Tag: The Funk Brothers

Temptations – My Girl

I was driving my 1966 Mustang back in 1983 and I had a cassette tape player with a tape I made. This song and Cloud 9 was on it and it went with me everywhere. Later on, while going through breakups with girlfriends…the Temptation songs were with me all the way.

It was written and produced by Smokey Robinson and Ronald White (both members of The Miracles), and the song became a breakthrough for The Temptations and Motown Records. Smoky supposedly wrote the song for his wife Claudette. It was written for David Ruffin’s voice and it worked perfectly. They had some hits before this one but none were #1 in the Billboard 100 and R&B charts. 

The recording featured the one and only Funk Brothers, Motown’s house band, who laid down the smooth, soulful track like always. The song’s most memorable musical features are James Jamerson’s bassline and Robert White’s guitar riff…I would throw in David Ruffin as well. It’s a simple riff but sometimes simple is the best…it sticks with you. The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #1 on the Billboard R&B Charts, #6 in Canada, and #43 in the UK in 1964-65.

The song has been used in countless films, TV shows, and commercials. It’s one of the most well-known songs of the 20th century. In 2017, it was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically, or artistically significant.”

My Girl

I’ve got sunshine, on a cloudy dayWhen it’s cold outside, I’ve got the month of May (ooh)I guess you’d sayWhat can make me feel this way?

My girl, my girl, my girlTalkin’ ’bout my girl, my girl

I’ve got so much honey, the bees envy meI’ve got a sweeter song, than the birds in the treesWell, I guess you’d sayWhat can make me feel this way?

My girl, my girl, my girlTalkin’ ’bout my girl, my girl

Ooh, oohHey-hey-hey, hey-hey-heyOoh, ooh, yeah

I don’t need no money (ooh), fortune, or fameI’ve got all the riches, baby (ooh) one man can claimWell, I guess you’d sayWhat can make me feel this way?

My girl, my girl, my girlTalkin’ ’bout my girl, my girl(Talkin’ ’bout my girl)

I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day (whoa, whoa) with my girlI’ve even got the month of May, with my girl (talkin’ ’bout my girl)Talkin’ ’bout, talkin’ ’bout, talkin’ ’bout my girl (ooh)Ooh, my girl (talkin’ ’bout my girl)That’s all I can talk about is my girl (ooh)Why don’t you believe she’s all my girl? (Talkin’ ’bout my girl)

…

Martha and the Vandellas – Nowhere to Run

This is another song I remember from Good Morning Vietnam. It has so many good songs on it plus is a great movie to me. The soundtrack to that movie is the soundtrack to the sixties. Martha and the Vandellas had a tough edgy sound.

A frightening story was going on at the time. Lamont Dozier said that one of the inspirations was a teenager who was frightened because he was about to go to Vietnam. Lamont threw a party for him but the boy was quiet because he said he would never make it back from Vietnam.

Dozier tried to cheer him up but it didn’t work. The nineteen-year-old didn’t make it back alive, he was killed after only two months. He said he felt trapped with nowhere to run. That really puts an awful spin on that song.

The song peaked at #8 on the Billboard 100 in 1965. The song was written by the songwriting team of Lamont Dozier and brothers Brian and Eddie Holland.

The backing band on this one was “The Funk Brothers” who were the studio band for Motown at the time. During this session, they used snow chains that went on tires as part of the percussion. They would get inventive at Motown.

This song was a favorite of High School marching bands everywhere because of its sound and chorus.

Lamont Dozier: “His friends asked if I would throw a party for him at my house before he was shipped out. We had the party, but he was very solemn, just sitting with his girlfriend. He had a premonition that he wouldn’t be coming back. I told him to be positive, but he was adamant. I found myself thinking about how he was feeling trapped – nowhere to run. Sure enough, two months later they shipped his body back. I think he stepped on a land mine. Nineteen years old.”

Nowhere to Run

Nowhere to run to, baby, nowhere to hide
Got nowhere to run to, baby, nowhere to hide.
It’s not love, I’m a running from,
It’s the heartbreak I know will come.
‘Cause I know you’re no good for me, but you’ve become a part of me.
Ev’rywhere I go, your face I see, ev’ry step I take, you take with me yeah

Nowhere to run to, baby, nowhere to hide
Got nowhere to run to, baby, nowhere to hide.
I know you’re not good for me, but free of you I’ll never be, no.
Each night as I sleep, into my heart you creep.
I wake up feelin’ sorry I met you, hoping soon that I’ll forget you.
When I look in the mirror to comb my hair
I see your face just a smiling there.

Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide from you baby,
Got nowhere to run to, baby, nowhere to hide.
I know you’re no good for me, but you’ve become a part of me,
How can I fight a lover, that shouldn’t be, when it’s so deep,
So deep, deep inside of me
My love reaches so high I can’t get over it
It’s so wide I can’t get around it, no
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide from you baby
Just can’t get away from you baby, no matter how I try to

I know you’re no good for me, but free of you I’ll never be,
Nowhere to run to baby, nowhere to hide, got nowhere to run to baby.