# This is my favorite Motown song ..... what's yours?



## laurie (Jan 12, 2017)

So much amazing music came out of Motown, I'd be hard-pressed to choose a personal Top Ten (or 20!) song list ...... but picking my #1 favorite is easy! *The Temptations -- My Girl.* 
Everything about this song - that signature guitar riff, the horns, the strings, the vocals (I could listen to David Ruffin all day), the lyrics - "I've got so much honey, the bees envy me" - comes together perfectly. Watching the Temptations' _smooth_  dance moves while you listen is icing on the cake ~ this song makes me all kinds of happy! 

What's your favorite Motown tune?

(this is a cool clip; it shows the Temptations in the studio; & Smokey Robinson (writer & producer) can be seen conducting.)


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

That's a good one. And there really many great Motown tunes; too many to just pick one; but one I'll pick.

*Baby Love* is truly happy song


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Torture! I cannot have a single Motown favorite. Here are a few:

The Jacksons: I Want You Back (best thing Michael ever did, though others are close)
Smokey and the Miracles: Goin' to a Go-Go; Ooh Baby Baby
Marvin Gaye: Let's Get it On; Heard it Through the Grapevine; What's Goin' On
Temptations: Papa was a Rolling Stone

There are (so many) more......


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

Strange Magic said:


> Torture! I cannot have a single Motown favorite. Here are a few:
> 
> Marvin Gaye: Heard it Through the Grapevine;


LOL! I remember my mother loving this 1980's TV ad. She even bought the California Raisin plastic figures and had them on her car dashboard.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

I'll go with "Ain't Too Proud to Beg."

I love "I Want You Back", but I love Graham Parker's cover of it even more.

One more thing - the "Hitsville USA" box set of the 1960s tunes sounds great. It's in mono, just like the singles and, on a lot of the songs up to about 1968 the difference is enormous.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)




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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Banally, I heard it through the grapevine.

Just my imagination is another (the falsetto of Eddie Kendricks is incredible)


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Given that one of my closest friends, Chris Clark, is an ex-Motown singer and executive, it would be anything by her  But picking just one would be hard 
So I will go with this which she recorded about a year before someone else made it famous!


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I can't say "favorite," because there are so many and so many good memories; many have been mentioned already. But I never get tired of Smokey Robinson and the Miracles' _I Second That Emotion_.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Can we vote for two? Aretha Franklin's _Think_ inspired me to give up a long-term situation that I needed to get out of. I prefer the original (with its great use of the cowbell), but I put this up because, shucks, Lou Marini is walking on the counter!


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

laurie said:


> So much amazing music came out of Motown, I'd be hard-pressed to choose a personal Top Ten (or 20!) song list ...... but picking my #1 favorite is easy! *The Temptations -- My Girl.*


That's one of my all-time favorite songs. It didn't mean much until I met my wife; then it made sense. Then I had a daughter. Now I have three granddaughters. "So much honey," you bet!


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## Rach Man (Aug 2, 2016)

I am a huge fan of Levi Stubbs, one of the truly great voices of all time. Can I put two of Levi's songs out there?
Here are two of the best renditions by Levi and the Four Tops.


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

Too many to name just one, and some awesome videos.





Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - The Tears Of A Clown
Had this one in my phone for a while and it often put me in the Zone.





MARVIN GAYE & TAMMI TERRELL "Ain't no Mountain High Enough"

Tammi's facial expressions are heavenly.


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## laurie (Jan 12, 2017)

Manxfeeder said:


> Can we vote for two? ....


Of course! Post as many as you want ~ I love this stuff!


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

DUSTY SPRINGFIELD "Get Ready" 1966


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## ldiat (Jan 27, 2016)

no we are talkin!! MO town baby....


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## ldiat (Jan 27, 2016)




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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)




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## ldiat (Jan 27, 2016)

love this song both versions


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## ldiat (Jan 27, 2016)




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## ldiat (Jan 27, 2016)




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## ldiat (Jan 27, 2016)




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## ldiat (Jan 27, 2016)

put this one over to the other thread "'60 girl bands"


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## ldiat (Jan 27, 2016)




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## ldiat (Jan 27, 2016)

i am post this version like it better but who was first?


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)




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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

ldiat said:


> no we are talkin!! MO town baby...


Weren't Sam & Dave on Stax in Memphis instead of Motown? Of course, I'm not quibbling. If we're going into Sam & Dave, bring it on!


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## Bluecrab (Jun 24, 2014)

Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay would have to be on any list of the greatest Motown songs. It's hard to listen to that song without getting melancholy, given that it was the last single that Otis Redding released, just after his untimely death. Al Jarreau (who practically worshiped Otis Redding) did a really nice cover of the song on one of his early albums (_All Fly Home_).


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## laurie (Jan 12, 2017)

Manxfeeder said:


> Weren't Sam & Dave on Stax in Memphis instead of Motown? Of course, I'm not quibbling. If we're going into Sam & Dave, bring it on!


Yeah; Sam & Dave, Eddie Floyd, Otis Redding were all Stax artists; maybe we need a Favorite Stax Song thread, too! James Brown wasn't Motown either, although Barry Gordy tried to sign him.



Bluecrab said:


> *Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay* would have to be on any list of the greatest Motown songs. It's hard to listen to that song without getting melancholy, given that it was the last single that Otis Redding released, just after his untimely death. Al Jarreau (who practically worshiped Otis Redding) did a really nice cover of the song on one of his early albums (_All Fly Home_).


Not on a Motown list, but it definitely belongs on a Greatest Songs _Ever_ list!
I'm going to find that Al Jarreau cover & give it a listen, thanks


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## laurie (Jan 12, 2017)

ldiat said:


> i am post this version like it better but who was first?


