Smokey Robinson & the Miracles – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Beatles – You Really Got A Hold On Me

I had this scheduled for later in March but since it’s February 9…I thought I would move it up. It was exactly 60 years ago today on February 9, 1964, that The Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time.

This Smokey Robinson song is a great one…I really like both versions of this song. You can’t go wrong with either one. You will not beat Smokey’s voice but I like how The Beatles adapted their sound to it. Lennon did a great job on this one. This is close to what the Beatles would have sounded like in the Cavern or Hamburg.

The Beatles liked covering B sides and songs that were not hits but this one was a hit just the year before. Smokey was a huge influence on them in this time frame of 1962-63. Seven live takes of the song were first recorded, featuring all four Beatles playing their usual instruments and singing without overdubs, accompanied by producer George Martin on piano. Only four of these performances were complete (three of them being false starts), “take seven” being the keeper. The song was featured on With The Beatles released in the UK on November 22, 1963.

Smokey Robinson said he was thrilled that The Beatles would cover one of his songs. He also said that The Beatles were the first white band that came out and said they were influenced by him and other black artists. He also said they helped other black artists when they made that statement to be heard.

Later on when the Beatles toured America…it was written in their contract that they would absolutely not play in front of a segregated audience.

Robinson was influenced by Sam Cooke’s Bring It All Home To Me…which I can hear. Cooke would sometimes perform at Robinson’s church with his group the Soul Stirrers and Robinson was a huge fan.

While recording the vocal track for the song “Woman” on the Double Fantasy album… Yoko commented that John sounded like a Beatle. Lennon corrected her by saying, “Actually I’m supposed to be Smokey Robinson at the moment, my dear, because The Beatles were always supposing that they were Smokey Robinson.”

You Really Got A Hold On Me

I don’t like you
But I love you
See that I’m always
Thinking of you

Oh, oh, oh,
You treat me badly
I love you madly
You’ve really got a hold on me
You’ve really got a hold on me, baby

I don’t want you
But I need you
Don’t want to kiss you
But I need you
Oh, oh, oh

You do me wring now
My love is strong now
You’ve really got a hold on me
You’ve really got a hold on me, baby
I love you and all I want you to do
Is just hold me, hold me, hold me, hold me

I want to leave you
Don’t want to stay here
Don’t want to spend
Another day here

Oh, oh, oh, I want to split now
I just can quit now
You’ve really got a hold on me
You’ve really got a hold on me, baby
I love you and all I want you to do
Is just hold me, hold me, hold me, hold me
You’ve really got a hold on me
You’ve really got a hold on me

Smokey Robinson & The Miracles – Tears Of A Clown

I somehow got a lot of singles from relatives when I was a kid. They just ended up at our house. I had the original single of this and I loved it and still do. Smokey has such a smooth and cool voice. I can’t tell you how much I like this song. It’s high on my list of all-time songs I love. I remember being 12 and going to baseball practice and listening to this song before I left…it stayed with me through practice in the heat and that night. His voice is pure gold.

To me, Smokey is like American royalty or a national treasure as people say. When your peers like Dylan, Lennon, and everyone else sing your praises…you are doing something right.

Stevie Wonder and Hank Cosby (producer) came up with the music for this song. Smokey Robinson listened to the song for a few days and decided it sounded like a circus so he came up with the lyrics based on the sad clown Conio from the opera Pagliacci. It was Ruggero Leoncavallo’s opera about fatal jealousies in a traveling troupe of actors based on a real-life story… a case encountered by Leoncavallo’s father, who was a police magistrate in Naples. Pagliacci was around in the late 1800s.

It was recorded in 1967 and was just an album track on the album Make It Happen. In 1970 it was released as a single (with a new mix) and was a huge hit. The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #7 in Canada, and #1 in the UK. It was written by Robinson, Stevie Wonder, and Hank Cosby. It was recorded in 1967 but it was released in 1970.

It’s hard to believe but this song would be their only #1 hit on the Billboard 100 with Smokey. They had 42 songs in the top 100 and 6 top ten hits. Smokey would soon leave the Miracles after this song. He would be replaced by Billy Griffin on vocals. Now THAT had to be a hard gig to replace Smokey Robinson. Billy did a good job though because they had another number 1 with Love Machine Part 1. He does sound a lot like Smokey.

