I Couldn't Cry If I Wanted To

Last updated
"I Couldn't Cry If I Wanted To"
Single by Eddie Holland
A-side "I'm on the Outside Looking In"
B-side "I Couldn't Cry If I Wanted To"
ReleasedOctober 16, 1963
Recorded Hitsville USA (Studio A); November 2, 1962 & April 19, 1963
Genre R&B
Label Motown 1049
Songwriter(s) Norman Whitfield
Eddie Holland
Producer(s) Norman Whitfield
Eddie Holland singles chronology
"Baby Shake"
(1963)
"I'm On The Outside Looking In" / "I Couldn't Cry If I Wanted To"
(1963)
"Leaving Here"
(1963)
"I Couldn't Cry If I Wanted To"
Single by The Temptations
A-side "(I Know) I'm Losing You"
B-side "I Couldn't Cry If I Wanted To"
ReleasedNovember 2, 1966
Recorded Hitsville USA (Studio A); November 2, 1962
(Remixed June 7, 1966)
Genre R&B/Soul/Pop
Length2:31
Label Gordy
G 7057
Songwriter(s) Norman Whitfield
Edward Holland, Jr.
Producer(s) Norman Whitfield
The Temptations singles chronology
"Beauty Is Only Skin Deep"
(1966)
"(I Know) I'm Losing You" / "I Couldn't Cry If I Wanted To"
(1966)
"All I Need"
(1967)

"I Couldn't Cry If I Wanted To" is a 1962 Motown song written by Edward Holland, Jr. and Norman Whitfield. It would later be released as B-sides for singles by The Temptations (in 1966) [1] [2] and Holland himself (in 1963), [3] both of which were produced by Whitfield.

Contents

In the Temptations case, their recording had spent four years in the vault before being remixed in June 1966 and released that November, making it the last recording from the period of the original lineup to be put on a single (as a B-Side). [4] [5] It is also one of the few B-Sides that was led by Paul Williams since David Ruffin, whose vocals are not on this track due to being recorded before he joined, took his spot as the group's main lead singer. [1]

Cash Box said that the Temptations version has a "powerful soul sound." [6]

Personnel

Temptations version

Eddie Holland version

Related Research Articles

"Psychedelic Shack" is a 1969 single for the Motown label performed by The Temptations and produced by Norman Whitfield. It became a hit single in 1970.

"That's the Way Love Is" is a 1967 Tamla (Motown) single recorded by The Isley Brothers and produced by Norman Whitfield.

"(I Know) I'm Losing You" is a 1966 hit single recorded by the Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label, written by Cornelius Grant, Eddie Holland and Norman Whitfield, and produced by Norman Whitfield.

I Wish It Would Rain 1967 single by The Temptations

"I Wish It Would Rain" is a 1967 song recorded by the Temptations for the Motown label and produced by Norman Whitfield.

<i>The Temptations with a Lot o Soul</i> 1967 studio album by The Temptations

The Temptations with a Lot o' Soul is the fifth studio album by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label released in 1967. Featuring four hit singles, With a Lot o' Soul is the most successful Temptations album from their "classic 5" era, during which David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin, and Otis Williams constituted the Temptations' lineup.

Beauty Is Only Skin Deep 1966 single by The Temptations

"Beauty Is Only Skin Deep" is a 1964 song, written by Norman Whitfield and Edward Holland, Jr., and produced by Whitfield. Norman Whitfield recorded the song's instrumental track. Two years later, Whitfield got together with Eddie Holland to have lyrics written for the song.

"Try It Baby" is a slow blues ballad recorded by American soul singer Marvin Gaye, released on the Tamla label in 1964. The ballad was written and produced by Gaye's brother-in-law, Motown chairman Berry Gordy.

All I Need (The Temptations song) Song of The Temptations

"All I Need" is a 1967 hit single recorded by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label. It is the group's first single to be produced by Norman Whitfield's protégé Frank Wilson. Written by Wilson, Edward Holland, Jr. and R. Dean Taylor, the single was a Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 8; it was also a number-two hit on the Billboard R&B singles chart.

"(Loneliness Made Me Realize) It's You That I Need" is a 1963 song that became a 1967 hit single recorded by the Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label, produced and co-written by Norman Whitfield. Billboard described the single as a "groovy rocker" that "is loaded with excitement and another top vocal workout."

"You're My Everything" is a 1967 single recorded by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label. It is the first of three singles to be co-written for the group by Motown songwriter Rodger Penzabene. It reached number three on the U.S. R&B chart and number six on the U.S. Pop chart. It would be the third single from the group's 1967 album The Temptations with a Lot o' Soul.

"What's Easy for Two Is Hard for One" is a song written and produced by Smokey Robinson and released as a single by singer Mary Wells for the Motown label.

