WEBVTT - Smokey Robinson 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:22.796 Pushkin Smokey Robinson as if having one of the most 0:00:22.836 --> 0:00:25.476 beautiful and distinctive voices of all time. One enough, he's 0:00:25.516 --> 0:00:27.956 also one of the greatest songwriters of all time, a 0:00:27.996 --> 0:00:32.116 top notch producer, engaging performer, and then an indispensable part 0:00:32.156 --> 0:00:35.756 of the founding and fabric of motown. In other words, 0:00:35.756 --> 0:00:39.796 he's an institution of American music unto himself. But sometimes 0:00:39.836 --> 0:00:42.236 I wonder if he's hiding in playing sight. A fus 0:00:42.356 --> 0:00:46.236 music lovers take him for granted. This week, on February nineteenth, 0:00:46.316 --> 0:00:48.996 twenty twenty five, he'll be turning eighty five years old, 0:00:49.356 --> 0:00:51.156 and because he's been around as long as he has, 0:00:51.276 --> 0:00:54.516 performing year round, still putting out albums, I think maybe 0:00:54.516 --> 0:00:57.396 we're prone to forget just how monumental he is to music. 0:00:58.316 --> 0:01:00.316 With that in mind, and with Smokey preparing to head 0:01:00.316 --> 0:01:02.196 out for another run on the road, including a three 0:01:02.316 --> 0:01:04.916 night engagement at the Venetian in Las Vegas, we sat 0:01:04.956 --> 0:01:08.516 down for a conversation about his life and legacy. Hopefully 0:01:08.516 --> 0:01:10.836 it'll be the first many conversations we have on broken 0:01:10.876 --> 0:01:17.236 record with the great Smokey Robinson. This is broken record 0:01:17.556 --> 0:01:25.196 liner notes to the digital age. I'm Justin Mitchell. Here's 0:01:25.196 --> 0:01:28.676 my conversation with Smokey Robinson. To see the video version 0:01:28.676 --> 0:01:32.236 of this episode, visit YouTube dot com slash Broken Record podcast. 0:01:33.636 --> 0:01:35.556 So happy to hear you have a Cadillac, because it's like, 0:01:35.596 --> 0:01:38.676 whenever I go to Detroit, Man, that's the most beautiful thing. 0:01:38.796 --> 0:01:40.316 I go to Detroit and you're like, yeah, I'm here 0:01:40.356 --> 0:01:44.116 because everyone's got you know, it's Cadillac. It's uh. 0:01:44.916 --> 0:01:46.516 You know, his field was right down the street from 0:01:46.556 --> 0:01:49.076 General Motors. Man, and everybody had his field. 0:01:52.596 --> 0:01:54.636 It's all American made. When you go to Detroit, it's 0:01:54.636 --> 0:01:57.076 the most beautiful thing you ever seen. Man. 0:01:58.036 --> 0:01:58.276 Man. 0:01:58.316 --> 0:02:00.876 And so you still and you're still you're still driving yourself. 0:02:00.876 --> 0:02:02.636 You don't want most of the time, you don't want 0:02:02.636 --> 0:02:03.396 to call man. 0:02:04.276 --> 0:02:06.836 I'm a very normal guy. Man. You know I don't 0:02:06.876 --> 0:02:10.876 have chauffeurs and all this. You know what, I'm independent. 0:02:12.436 --> 0:02:15.676 Did you ever have a period of time where you thought, 0:02:15.876 --> 0:02:17.396 let me try, let me, let me get a chauffeur. 0:02:17.716 --> 0:02:19.356 No, no, no, no, I only use the shaufe If I'm 0:02:19.396 --> 0:02:22.156 going somewhere official, to a gig, or to the Grammys 0:02:22.236 --> 0:02:25.196 or the airport something like that, you know, I'll have 0:02:25.396 --> 0:02:26.716 a guy who drives me for that. 0:02:26.756 --> 0:02:32.676 But for my regular What's what been very successful for 0:02:32.716 --> 0:02:38.876 a long time as an incredible songwriter, singer, company man, 0:02:38.876 --> 0:02:41.596 record mad I made VP of Motown for a period 0:02:41.636 --> 0:02:45.716 of time as well. I'm an incredible career. What has 0:02:45.796 --> 0:02:48.316 kept you grounded all these years? 