Tag: 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…