The Boney 500: Songs 94 and 93
Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2016 11:16 am
94. MY GIRL-THE TEMPTATIONS (1965)
Album: The Temptations Sing Smokey
There is nothing about this song that isn't perfectly placed: from that opening thumping bass guitar, then the
guitar line that leads us into the outstanding David Ruffin lead vocal. Then there are those lovely background vocals...
and tell me, if you're old enough to remember it, that you're not seeing the image in your head of that Motown
choreography, expertly timed dance steps, with those guys coming in in turn on the chorus with the "My Girl" response,
each guy's thumbs pointing to himself as he does (and if you don't remember it, the video below will solve that problem)...
classy all the way. Heck, even those "hey hey hey"'s leading into the key change and the last verse hit the center of the target.
Smokey Robinson co-wrote and produced this, and it's one that will likely still be listened to a hundred years from now.
93. DENISE-RANDY & THE RAINBOWS (1963)
Single
By 1963 there wasn't a whole lot of Doo Wop left on the charts, but this one-hit wonder held off the changing musical
landscape like the crew at the Alamo's valiant but ultimately doomed effort against all odds, when they hit the Top 10.
What places this above most of the other great doo-wop songs in my affections? To tell you the truth, I don't know. It
just makes me smile, and it makes me somehow nostalgic for a musical genre I was a little too young to appreciate when
it was around.
Album: The Temptations Sing Smokey
There is nothing about this song that isn't perfectly placed: from that opening thumping bass guitar, then the
guitar line that leads us into the outstanding David Ruffin lead vocal. Then there are those lovely background vocals...
and tell me, if you're old enough to remember it, that you're not seeing the image in your head of that Motown
choreography, expertly timed dance steps, with those guys coming in in turn on the chorus with the "My Girl" response,
each guy's thumbs pointing to himself as he does (and if you don't remember it, the video below will solve that problem)...
classy all the way. Heck, even those "hey hey hey"'s leading into the key change and the last verse hit the center of the target.
Smokey Robinson co-wrote and produced this, and it's one that will likely still be listened to a hundred years from now.
93. DENISE-RANDY & THE RAINBOWS (1963)
Single
By 1963 there wasn't a whole lot of Doo Wop left on the charts, but this one-hit wonder held off the changing musical
landscape like the crew at the Alamo's valiant but ultimately doomed effort against all odds, when they hit the Top 10.
What places this above most of the other great doo-wop songs in my affections? To tell you the truth, I don't know. It
just makes me smile, and it makes me somehow nostalgic for a musical genre I was a little too young to appreciate when
it was around.