0:02:48.836 --> 0:02:52.236 What's kept me grounded the fact that I recognize the 0:02:52.236 --> 0:02:56.276 fact that I'm very, very, very blessed man. You see, 0:02:56.316 --> 0:03:00.196 I'm living my impossible dream. You know, as a child, 0:03:00.716 --> 0:03:02.036 this is what I want to do with my life. 0:03:02.076 --> 0:03:03.676 And I just from where I grew up in the 0:03:03.676 --> 0:03:06.476 hood and all that just wasn't going to be possible, 0:03:07.156 --> 0:03:11.556 you know. So I'm I'm very I'm very blessed man, 0:03:11.156 --> 0:03:13.916 and I don't take it for granted. You know. I've 0:03:13.916 --> 0:03:17.796 seen thousands of people come through show business. Man, I've 0:03:17.796 --> 0:03:20.316 been doing this forever and they get hit record or 0:03:20.316 --> 0:03:22.116 something like that, and they think, oh gosh, the world 0:03:22.116 --> 0:03:25.036 cannot possibly do without me. Now they know me, So 0:03:25.716 --> 0:03:29.236 I'm in You know, that's a bad mistake, man. You know, 0:03:29.276 --> 0:03:30.436 I tell them all the time. If you think he 0:03:30.436 --> 0:03:31.876 can sing, let me take you to my church on 0:03:31.916 --> 0:03:35.716 Sunday and let you hear your sister Ada Maybell. You 0:03:35.756 --> 0:03:39.436 know what I'm saying. So it's just, you know, you 0:03:39.476 --> 0:03:41.316 have to you have to recognize the source and and 0:03:41.556 --> 0:03:44.796 and and what allows me to do this. And I 0:03:44.836 --> 0:03:47.116 you know, I just thank God has blessed me to 0:03:47.156 --> 0:03:49.436 do it. And so that's how I feel about it. 0:03:49.756 --> 0:03:51.676 I mean you when you say that, when you say, 0:03:51.676 --> 0:03:53.956 if you come across someone who thinks they can sing, 0:03:54.036 --> 0:03:56.436 let me take it to your church, I mean that 0:03:56.596 --> 0:03:59.436 has been reality for your whole life. Coming from Detroit 0:03:59.556 --> 0:04:03.316 where at eight years old, you know Aretha Franklin and 0:04:03.396 --> 0:04:07.756 Irma Franklinton and her father, Reverend Franklin, and you know 0:04:08.516 --> 0:04:09.076 the four. 0:04:08.956 --> 0:04:12.796 Times and Daniel Ross lived Flordo was on the street 0:04:12.796 --> 0:04:16.276 from me. Ridiculous. 0:04:16.476 --> 0:04:21.836 You know what, what was primo town when you all 0:04:21.956 --> 0:04:26.356 guys were just growing up and singing and just knowing 0:04:26.356 --> 0:04:28.556 each other. Did you realize how insane it was that 0:04:28.596 --> 0:04:31.436 you guys all had these magnificent voices? 0:04:32.796 --> 0:04:37.636 You know what, man, I tell people all the time. See, 0:04:37.716 --> 0:04:40.276 I think that we, first of all, we were we 0:04:40.276 --> 0:04:43.996 were fortunate that there was a lot of talented kids 0:04:43.996 --> 0:04:47.156 and young people in Detroit. And like you said, I 0:04:47.156 --> 0:04:48.956 grew up with most of them because you know, Rees 0:04:49.036 --> 0:04:52.076 Franklin right around the corner from me, And until Aretha passed, 0:04:52.116 --> 0:04:56.236 she was my longest living friend because all of our 0:04:56.276 --> 0:04:58.076 other friends in the neighborhood were gone, you know what 0:04:58.156 --> 0:05:01.316 I mean, except for her and Diana, you know. And 0:05:01.356 --> 0:05:04.836 so so I grew up with these people, and uh, 0:05:04.916 --> 0:05:07.636 the the the We had a lot of talented people 0:05:07.636 --> 0:05:11.356 around there, you know. But I believe that in every 0:05:11.396 --> 0:05:18.436 big city, in every town, every little village anywhere in 0:05:18.436 --> 0:05:22.316 the world, radio wise, with the amount of people that 0:05:22.396 --> 0:05:25.196 they're that might be that same amount of people ratio wise. 0:05:26.196 --> 0:05:29.516 We had Barry Gordy, you know what I mean. We 0:05:29.556 --> 0:05:33.396 had a young man who had a dream, who about 0:05:33.396 --> 0:05:37.076 eight hundred dollars from his family to start what became 0:05:37.316 --> 0:05:41.596 Motown internationally, you know what I mean. So that's a 0:05:41.596 --> 0:05:45.596 special man, you know. And he was our teacher, he 0:05:45.676 --> 0:05:50.556 was our groomer, you know. And when I met him, 0:05:50.636 --> 0:05:54.916 he was just a songwriter and a record producer in Detroit. 