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"My Baby"
"My Baby"
Single by The Temptations
from the album The Temptin' Temptations
B-side	"Don't Look Back"
Released	September 30, 1965 ; (1st pressing) ; October 30, 1965 ; (2nd pressing)
Recorded	Hitsville USA (Studio A); ; August 4 and August 11, 1965
Genre	Soul, R&B, Pop
Length	3:05
Label	Gordy; G 7047
Songwriter(s)	Smokey Robinson ; Robert Rogers ; Warren Moore
Producer(s)	Smokey Robinson
The Temptations singles chronology

"My Baby" is a 1965 hit single recorded by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label. Written by Miracles members Smokey Robinson, Bobby Rogers, and Pete Moore and produced by Robinson, the song was a top 20 pop hit in the United States, and a top 5 hit on the R&B charts.^[1]

An extension of the theme from the group's #1 hit "My Girl", which had been released the previous December, "My Baby" features The Temptations, with David Ruffin on lead, bragging about the qualities of a special lady. Ruffin praises his woman's hairstyles ("hair soft like a baby lamb/and I love to run my fingers through it") and personality ("the gold in her personality/could set Fort Knox to shame"), and hopes that "she digs me the way I am/but if I have to change/you know I'm gona do it for my baby".

Cash Box described the single as an "easy-going, pop-r&b romantic shuffler about a love-sick fella who’ll do anything for his girlfriend."^[2] "My Baby" was a notable attempt to create an uptempo danceable number for the Temptations; all of their previous Top 20 hits to this point had been either ballads or mid-tempo numbers. The single immediately following "My Baby", "Get Ready", followed the same plan, and was produced with an even faster tempo and a brassier arrangement.

Unusually for Temptations singles, "My Baby's" B-side, the Paul Williams-led "Don’t Look Back", was a minor hit in its own right, becoming a top 20 R&B hit and serving for several years as the Temptations' live-show closing number. Both sides of the single would be remixed for its 2nd pressing, adding on the following statements: "Taken from the album #G 914 The Temptin' Temptations."

Personnel

Lead Vocals by David Ruffin
Background Vocals by Eddie Kendricks, Melvin Franklin, Paul Williams, and Otis Williams
Written by William "Smokey" Robinson, Robert Rogers, and Warren Moore
Produced by Smokey Robinson
Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers

Chart history

Chart (1965)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Chart	13
U.S. Billboard R&B Singles	4

References

^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 571.
^ "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. October 16, 1965. p. 10. Retrieved 2022-01-12.

Williams, Otis and Romanowski, Patricia (1988, updated 2002). Temptations. Lanham, MD: Cooper Square. ISBN 0-8154-1218-5.
Williams, Otis and Weigner, Harry (2002). My Girl: The Very Best of the Temptations (Compact disc liner notes). New York: Motown/Universal Records.