Also written by Smokey Robinson (a musical genius!), but performed by the Temptations, “Since I Lost My Baby” comes about as close to perfection as a soul song can get: a classic fusion of music and lyrics. Released in 1965, I can’t believe it peaked at only #17 on the Billboard Rhythm and Blues singles chart. As with many great Motown songs, you’ll recognize it after the first few bars. The lead singer is, of course, David Ruffin.
The Temptations were famous for their choreography, which some of us tried fruitlessly to reproduce when in college. Sadly, I can’t find a live version of this song, but you can see their dancing on this rendition of their other classic, “My Girl.”
If you know this song, you’ll instantly recognize this note from Wikipedia:
Bass singer Melvin Franklin is also heard out front, singing “Oh, Yeah” after Ruffin’s first two lines on the first verse (this is repeated by the group on the last verse).
As we sang along to this on the radio, one of us would always sing that “Oh, Yeah” as low as we could.
And let’s not forget those famous studio musicians, called The Funk Brothers, who, never getting any glory, provided much of the backing for Motown songs, including this one. They contributed many of the musical innovations that made Motown songs unique. If you want to see a documentary about them, go buy the 2002 movie “Standing in the Shadowns of Motown“, a really nice DVD in which the ageing Funk Brothers play behind several singers, with two knock-out songs by Joan Osborne. It gets a 92 on Rotten Tomatoes, an amazing rating for a music movie. You can buy it for only $6.97 at Amazon.
Oh, hell: here’s Joan Osborne in that movie singing the Jimmy Ruffin classic, “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted” (original here).
And the inimitable Temptations:
Oh, yeah. I still have my vinyl copy – somewhere.
It can’t compare to such great songs as “Cecil the Unwanted French Fry”, by the Soul Setters.
Great stuff although I favour the Psychedelic Shack-era Temptations, the double-CD best of Psychedelic Soul is pure gold if you can track it down: http://www.allmusic.com/album/psychedelic-soul-us-mw0000036028
Some more music to listen to, hurrah!
And oh, I absolutely love that Joan Osborne rendition in “Standing in the Shadows of Motown” (loved the movie, too).
Thanks for the music posts. Between the cats, evolution, weird animals, atheist activities and the awesome music choices, you are on my “top people I’d love to have dinner with” list.