The Supremes did it first in 1966; Vanilla Fudge was a year later.


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## laurie (Jan 12, 2017)

laurie said:


> So much amazing music came out of Motown, I'd be hard-pressed to choose a personal Top Ten (or 20!) song list ...... but picking my #1 favorite is easy! *The Temptations -- My Girl.* .............
> 
> .... the lyrics - "I've got so much honey, the bees envy me" - ~ this song makes me all kinds of happy!





Manxfeeder said:


> That's one of my all-time favorite songs. It didn't mean much until I met my wife; then it made sense. Then I had a daughter. Now I have three granddaughters. "So much honey," you bet!


^ This . I feel just like this. Smokey wrote My Girl for his wife, but it's not just a _romantic_ love song ..... I used to sing this as a lullaby to my three baby girls while rocking them to sleep. My granddaughter, too. _Sooo much honey, the bees envy me_...


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

So many great songs... I can't even begin to pick a top twenty but this classic would be in there if I did. This was recorded for the Gordy subsidiary label but the band were still contracted to Motown:


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

As elgars ghost says, there's a lot to choose from. This has always been a favourite of mine:


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

This is my favorite song from the Jackson 5. It's even better with Michael's moves and an intro by Don Cornelius on Soul Train.


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## Harmonie (Mar 24, 2007)

Mmm. Such a tough question, there's so much goodness. A ton of my favorites have been posted here already, though. So actually I don't feel that much weight on me. :lol:

Here are some of my favorites that haven't been mentioned yet (unless I missed them being posted).


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## Guest (May 11, 2017)

Not only fantastic bass work from Mr. Jamerson but it features the sax work of Wild Bill Moore, one of the early rocknrollers with his 1947 release "We're Gonna Rock, We're Gonna Roll." Marvin's socially conscious stuff was hated by Berry Gordy. He thought Marvin was messing with good thing but Marvin said we just can't sit back and pretend we don't see what's going on around us. Motown, he said, is in a unique position to be THE voice of the African-American and it won't do to be constantly putting these little love songs all the time like blacks aren't facing huge problems or have anything relevant to say about the world. Motown had to talk about the issues and confront them through song. But Berry was convinced it would be a failure. He particularly hated Wild Bill Moore's sax work. To him, this was old school crap that kids today don't want to hear. Marvin said kids today don't even know who he is and so it will sound fresh to them.

The stuff was released and immediately shot to the top of the charts not only in the US but worldwide. Berry had to eat his words. Marvin pegged it. Today "What's Goin' On" was voted by Detroit-area residents to be the most important song ever to come out of Detroit. Even today, "What's Goin' On", "Mercy Mercy Me", and "Inner City Blues" are still very relevant pieces of socio-political commentary and still drives a deal of the protest music released today.


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## Guest (May 11, 2017)

When this was recorded, the producer didn't like the takes the Temps were laying down. He fumed and swore and stormed around the studio until the group was furious and ready to walk out. He said before they went, could they try one last take and hopefully get it right. When the singer sings that opening line, his voice sounds tight, angry and that's what the producer wanted. He wanted the listener to hear the anger and hurt in the singer's voice--someone whose father died before he ever got a chance to meet and confront him. The anger couldn't be faked, it had to be genuine.

The Motown producers also mixed everything so it sounded good on car radios. They actually had a car with a receiver to receive broadcasts of the mixes. No fancy radio but utterly ordinary. The producer would drive around while the mix played and tell the engineer in the studio with a walkie-talkie turn up the bass and turn down the lead vocals and raise the mid-range on the drums, etc. They figured most Detroiters would first hear the song while riding around in their cars so it had to sound good on the car radio as well as on records. That's why the radio they used was just average--because most people only had average radios and it had to sound good on those radios. Motown changed the way the world listened to pop music.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

I don't think this came out of Motown but it certainly fits the era and style. I always got a kick out of this. And I read on one webpage that all the bean counters said not to do this song as it would be a flop, yet it was Charlie Wright's greatest hit.


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## Guest (May 11, 2017)

The Flaming Ember was a white soul act based in Detroit. They started off as the Flaming Embers (note the plural) on the Fortune label. They recorded on Hot Wax founded by Holland-Dozier-Holland after they left Motown in 1968. I was in 5th grade when this came out and I absolutely LOVED it!! It was mastered by Bob Dennis who mastered everything put out by Motown between 1964-1968 at the Hitsville facility. When I enrolled at the Recording Institute of Detroit back in the early 90s, Bob was my instructor, so I learned from the best. The string sections on the Hot Wax and Motown recordings were supplied by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. This is one of those songs that really captures Detroit for me. And it was somewhat of an anthem in the Detroit area. As it fades out, I still expect to hear the Johnny Mann Singers go, "C-K-L-W!!"


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Romantic obsession never sounded so upbeat.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

So far, we've been forgetting a great lady of Motown. Unacceptable.


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## Guest (May 11, 2017)

Not from Motown but still from Detroit. I used to work in a studio that George Clinton recorded in. I never saw anybody organize sessions like this guy. Nice guy, laid back, but also very intense and impassioned. One time some rappers were in that studio sampling George's stuff and George walked in unexpectedly. The rappers were taken aback and started stammering when George asked what they were doing with his tracks. When they finally got an explanation out, George then helped them isolate the samples and even suggested a few others and that was it. That's how he is. He operates on a different level than most humans.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

regenmusic said:


> Too many to name just one, and some awesome videos.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yep, Smokey and Tears. That's the one.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

I haven't listened to Motown songs in a long time, but my favorite was always "You Beat Me To The Punch" by Mary Wells. Along with other factors, this song developed my attitude of strike fast and strong.


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