It Was 50 Years Ago Today: “Get Ready” by The Temptations
May 3, 1966
“Get Ready” by The Temptations
#1 on the Billboard Hot Rhythm and Blues Singles chart, April 30 – May 6, 1966
Smokey Robinson wasn’t the first of Motown’s stable of writer-producers to take on the label’s premier male group, the Temptations. The group had originally been a pet project of label founder Berry Gordy Jr., and up-and-comer Norman Whitfield had also contributed a side or two. But it was Robinson who transformed the Temptations from a struggling band of also-rans into one of Motown’s biggest successes. First, he gave the group, long-derided as “the hitless Temptations,” its breakout single, 1964’s Top 20 smash “The Way You Do the Things You Do.” Second, he recognized the hidden potential of group member David Ruffin, and wrote a song showcasing his gruff yet sensitive voice. When “My Girl” soared to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, it initiated a more sophisticated, soulful direction for the group, and elevated one-time back-up singer Ruffin to the role of frontman.
After the success of “My Girl” in 1965, Robinson and the Temptations collaborated on a series of hits, all of which made both the pop Top 20 and the R&B Top 5. “It’s Growing” and “Since I Lost My Baby” were ballads echoing the romantic yearning of “My Girl,” while the mid-tempo “My Baby” sped up the formula slightly, but retained a similarly elegant feel. All three songs were hits, but none replicated the blockbuster success of “My Girl,” much less approached the level of the Supremes’ near-unbroken string of #1s. Robinson decided it was time to try something different.
While the Temptations had released a handful of dance tunes pre-“My Girl,” none of them matched the potency of the pulsing, electric “Get Ready,” dominated by Benny Benjamin’s energetic, yet unshowy, drumming. Eddie Kendricks, who had handled most of the Temptations’ leads before Ruffin’s breakthrough, returns to the spotlight, his smooth falsetto pleasantly contrasting with the forceful beat (and with his bandmate’s gritty angst). Robinson called “Get Ready” the most direct thing he’d written, and indeed, it’s marginally less polished than his usual fare, even if the romanticism permeating lines like “whenever I’m asked who makes my dreams true, I say that you do” is unmistakably Smokey.
“Get Ready” was the most thrilling single the Temptations had released in over a year, and it sounded like a surefire hit — which it was, and it wasn’t. “Get Ready” became the group’s first R&B #1 since “My Girl,” but it stalled at #29 on the pop charts, an unacceptably low peak in the eyes of Motown head Berry Gordy. Meanwhile, Norman Whitfield, who had written and produced the Temptations’ Top 40 hit “Girl (Why You Wanna Make Me Blue)” — the last single before “My Girl” put the group under Robinson’s exclusive purview — had been lobbying Gordy for another shot. When Gordy opted to release “Get Ready” instead of the song that Whitfield had written, he did so with a proviso: if the former wasn’t a big enough success, he’d give the latter a chance.
Such were the strict standards at Hitsville U.S.A. that an R&B chart-topper and pop Top 40 hit could be interpreted as a disappointment. Thus, Whitfield was given the nod, and “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” was released on May 3, 1966, the same week “Get Ready” topped the R&B charts. “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” which signaled the return of David Ruffin on lead vocals, peaked at a much more respectable #13 on the Hot 100, opening the door for a collaboration between Whitfield and the Temptations that would stretch into the ’70s. Meanwhile, “Get Ready” would prove not only to be Robinson’s last single for the Temptations, it would point to the end of his run as Motown’s go-to writer and producer. While he would occasionally pen hits for other artists after “Get Ready,” such as 1970’s “Still Water (Love)” for the Four Tops, Robinson would primarily focus on his group the Miracles (and later, his solo career), as well as his role as Motown’s vice president. Robinson had helped codify the label’s sound in its early years, but as the ’60s progressed, songwriter-producers like Holland-Dozier-Holland, Norman Whitfield, and Barrett Strong were eclipsing him as the new voice of Motown.
It Was 50 Years Ago Today examines a song, album, movie, or book that was #1 on the charts exactly half a century ago.
