March 18, 2009 Earworm

Imagine being tasked with creating a follow up to a number one single like The Temptations' "My Girl"...

To better, or even match, an instant classic of modern pop must have been daunting even if your name is Smokey Robinson but, following the Motown rule of making your hits successor sound enough like it, he managed to come up with a fine facsimile in "It's Growing" and, in lacking the success achieved by "My Girl", it remains a refreshing surprise when stumbled upon. Yesterday, while standing in line behind a technology challenged user for the self-serve machine at the post office, "It's Growing" came over the piped-in and what had been a few minutes of teeth gnashing suddenly turned into a group performance as I realized that the woman in front of me was singing along with the back up and the man behind me was tapping out the beat on his parcel. As our eyes met, he said, "What? You started it", so I guess I was humming, or worse, singing along absentmindedly. More surprising to me than our little big chill moment was that anyone knew this #18 pop hit well enough to pull it off.

"It's Growing" may not have that wicked bass line as it's opening but it does have a instantly catchy toy piano, and it's opening lyric - "like a snowball rolling down the side of slope of a hill" may not be one of Smokey's finest moments - it kind of sucks, actually - he still paints his visuals with a pen dipped in honey and candy hearts even if the message of love that David Ruffin delivers is honest enough to incorporate as much negative imagery as positive, suggesting an internal struggle that is further emphasized by several ebbs in a constantly expanding arrangement and whatever that it is that sounds like a wood block smacking a pipe*. Oh, and The Adantes make their one and only known appearance on a Temps record, adding an extra layer of concern to the mix.

"My Girl" is about unconditional love, "It's Growing" is about the anticipation and the anxiety that precedes it, and as time goes by, I find the latter far more interesting.

*probably a wood block smacking a pipe knowing those wacky kids at Motown.