Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)
"Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" | ||||
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Single by The Temptations | ||||
from the album Sky's the Limit | ||||
B-side | "You Make Your Own Heaven and Hell Right Here on Earth" | |||
Released | January 14, 1971 | |||
Recorded | November 24, 1970 and December 3, 1970 | |||
Studio | Golden World (Studio B) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:54 | |||
Gordy (G 7105) | ||||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Norman Whitfield | |||
The Temptations singles chronology | ||||
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Official audio"Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)" (Lyric Video) on YouTube |
"Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" | |
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The Glimmer Twins | |
Some Girls track listing | |
10 tracks
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Official audio"Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" (Remastered) on YouTube |
"Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" is a song by American
Today, "Just My Imagination" is considered one of the Temptations'
Composition and lyrics
A full
Origins
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, producer/composer
"Just My Imagination" was the result of one of the few times that Whitfield relented and produced a ballad as a single for the group. Whitfield and Strong wrote the song in 1969, but with the Temptations' psychedelic soul singles consistently keeping them in the US Top 20, Whitfield and Strong decided to shelve the composition and wait for the right time to record it. In late 1970, the Temptations' single "Ungena Za Ulimwengu (Unite the World)", a psychedelic soul song about world peace, failed to reach the Top 30, and Whitfield decided to record and release "Just My Imagination" as the next single. He approached Barrett Strong, and asked him to pull out "that song we were messing around with a year ago... because I'm going to record it today."[9] Except for their late 1960s duets with Diana Ross & the Supremes, the Temptations had not released a single that was not based in psychedelia since "Please Return Your Love to Me" from The Temptations Wish It Would Rain in 1968.
Recording
Norman Whitfield began the recording of "Just My Imagination" by preparing the song's instrumental track. Whitfield arranged and recorded the non-orchestral elements of the instrumental with Motown's studio band, The Funk Brothers, who for this recording included Eddie Willis and Dennis Coffey on guitar, Jack Ashford on marimba, Jack Brokensha on timpani, Andrew Smith on drums, and Bob Babbitt on bass. Jerry Long, an arranger who had previous experience with scoring films in Paris, worked on the orchestral arrangement and conducted several members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in performing the horns and strings for the recording. The Temptations had heard the Funk Brothers' tracks and loved them, but were "totally knocked out", according to Otis Williams, when they heard "the finished record with all the strings".[10]
The Temptations added their vocals at Motown's
The song was recorded in the midst of a bitter feud between Kendricks and the Temptations' de facto leader, Otis Williams. Dissatisfied and frustrated with Williams' leadership, Kendricks began to withdraw from the group, and picked several fights with either Williams or his best friend, bass singer Melvin Franklin. When Kendricks told his friend ex-Temptation David Ruffin about his problems in the group, Ruffin convinced Kendricks that he should begin a solo career. After a final altercation during a November 1970 Copacabana engagement, both Kendricks and Williams agreed that it would be best for Kendricks to leave the group. By the time "Just My Imagination" was recorded, Williams and Kendricks were no longer on friendly speaking terms. Nevertheless, Williams was impressed by Kendricks' performance on the recording, and in his 1988 Temptations biography referred to "Just My Imagination" as "Eddie's finest moment".[11]
Release and reception
Motown released "Just My Imagination" as a single on their Gordy label on January 14, 1971, with the up-tempo psychedelic soul song "You Make Your Own Heaven and Hell Right Here on Earth", from the 1970
But there was such a bittersweet feeling. Eddie had really changed. Paul was on his last legs. Watch the clip of us doing the song on Ed Sullivan we're not together. Eddie is off by himself. There was no more group. Sure enough, when we played the Copa that week, Eddie left between shows. He didn't come back.[12]
On February 7, 1971, "Just My Imagination" entered the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart at number 71 and later number one on both the Hot 100 and the U.S. Billboard R&B Singles charts.[9] It also became the group's first entry on the Adult Contemporary chart, reaching number 33; the group would not return to that chart until 1984.[14]
The single was included along with "Unite the World" on the Temptations' ninth regular studio album,
The intended follow-up to "Just My Imagination" was "Smiling Faces Sometimes", on which Kendricks sang lead. When Kendricks left, they released, instead, "I'm the Exception to the Rule", a song in the same vein (featuring Kendricks, Otis Williams and Edwards on lead) which follows "Just My Imagination" on the album. Unable to promote the song because they did not have anyone to do his parts in concert, the song failed miserably so the company pushed the "B-side" – the group's re-recording of "It's Summer", initially the B-side of "Ball of Confusion", at the last-minute, and Norman Whitfield had The Undisputed Truth record "Smiling Faces Sometimes", for whom it was a major hit. The Temptations and Norman Whitfield returned to psychedelic soul for their next album, Solid Rock, whose second single, "Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are)", was written by Whitfield and Barrett Strong as an alleged criticism of both Kendricks and David Ruffin.
