Singer, songwriter, and Motown architect Smokey Robinson celebrates his 86th birthday today, and we’re celebrating the best way possible: with music. While he scored plenty of hits as a member of The Miracles, his timeless songwriting made it big for other artists.
Case in point: “My Girl” by The Temptations.
Robinson was born and raised in the fertile musical culture of Detroit, Michigan. He formed The Miracles in 1955 at fifteen and met Motown Records founder Berry Gordy in 1957 when he was just seventeen. The Miracles scored the label’s first #1 hit on the R&B Singles chart, and after further success, Gordy brought Robinson on as “Vice President of Motown Records serving as in-house producer, talent scout and songwriter,” his official bio states. As a part of its assembly-line songwriting process, Robinson helped shape the sound of the ’60s and beyond.
Robinson co-wrote “My Girl” with fellow Miracles member Ronald White, each drawing inspiration for the loving lyrics from their wives. However, Robinson explains that if it weren’t for The Temptations, he would have never written the song.
He had previously written “The Way You Do The Things You Do” for the group, with vocalist Eddie Kendricks handling the lead. In an interview with AARP, Robinson explains that the artists were subject to producers and writers. Once Kendricks scored a hit, all the writers “jumped on the Temptations bandwagon” to use his voice. Robinson knew that there was more than one great voice in The Temptations.
“I knew David Ruffin was in that group,” he shared. “See, David Ruffin had one of those demanding baritone, tenor voices [that sounded like] ‘Come here, girl, let me love you!’ That kind of thing, you know? I said, ‘If I can get David to sing something sweet, the girls are going to love it.'”
Ruffin’s incredible pipes weren’t the only thing that drew listeners in. The song begins with an instantly recognizable bass line played by Motown session musician James Jamerson. The simple rhythm is married to a descending fifth to create the first of several melodic hooks. Jamerson’s line is then joined by the equally important guitar riff, which outlines a pentatonic scale.
The arrangement then blossoms into the classic Motown sound palette with strings, horns, and the Funk Brothers rhythm section. The sound is lush, but economical enough to leave space for Ruffin’s delivery, which is enriched with layered harmonies in the call-and-response chorus.
If The Temptations were rising stars before their release on December 21st, 1964, then “My Girl” cemented their place in history. It marked their first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the tenth-biggest hit of 1965. It would be covered by Otis Redding, The Rolling Stones, Al Green, and many more over the decades. Still today, it’s played at nearly every wedding reception.
With so much success, you may think that Robinson regrets giving the song to The Temptations and not saving it for himself. But in the AARP interview, he explains that had it not been for The Temptations, he would never have written it, so no, he doesn’t wish he had kept it.
He still gets to sing it, anyway.
“‘My Girl’ has become my international anthem,” Robinson says. “I play ‘My Girl’ in our live concerts. And we go to countries where the primary language is not even English, and we don’t even have to start singing. As soon as they hear [the bass line,] they know what’s getting ready to happen. They jump up, they start cheering, they start singing. So it has become a wonderful song for me.”
Watch Robinson perform it with all-star guests at the Gershwin Prize Awards:
Happy birthday to Smokey Robinson! Celebrate with the sheet music for “My Girl”:
