It’s wonderful to sing well. It’s even more meaningful to write a great and enduring song.
Both talents were bestowed on young William “Smokey” Robinson, long before he helped to start Motown Records in Detroit in the early 1960s, with his friend Berry Gordy.
Gordy had the business acumen; Smokey had the musical chops. By the time he was in his early 20s, Smokey was writing, recording and arranging a stream of hit tunes for this landmark record company, which blended bluesy soulfulness with sleek arrangements and killer hooks. He also was a terrific talent scout, cultivating the musical gifts of the kids he grew up with in Motor City.
As an entertainer, Smokey’s still terrific — I saw him recently, and in his late 60s he’s not only still in great voice (one of the best pop falsettos ever) but he’s still sexy, romantic and full of joy.
But while I’ve found a lot of great performances on video of Smokey, with his hit-making crewT he Miracles and after he went solo, Part I of this tribute considers some Smokey tunes especially wrote (and produced) for other Motown masters.
What makes Smokey’s songs so memorable? The lyrics, though inevitably about boyfriend-girlfriend passions, are so clever that Bob Dylan once called Robinson one of his favorite poets, and John Lennon and George Harrison also gave him props.
Smokey knows how to twist a phrase to make it fresh every one of his songs tells a compelling story, and there are indeed poetic images in a lot of his tunes, along with real wit. But it’s also the arrangements he worked up with the fabulous Funk Brothers (Motown’s brilliant house musicians), including the miraculous James Jamerson on bass, that make the best of the tunes he produced instantly unforgettable. Listen to the baselines – a symphony in themselves! And there’s a perfect layering of percussion, piano, vocals, guitar, bass and backup voices (augmented sometimes by horns and violins).
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