Hoe bijzonder het was dat Motown in de gesegregeerde VS de brug kon slaan van “zwarte” muziek naar de alomvattende door “wit” overheerste muziekmarkt – het is een bijna terloopse opmerking in het boek over Woke van Susan Neiman. Het was niet vanzelfsprekend!
Dit werd nr.1 in de Hot100, het was ook zo’n beetje de eerste grote Motownhit in het VK en wat was het goed… Tevens een eerste proeve van de woordsmederij van Smokey Robinson.
Mijn eigen kennismaking met Motown, 1964.
Nothing you can say can tear me away
From my guy
Nothing you could do, ‘cause I’m stuck like glue
To my guy
I’m sticking to my guy like a stamp to a letter
Like birds of a feather we stick together
I’m tellin’ you from the start
I can’t be torn apart from my guy
Nothing you could do could make me be untrue
To my guy (my guy)
Nothing you could buy could make me tell a lie
To my guy (my guy)
I gave my guy my word of honor
To be faithful and I’m gonna
You’d best be believing
I won’t be deceiving my guy
As a matter of opinion, I think he’s tops
My opinion is he’s the cream of the crop
As a matter of taste to be exact
He’s my ideal as a matter of fact
No muscle bound man could take my hand
From my guy (my guy)
No handsome face could ever take the place
Of my guy (my guy)
He may not be a movie star
But when it comes to being happy, we are
There’s not a man today who can take me away
From my guy
No muscle bound man could take my hand
From my guy (my guy)
No handsome face could ever take the place
Of my guy (my guy)
He may not be a movie star
But when it comes to being happy, we are
There’s not a man today who can take me away
From my guy (what’cha say?)
There’s not a man today who could take me away
From my guy (Tell me more!)
There’s not a man today who could take me away
From my guy
My guy, Mary Wells
– Uitgelichte afbeelding: By Photo by James Kriegsmann, New York – eBayfrontback, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38586415
