My Baby (The Temptations song)

"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]

B-side"Don't Look Back"

ReleasedSeptember 30, 1965
(1st pressing)
October 30, 1965
(2nd pressing)

RecordedHitsville USA (Studio A);
August 4 and August 11, 1965

GenreSoul, R&B, pop

Quick facts Single by The Temptations, from the album The Temptin' Temptations ...

"My Baby"
Japanese release picture sleeve
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
Songwriters	Smokey Robinson Robert Rogers Warren Moore
Producer	Smokey Robinson
The Temptations singles chronology
"Since I Lost My Baby" (1965) "My Baby" / "Don't Look Back" (1965) "Get Ready" (1966)

Close

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."