My Girl – The Temptations

About the song

The song was Written and produced by the Miracles members Smokey Robinson and Ronald White.

The song was recorded by the Temptations for the Gordy (motown) record label. Motown Records released the original single of “My Girl” on December 21, 1964

The inspiration of the song

Robinson’s inspiration for writing “My Girl” was his wife, Miracles member Claudette Rogers Robinson.

Smokey said that the song is not about a specific girl, but “written with all the women in the world in mind.

The previous year, Robinson wrote “My Guy” for Motown singer Mary Wells. That song carried the same sentiment of unconditional love, but from a female perspective.

The lyrics

Instruments used in the song

• bass guitar (three note beat in beginning)
• snare drum (light taps)
• finger snapping
• light hand clapping
• trumpets (toward end of song)

A live performance….

The song in movies

The song was used as the title and theme song of a 1991 movie called “My girl” and also its 1994 sequel – “My girl 2”.

The song also appeared in the movies “The big chill” (1983), “Mannequin” (1987), “Born on the Fourth of July” (1989), “Sleeping with the enemy” (1991), “Munich” (2005), and “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” (2007).

The song success

“My girl” climbed to the top of the U.S. pop charts after its Christmas time 1964 release, making it the Temptations’ first number 1 hit.

The single was also thr first number 1 hit on the reinstated Billboard R&B singles chart, which had gone on a fifteen-month hiatus from 1963 to 1965.

The single also gave the Gordy label its first number 1 on the Hot 100.

The song made the Temptations major stars. Before “My girl”, the group had scored just one placing in the U.S. singles Top 20. After “My girl”, they scored a further 23.

Covers

The song has more than 200 covers.

Between them:Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, The Rolling Stones, The Jackson 5, Phil Collins and many more.

Heres one of my favorite cover….