Personnel
The Temptations
- Eddie Kendricks – lead vocals, first tenor
- Paul Williams – solo on bridge, baritone
- Dennis Edwards – first tenor
- Otis Williams – second tenor
- Melvin Franklin – bass vocals
Chart performance
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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Notes
- ^ Billboard Staff (October 19, 2023). "The 500 Best Pop Songs: Staff List". Billboard. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
One of the most beautiful, bittersweet R&B ballads of all time, thanks to Eddie Kendricks' yearning lead vocals...
- ^ "Billboard Hot 100". Billboard. 1971-04-03.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 572.
- ^ "The Rolling Stones - Some Girls Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2021-03-09.
- ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)". allmusic. Retrieved 2008-11-07..
- ^ Eder, Bruce. "Norman Whitfield > Biography". allmusic. Retrieved 2008-11-13.
- ^ a b Ankeny, Jason. "The Temptations > Biography". allmusic. Retrieved 2008-11-13.
- ^ Audio interview with Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin Archived 2010-02-12 at the Wayback Machine, recorded in 1991 in the United Kingdom. Retrieved on September 28, 2005. When asked several times about the Temptations' psychedelic records, Kendricks asserts that having the group record psychedelic soul was wholly "the producer's [Norman Whitfield's] idea", and that by 1970, "the fans were screaming bloody murder", and demanding a return "to what we do best".
- ^ a b Bronson 2003
- ^ Williams & Romanowski 2002, p. 151
- ^ Williams & Romanowski 2002, p. 150
- ^ Williams, Otis and Weinger, Harry (2002). My Girl: The Very Best of the Temptations [CD liner notes]. New York: Motown/Universal Records.
- ^ "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. January 30, 1971. p. 26. Retrieved 2021-12-09.
- ^ Bronson, Fred (October 9, 2008). "Chart Beat". Billboard. Retrieved 2008-11-07..
- ^ Canada, Library and Archives (17 July 2013). "Image : RPM Weekly". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
- ^ "Just My Imagination – Temptations". Official Charts Company. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
- ISBN 0-89820-089-X
- ^ "The Temptations Chart History: Adult Contemporary". Billboard. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
- ^ "The Temptations Chart History: Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs". Billboard. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
- ^ "Top 100 Hits of 1971/Top 100 Songs of 1971". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-10-05.
- ^ Billboard. 1971-12-25. p. 15. Retrieved 2016-10-03.
References
- Bronson, Fred (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th ed.). New York: Billboard. ISBN 0-8230-7677-6..
- Crandall, Bill; et al. (December 9, 2004). "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. No. 963. pp. 65–163. Retrieved 2008-11-07.. (EBSCOsubscription required for online access.)
- Williams, Otis; Romanowski, Patricia (2002). Temptations (Revised ed.). Lanham, MD: Cooper Square. ISBN 0-8154-1218-5..
Further reading
- "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)". Super Seventies Rocksite!. Retrieved 2008-11-07..
- The Temptations - Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me) on YouTube
External links
- "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)" on YouTube - The Ed Sullivan Show, January 31, 1971