek out the soundtrack. One was Matraca Berg’s ‘Back When We Were Beautiful’. For some reason, I don’t remember I Wish It Would Rain. I guess I need to watch the movie again. 🙂

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  12. The Temptations are great and the group with the best multi-part harmony vocals I can think of. Glad you got to see them in the mid-80s, Max. If I see this correctly, at the time, they still had two founding members, Otis Williams and Melvin Franklin. Franklin passed away in 1995.

    I saw The Temptations twice, in the late ’90s at the Apollo in New York City with Earth, Wind & Fire, and in November 2021, together with The Four Tops. Otis Williams was still around for both shows. They were incredible! 🙂

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    1. That clip is so cool…I’m glad the name is still alive and they are delivering those great songs out to everyone.
      Yes I owe them a price of a ticket!

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  13. You should have taken a girl to the show broke up with here there and wallow in self pity for there 90 minute set instead of doing that for 2 weeks at home!
    Just saying!

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  14. I also like the way they revolved the lead vocals for the lines. It’s an expertly crafted piece of solid gold. They make it look easy! Ed Sullivan looks like a midget carp compared to those tall handsome men.

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    1. Sorry…I went to the gym…
      Yea they make it look easy but it’s not…yea Sullivan was one weird looking guy…I have to remember midget carp lol.

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      2. Oh…Zach and I started to go there a couple of weeks ago. I go there and do my 7000 steps on a treadmill…I like it better than walking around the building. In the past years I’ve had to stop walking in the winter…now…it’s open.
        I’m also looking for a treadmill for home.

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