Smokey Robinson: “I was trying to think of something that would be significant, that would touch people’s hearts, but still be dealing with the circus, so what is that? Pagliacci, of course. The clown who cries. And after he makes everyone else happy with the smile painted on his face, then he goes into his dressing room and cries because he’s sad. That was the key.”

Below is Smokey Robinson telling the story of the song. Below that is the single version that we have all heard. What was it with those 60s-70s shows with the backdrops to the singers? Did they think it was Smokey Robinson and the Plumbers?

Tears of a Clown

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah

Now if there’s a smile on my face
It’s only there trying to fool the public
But when it comes down to fooling you
Now honey, that’s quite a different subject

But don’t let my glad expression
Give you the wrong impression
Really, I’m sad
Oh, I’m sadder than sad
You’re gone and I’m hurtin’ so bad
Like a clown I pretend to be glad

Now there’s some sad things known to man
But ain’t too much sadder than
The tears of a clown
When there’s no one around

Oh yeah, baby

Now if I appear to be carefree
It’s only to camouflage my sadness
In order to shield my pride I’ve tried
To cover this hurt with a show of gladness

But don’t let my show convince you
That I’ve been happy since you
Decided to go
Oh, I need you so
I’m hurt and I want you to know
But for others I put on a show

Oh, there’s some sad things known to man
But there ain’t too much sadder than
The tears of a clown
When there’s no one around, oh yeah

Just like Pagliacci did
I try to keep my sadness hid
Smiling in the public eye
But in my lonely room I cry
The tears of a clown
When there’s no one around

Oh yeah, baby

Now if there’s a smile on my face
Don’t let my glad expression
Give you the wrong impression
Don’t let this smile I wear
Make you think that I don’t care
Really, I’m sad
Hurtin’ so bad

Smokey Robinson & the Miracles – I Second That Emotion

Smokey has one of the best voices ever and he can write like no one else. Everyone from John Lennon to Bob Dylan was a fan. I had the single “Tears of a Clown” given to me as a kid by my cousin along with this one.

This song peaked at #4 in the Billboard 100 in 1967.

Al Cleveland and Smokey Robinson wrote this song. It was inspired by a trip to a department store. Robinson and Cleveland were shopping at a Detroit department store. Smokey found a set of pearls for his wife, Claudette. “They’re beautiful,” he said to the salesperson. “I sure hope she likes them.” Cleveland then added, “I second that emotion.” and the song was born.

From Songfacts

“I second that motion” is a common phrase heard at meetings in America where policy is being determined. It’s what Motown producer Al Cleveland meant to say when he was on a shopping trip with Smokey Robinson.

Robinson and Cleveland produced the song, and it was released in October 1968, entering the US Top 40 in December, about a year after it was written. The song was also a #1 R&B hit.

This was the first Top 10 hit for the group after their 1967 name change from The Miracles. Robinson and Cleveland teamed up to write several more hits for the group, including “Special Occasion” (#26 US, 1968), “Yester Love” (#31 US, 1968), and “Baby, Baby Don’t Cry” (#8 US, 1969).

Robinson and Cleveland wrote a third verse for this song, which pushed the length to 3:15. Acutely aware that songs longer than 3 minutes were often denied airplay, Motown head Berry Gordy had them eliminate the verse and bring the song down to 2:38, which was much more palatable for radio programmers. Robinson was OK with altering the song, as he had tremendous respect for Gordy’s judgment and wanted the song to be a hit. He felt that he could tell a story in a song in whatever time he was allotted – even under 3 minutes.

In songwriting circles, this one is often studied for its use of secondary rhymes and melodic intricacy. Smokey Robinson sprinkled in words like “notion” and “devotion” to compliment the title, all while rhyming verses with phrases like “kisses sweet” and “no repeat.” The guitar line also perfectly accents the vocal. Robinson credits Berry Gordy for his songwriting evolution. Gordy was a songwriter before he started Motown (he wrote song for Jackie Wilson), and he taught Robinson how to write intricate, yet accessible songs like this one.

This was featured on the soundtrack of the 1983 film The Big Chill.

This song was a favorite of Jerry Garcia; he often performed it with the Grateful Dead and with the Jerry Garcia Band. These versions show up on a variety of bootleg recordings.

I Second That Emotion

Maybe you’ll wanna give me kisses sweet
But only for one night with no repeat.
And maybe you’ll go away and never call,
And a taste of honey is worse that none at all.
Oh little girl!

