Recommendations of the Editorial team
I went to the Motown Revuen very often, and the Miracles always appeared at the end. They were so good. Everyone knew that. No show or something. The supremes had bigger hits. The tempation had better choreography. The Miracles only managed everything with music.
At that time they only played the more groovy things on the radio like “Do You Love Me” from the Contours in the late evening. Smokey Robinson, they played it all day. Everyone loved his songs, and with this a little hotter, very high voice he had an advantage over all other singers. Smokey was smokey. He was able to sing hoarse falsettes, which is totally difficult, but perfect for a sad ballad like “The Tears of a Clown” or “The Tracks of My Tears”.
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles: “The Tears of a Clown”:
Smokey wrote his things himself and thus had something individual that was lost to the other Motown sizes. He was able to write texts as well as melodies and was a Musician’s Musician. As in Hollywood, where the stars exist and then the actor, whose art can only really appreciate other actors.
I grew up in Michigan in the black quarters of Ann Arbor and therefore knew nothing about black or white music. For me that was just music.
Smokey’s first hit “Shop Around” was one of the first records I bought. Later, when my brother went to the army and I had to earned my mother, I played five sets of 45 minutes a night six days a week in bars. That was from 63 to 67.
Most of the money was earned as a trio. We had a medley of six smokey songs that we played at least twice a evening. “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me”, “Shop Around”, “Bad Girl”, “Way Over There” and others. That was survival strategy.
Smokey was a real gentleman
Smokey was also known as the nicest guy at Motown, which you can hear about your voice. I used to do a television show in Canada, which was called “Swingin ‘Time”, and most of the bands from Detroit came over.
They were all nice, but Smokey was a real gentleman. In 1987 I saw him again at a award ceremony and was able to tell him how much money I had earned in the bars with his songs. These are great memories. Thank you, smokey.