"Everybody Needs Love" is a 1964 Motown song by Norman Whitfield and Edward Holland, Jr.. The first version released was by The Temptations for their album The Temptin' Temptations in 1965, but the most successful version was on a single by Gladys Knight & the Pips, which peaked at #39 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and #3 on the Billboard R&B singles chart, in 1967. Other Motown acts that recorded this song were Mary Wells, which featured Eddie Kendricks of The Temptations in the background, Jimmy Ruffin, The Velvelettes, and The Miracles. All versions of the song were produced by Whitfield.

"What Love Has Joined Together" is a song written and composed by Miracles members Smokey Robinson and Bobby Rogers, and was recorded by six Motown acts: Mary Wells, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Barbara McNair, Syreeta, and Queen Latifah and was issued as B-sides to hits by Wells and The Temptations; "Your Old Standby" for Wells, released in 1963, and "It's Growing" by The Temptations, released in 1965.

Gonna Give Her All the Love Ive Got

"Gonna Give Her All the Love I've Got" is a 1967 Soul song, originally recorded and made a hit by Jimmy Ruffin on Motown's Soul Label imprint. Ruffin's 1967 original version, from his album Jimmy Ruffin Sings Top Ten, reached the Pop Top 30, peaking at #29, and was a Top 20 R&B Hit as well, peaking at #14. It was also a hit in Britain, reaching #26 on the UK Singles Chart. The song has a social context: it depicts a man anticipating his release from prison on the morrow, when he'll return home on a train to "the girl that I left behind," promising himself that he will reward her steadfast love for him by "giv[ing] her all the love [he's] got." The song was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong and produced by Whitfield.

"How Can I Forget" was originally recorded as a love ballad by Motown group The Temptations in 1968 and was re-recorded in a psychedelic soul/funk styling by fellow Motown artist, Marvin Gaye in 1969. His version, released on Motown's first subsidiary, Tamla, became a modest hit that almost reached the Top 40 of the pop charts while peaking at number-eighteen on the Hot Selling Soul Singles chart in 1970. Marvin's recording was featured on his That's the Way Love Is album. The song is also notable for being one of the shortest recordings for both The Tempts and for Gaye; recorded when most songs are over three minutes, its length is just under two.

"Oh, Mother of Mine" is a 1961 song that was released as a Miracle label single by Motown singing group The Temptations. It was the group's debut single for Motown, after signing with them in January of that year.

"A Tear from a Woman’s Eye" is a 1964 song written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, and recorded by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label. It competed with several songs, including "The Way You Do the Things You Do" and "Just Let Me Know" in an effort to become the A-side to the group's seventh single. It was recorded just three days before the hit song that it lost the nomination to, which was "The Way You Do the Things You Do". The group's falsetto Eddie Kendricks as the song's narrator, compares several sad situations to a woman crying, which he says is "the saddest thing I've ever seen." This would be the first of only two times in which H-D-H would produce any material for the group, who would be one of the few major Motown acts never to release a single produced by the trio, due to Berry Gordy, Jr., Smokey Robinson, and (later) Norman Whitfield having a tight hold on the group's released material. This song would go unreleased until the 1994 box-set "Emperors of Soul", while "Just One Last Look" would be released as album filler on "The Temptations with a Lot o' Soul". The group would also later cover The Vandellas' "I'm Ready for Love", which would be released on "The Temptations in a Mellow Mood" but not produced by H-D-H.

"Just One Last Look" is a 1966 song written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, and recorded by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label, and The Four Tops for the main Motown label. Intended for release as a single for both, it was blocked from doing so and shelved.

"Truly Yours" is a 1966 song and single by The Spinners for the Motown label. Co-written and produced by William "Mickey" Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter, the single became the Detroit-reared group's second to chart on the company label, and the fourth to chart altogether. It was also the last to chart in the 1960s and last to chart for the group until "It's a Shame". The single peaked at 11 on the BillboardBubbling Under Hot 100 charts. However, on the Billboard R&B singles chart, "Truly Yours" was a Top 20 hit, peaking at number 16.

"Say You" is a 1965 soul song, written by Robert Dobyne, Robert Staunton and Charles Jones, and recorded by both The Monitors, who had a charting R&B Hit with the song, and The Temptations.

References

  1. 1 2 The Temptations - 50th Anniversary: The Singles Collection 1961-1971 [CD liner notes]. New York: Hip-O Select/Motown/Universal Records
  2. The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 6: 1966 [CD liner notes]. New York: Hip-O Select/Motown/Universal Records
  3. The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 3: 1963 [CD liner notes]. New York: Hip-O Select/Motown/Universal Records
  4. The Temptations: Emperors of Soul [CD liner notes]. New York: Motown Records
  5. "Don't Forget the Motor City". Dftmc.info. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
  6. "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. November 12, 1966. p. 20. Retrieved 2022-01-12.