In that case I don’t want nobody
I do believe that that would only break my heart
Oh, but if you feel like lovin’ me
If you got the notion,
I second that emotion.
So, if you feel like giving me a lifetime of devotion
I second that emotion.

Maybe you’ll think that love will tie you down
And you don’t have the time to hang around.
Or maybe you’ll think that love will make us fools,
And so it makes you wise to break the rules.
Oh little girl!

Smokey Robinson & The Miracles – The Tracks of My Tears

Smokey has one of the smoothest voices I ever heard. On top of that, he is one of the top songwriters of popular music. Bob Dylan called him “America’s greatest living poet.” and John Lennon was heavily influenced by him. The song peaked at #16 (only 16???) in the Billboard 100 and #9 in the UK in 1965.

Miracles members Smokey Robinson, Warren Moore, and Marv Tarplin wrote this song. Robinson penned the lyrics; Tarplin, The Miracles’ guitarist, came up with the riff. Tarplin got the idea for the music after listening to a calypso tune: Harry Belafonte’s “The Banana Boat Song (Day-O).”

From Songfacts

One of the most gut-wrenching songs on record, this one is about a man who tries to hide his pain, but cannot conceal the tracks made by his tears. He has come out of a relationship with the love of his life, and the song is his confession to her that his high spirits are just an act and she’s the only one for him, or perhaps what he wants to tell her but can’t.

Miracles leader Smokey Robinson came up with the concept when he was looking in the mirror one day, and thinking, What if a person would cry so much that you could see tracks of their tears in their face?

Robinson recalled: “‘Tracks of My Tears’ was actually started by Marv Tarplin, who is a young cat who plays guitar for our act. So he had this musical thing [sings melody], you know, and we worked around with it, and worked around, and it became ‘Tracks of My Tears.'”

Robinson had the music Tarplin wrote on a cassette, but it took him about six months to write the lyrics. The words started coming together when he came up with the line, “Take a good look at my face, you see my smile looks out of place.” From there, it was a few days before he got the lines, “If you look closer it’s easy to trace… my tears.”

What to do with those tears was a problem, as he wanted to say something no one has said about tears. In a 2006 interview with NPR, he explained that he finally came up with the image of tears leaving lasting marks, and the song came together. “One day I was listening, and it just came – the tracks of my tears,” said Robinson. “Like footprints on my face. So that was what I wrote about.”

Four different artists have charted with this song in America. Johnny Rivers had the biggest hit, taking it to #10 in 1967. Two of the most acclaimed female vocalists of their time, Aretha Franklin and Linda Ronstadt, also charted covers, Franklin’s making #71 in 1969 and Ronstadt’s going to #25 in 1976.

Other notable versions of this song include renditions by Go West in 1993 and Adam Lambert in 2009.

When he first recorded this song with The Miracles, Robinson left out the last chorus, fading it out on the “I need you, I need you” line. He was convinced to end on the chorus when he played the song at one of the famous Monday morning meetings at Motown, where songs were scrutinized by their team.

Robinson wrote a similar song a few weeks later called “My Girl Has Gone,” which was released as the next Miracles single.

Motown head Berry Gordy has said that this song represents Smokey Robinson’s best work.

The song was popular among American soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War, which is reflected in the 1986 Oliver Stone movie Platoon, where the song is used.

Other films to feature the song include The Big Chill (1983), The Walking Dead (1995) and Bobby (2006). TV series to used the song include The Wonder Years and Wife Swap.

Tracks Of My Tears

People say I’m the life of the party
Because I tell a joke or two
Although I might be laughing loud and hearty
Deep inside I’m blue
So take a good look at my face
You’ll see my smile looks out of place

If you look closer, it’s easy to trace
The tracks of my tears
I need you, need you
Since you left me if you see me with another girl
Seeming like I’m having fun
Although she may be cute

She’s just a substitute
Because you’re the permanent one
So take a good look at my face
You’ll see my smile looks out of place
If you look closer, it’s easy to trace
The tracks of my tears

I need you, need you
Outside I’m masquerading
Inside my hope is fading
Just a clown oh yeah
Since you put me down
My smile is my make up

I wear since my break up with you
So take a good look at my face
You’ll see my smile looks out of place
If you look closer, it’s easy to trace
The tracks of my tears