Smokey Robinson (born February 19, 1940) – Just My Soul Responding (1973)
The Motown legend co-wrote this powerful message song denouncing racism for his debut solo LP, co-produced by Willie Hutch.
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Legendary Motown artist Smokey Robinson is the former lead singer, primary songwriter and producer of the Miracles, the label’s first superstar group. He was one of Motown’s most prolific songwriters and wrote numerous hits for his own group and other artists including “My Girl” and “Get Ready” by the Temptations, Marvin Gaye’s “Ain’t That Peculiar,” and “My Guy” by Mary Wells. He became vice president of Motown in the mid-1960s and embarked on a successful solo career in the early 70s.
Born in Detroit, Robinson was raised in the city’s North End neighborhood, where he was childhood friends with Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross. He formed a doo-wop group in high school called the Five Chimes with his friends Ronald White and Pete Moore. After several name changes and the addition of members Bobby Rogers, his sister Claudette Rogers (who married Robinson in 1959), and guitarist Marvin Tarplin, they became the Miracles.
For an overview of Robinson’s career with the Miracles and as one of Motown’s most prominent songwriters, see this excellent 2014 interview by Geoff Brown that appeared in Mojo Magazine.
In 1969, three years before Robinson left the group, they had a #15 R&B hit that laid down a much-copied template for male vocal soul groups in the early seventies. “Here I Go Again” was co-written by Robinson, Pete Moore, and Motown staff songwriters Terry “Buzzy” Johnson and Al Cleveland (who would later co-write “What’s Going On” with Marvin Gaye). It was included on their album Time Out for Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, and issued as the B-side to their #7 R&B hit single “Doggone Right.” They memorably performed it on an episode of the ABC show The Music Scene.
After announcing his retirement and leaving the Miracles in 1972, Robinson jumped back into the game a year later as a solo artist. He co-produced his debut LP Smokey with Willie Hutch, released in June, 1973 on Tamla. The album’s masterpiece was the socially conscious “Just My Soul Responding,” Robinson’s most overtly political song of his career, which chronicled the oppression faced by both Black and Native Americans.
He co-wrote it with former Miracle guitarist Marv Tarplin, who left the group a year after Robinson did to work with him on his solo projects. Issued as the album’s fourth and final single, it did not chart in the U.S., although it hit #35 on the UK singles chart.
Another highlight was the funky jam “Wanna Know My Mind,” which was the B-side to the album’s first single “Sweet Harmony,” Robinson’s #31 R&B tribute to the Miracles. It was co-arranged by Hutch, David Blumberg, and Gene Page.
His second solo album Pure Smokey came out a year later in 1974. Robinson wrote or co-wrote almost all its songs, and solely produced it save for its closing cut, the funky, poetic love song “A Tattoo” which he co-produced with Hutch. He wrote the smooth jam “I Am, I Am” and co-arranged it with Page.
In 1977, Robinson scored his first soundtrack, for the Blaxploitation crime film Big Time. He also executive produced and put up most of the movie’s budget. Robinson was on set every day during filming, wooed distributors, and even appeared live in theaters in select cities to perform short sets before screenings.
It originated as a short film by producers Andrew Georgias and Louis Gross. who showed it to Robinson along with a group of other potential investors. As he explained in an interview at the time:
“I liked what I saw there and thought it would have a great deal of potential for us to do some really funny things with it. I financed the entire thing so that I could have complete creative control, and from that time, I was involved with every aspect of it.”
The film starred Tobar Mayo (who the same year was cast as John Abar in the infamous Abar, The First Black Superman), Christipher Joy (Deniece Williams’ husband for a brief time in the early eighties), and Jayne Kennedy, the wife of Robinson’s close friend Leon Isaac (for whom Robinson served as best man when they married in 1971), who co-wrote and co-produced the film.
Robinson produced the soundtrack and wrote or co-wrote all of it. The epic nine-minute title track opening cut was released as a single and hit #38 R&B. Like the rest of the album, it was co-arranged by Ronnie McNeir and Sonny Burke and featured Melvin “Wah Wah Watson” Ragin on guitar.
The beautiful slow jam “If We’re Gonna Act Like Lovers” was co-written by Robinson and songwriter Kennis Jones, who years later recalled its origins:
“This was my first song I presented to Smokey Robinson after he auditioned me as a songwriter. It was the biggest and best moment of my life Praise God. I came to L.A. from Chicago with over 500 songs in my briefcase. Smokey collaborated with me and recorded the song for the movie Big Time.”
Unfortunately, Robinson’s herculean promotional efforts could not save the film from becoming a box office and critical flop. He lost over $500,000 on the project, a sizable sum in the late seventies. But the experience strengthened his bond with Isaac, who helped steer him on the road to recovery when Robinson became addicted to cocaine in the eighties, a difficult period he documented in his 1989 book Inside My Life.
Last fall, while promoting Gasms (2023), his first album of new material in more than a decade, he appeared on The Jennifer Hudson Show and confessed that its title was in fact a calculated bid to capture folks’ attention. But then he blew everyone’s minds by explaining the actual definition of the root word is “any good feeling you might have,” not just an orgasm. Although his wife and stepdaughter tried to talk him out of the album title, it had the desired effect and resulted in a flurry of renewed interest in his career, with its laid back lead single “If We Don't Have Each Other” hitting #28 on the Adult R&B Airplay chart.
Happy 84th Birthday to the legend Smokey Robinson.
Further info:
“Smokey Robinson: Churning Out Hits,” by Debroah Evans Price, American Songwriter, November/December 1991.
“Smokey Robinson: “When you dabble in hard drugs, they just overtake you,” interview by Geoff Brown, Mojo Magazine, Issue 251, 2014.
“Smokey's 'Big Time' Education,” by Adam White, West Grand Blog, April 27, 2018.
#soul #funk #Motown #Miracles #SmokeyRobinson