SMOKEY ROBINSON & THE MIRACLES
Have been playing "The Tracks of My Tears" to the exclusion of the radio and any other song by any other artist - even other songs by SR&TMs. For the last three weeks it's all I've listened to. (Fear it may be a sign of impending madness.) At its height, this mania extended to listening to the song through headphones 11 times in a row (it's only 2 minutes 53 seconds). I understand that the song is an example of perfection. There's nothing about it that could possibly have been bettered. All the component parts of the song are a big hit with me. The distinctively 'bright' "Motown-y" drum sound (which sounds a bit like the drums of a marching band); the powerful, transcendant horns that come in at the chorus; the dipping, descending bassline; the glorious harmonies of the backing singers, and, most of all, Smokey's voice...
Here's what Rolling Stone magazine says about the song;
Legend had it that audience members would actually break down in tears when Robinson and the Miracles sang "The Tracks of My Tears." "There was just something about it people loved," Moore of the Miracles told ROLLING STONE. "It really tapped into the depth of their emotions." Among those whose emotions it stirred was Pete Townshend, who became obsessed with the way Robinson put across the word substitute in the song ("Although she may be cute/She's just a substitute"). So obsessed, he explained, "that I decided to celebrate the word itself with a song all its own" -- which is how he came to write the Who's 1966 hit "Substitute." The Tracks of My Tears was such a clear winner, even hard-to-please Motown founder Berry Gordy proclaimed it a masterpiece.
Have been playing "The Tracks of My Tears" to the exclusion of the radio and any other song by any other artist - even other songs by SR&TMs. For the last three weeks it's all I've listened to. (Fear it may be a sign of impending madness.) At its height, this mania extended to listening to the song through headphones 11 times in a row (it's only 2 minutes 53 seconds). I understand that the song is an example of perfection. There's nothing about it that could possibly have been bettered. All the component parts of the song are a big hit with me. The distinctively 'bright' "Motown-y" drum sound (which sounds a bit like the drums of a marching band); the powerful, transcendant horns that come in at the chorus; the dipping, descending bassline; the glorious harmonies of the backing singers, and, most of all, Smokey's voice...
Here's what Rolling Stone magazine says about the song;
Legend had it that audience members would actually break down in tears when Robinson and the Miracles sang "The Tracks of My Tears." "There was just something about it people loved," Moore of the Miracles told ROLLING STONE. "It really tapped into the depth of their emotions." Among those whose emotions it stirred was Pete Townshend, who became obsessed with the way Robinson put across the word substitute in the song ("Although she may be cute/She's just a substitute"). So obsessed, he explained, "that I decided to celebrate the word itself with a song all its own" -- which is how he came to write the Who's 1966 hit "Substitute." The Tracks of My Tears was such a clear winner, even hard-to-please Motown founder Berry Gordy proclaimed it a masterpiece.
