Before the Words, There Was the Funk

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In my life, I have taken exactly one "selfie" and it is posted below.
I took it because there was no one else around and I was on musically hallowed ground -- Hitsville USA -- where all of the great original Motown hits were recorded in what was Barry Gordy, Jr.'s dirt floored garage. The complex is two homes, joined together, on Grand Avenue in Detroit. It is now the Motown Museum and I urge you to visit if you are ever in Detroit. I reported on my trip here.

Today, Leonard Pitts had a fun column about how The Temptations' My Girl reached the top of the charts 50 years ago this week. He correctly noted that before David Ruffin's voice chimed in with "I've got sunshine, on a cloudy day," there was James Jamerson's bass thumping out, "da da da, da da da" and then Robert White's guitar joined with one of the most famous riffs in history.

Jamerson and White were two of the Funk Brothers, Motown's incredible in-house band, responsible for the "Motown Sound." So, by all means, read Leonard's column and then get the backstory of the creation of My Girl by watching the wonderful documentary, Standing in the Shadows of Motown which will play on Encore Black at 4:10pm (CST) Friday and 9:40pm Saturday. You will not be disappointed.

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 2, 2015 at 10:03 PM

    My admiration for you has grown by another order of magnitude. Now, if we could only find a musical way to bring together the disparate views on climate!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike SmithMarch 3, 2015 at 10:12 AM

    Hi Gene, thanks for the comment.

    Agree, I will welcome you to my views on climate at any time! :-)

    ReplyDelete

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