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Rolling Stones unreleased: Don’t Look Back
Written by: William Robinson/Ronald White Recorded: Bearsville Studios, Woodstock, NY, USA, May-June 1978 Guest musicians: Ian McLagan (piano and organ)
“Don’t Look Back” is a 1965 song recorded by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label. The flip side to their Top 20 hit “My Baby”, “Don’t Look Back” broke out and became a hit among the R&B audience on its own, reaching no. 14 on the R&B charts.
Considered one of original lead singer Paul Williams’ showcases, “Don’t Look Back” was regularly employed as the closing number for Temptations live performances. Although the original flip side, “My Baby”, was initially more popular with pop audiences at the time, over the decades, “Don’t Look Back” has proven to be the far more popular and enduring tune. It was also performed by the group on The Ed Sullivan Show. There are no known cover versions of “My Baby”.
Written by Miracles members Smokey Robinson and Ronald White, (who also co-wrote the group’s no. 1 Pop smash, “My Girl”) the previous year, “Don’t Look Back” is a reassurance to the tentative that finding true love is worth the heartbreak and failed relationships it takes to reach it. As the song’s narrator, Paul Williams, promises his lover, in his trademark gritty tone:
If you just put your hand in mine We’re gonna leave all your troubles behind keep on walkin’ and don’t look back
Smokey Robinson, the song’s producer, specifically assigned Paul Williams to sing lead on the song. Although Williams had been the group’s original lead singer during its formative years, his role had by 1965 been eclipsed by David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks, who had both sung lead on Temptations hit singles. As such, Williams was often overlooked for leads, even on album tracks and B-sides, prompting him to complain, “shit, y’know, I can sing too!”
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