| My Baby | |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | The Temptations |
| 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 |
| Producer: | Smokey Robinson |
| Prev Title: | Since I Lost My Baby |
| Prev Year: | 1965 |
| Title2: | Don't Look Back |
| Next Title: | Get Ready |
| Next Year: | 1966 |
"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]
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."
| Chart (1965) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Chart | 13 |
| U.S. Billboard R&B Singles | 4 |