0:05:54.956 --> 0:05:56.996 He was a young man and I met him quite 0:05:57.036 --> 0:05:58.836 by chance. I tell everybody it was a god day. 0:05:59.476 --> 0:06:03.516 Because the miracles and I we weren't called the miracles 0:06:03.556 --> 0:06:07.156 at that time. We would call the matadors. But one 0:06:07.196 --> 0:06:11.476 of our members when we graduated from high school, had 0:06:11.676 --> 0:06:13.916 had his parents to sign for him to go to 0:06:13.956 --> 0:06:15.516 the Army because he wanted to go down because we 0:06:15.516 --> 0:06:18.436 weren't doing anything as a group. So his sister was 0:06:18.476 --> 0:06:21.396 in a sister group to our group in Detroit. And 0:06:21.476 --> 0:06:24.676 so when we went for the art one of the 0:06:24.716 --> 0:06:28.076 members of our group, a guy named Ron White, had 0:06:28.116 --> 0:06:32.876 a cousin who told us that Jackie Wilson's managers. Now, 0:06:33.116 --> 0:06:35.036 as a kid growing up, man Jackie Wilson was my 0:06:35.156 --> 0:06:38.236 number one singing idol okay, and he was from Detroit, 0:06:38.796 --> 0:06:40.676 and he was just a man. He was just you know. 0:06:41.476 --> 0:06:45.876 And so we had an audition with his managers and 0:06:45.996 --> 0:06:48.316 we go to audition for them, and rather than singing 0:06:48.956 --> 0:06:52.236 songs that were currently popular by other artists, we sang 0:06:52.276 --> 0:06:54.076 five songs that I had written. I've been writing songs 0:06:54.116 --> 0:06:57.636 since I was in elementary school or trying anyway. And 0:06:58.836 --> 0:07:00.876 so there was a young man sitting over in the corner, 0:07:01.516 --> 0:07:04.236 and see, I'm sixteen, and he looked like he was 0:07:04.316 --> 0:07:07.396 no more than nineteen or twenty, you know, And I'm 0:07:07.396 --> 0:07:11.396 thinking that he's waiting to audition after we finish. However, 0:07:11.436 --> 0:07:13.316 he's listening to us very carefully, you know, and he's 0:07:13.356 --> 0:07:16.916 just sitting in the corner listening. And so when we 0:07:16.956 --> 0:07:22.076 got through singing these songs, Jackie Wilson's A and R 0:07:22.196 --> 0:07:26.116 man who had been there listening to us, said, well, man, 0:07:26.196 --> 0:07:28.716 he said, you guys like the Platters. You know, the 0:07:28.716 --> 0:07:30.556 Platters were the number one group in the world at 0:07:30.596 --> 0:07:32.916 the time, and they had Zola the girls in the group, 0:07:32.996 --> 0:07:35.396 and Tony sang high. He said, you got the same 0:07:35.396 --> 0:07:37.956 format you singing Hi and the girls in the group. 0:07:37.956 --> 0:07:40.196 He said, we don't need another Platters man, and you 0:07:40.196 --> 0:07:42.796 guys are not going to overtake the Platters, So I'm sorry, 0:07:42.836 --> 0:07:46.356 we can't use you. So we're dejected and we go 0:07:46.436 --> 0:07:48.636 out and we you know, the young man who was 0:07:48.676 --> 0:07:51.716 sitting over in the corner comes out behind est. He says, hey, man, 0:07:51.756 --> 0:07:56.236 wait a minute. So I said yeah. He said, where'd 0:07:56.236 --> 0:07:58.916 you get some songs from that you sing? So I'm wondering, 0:07:58.916 --> 0:08:01.636 why is he asking me that, you know, I said, 0:08:02.116 --> 0:08:04.276 I wrote them. He said you wrote all those songs. 0:08:05.356 --> 0:08:07.396 I said yeah. He said, well, I liked a couple 0:08:07.436 --> 0:08:10.236 of your songs. Man, something to myself. I'm being polite. 0:08:10.396 --> 0:08:12.076 I'm saying, well, thank you very much man, you know, 0:08:12.116 --> 0:08:15.636 but I'm ready to go because you know so, so 0:08:15.716 --> 0:08:17.556 he said, I like to cover your song, you know. 0:08:17.836 --> 0:08:19.716 And I'm thinking to myself, maybe he wants to use 0:08:20.476 --> 0:08:26.436 my songs audition with it, you know. So he said, Now, 0:08:26.476 --> 0:08:28.396 when I buy records, and I still do that today, Man, 0:08:28.436 --> 0:08:30.316 when I buy records, I want to know who composed 0:08:30.316 --> 0:08:33.716 the music, who wrote the song. If it's just an instrumental, 0:08:33.716 --> 0:08:35.796 who composed this music? I want to know that because 0:08:35.796 --> 0:08:38.676 I like checking up on writers, you know. So now 0:08:38.716 --> 0:08:41.676 I got all of Jackie Wilson's records, you know, and 0:08:41.996 --> 0:08:45.316 so he said, yeah, he said, I'm Barry Gordy. What 0:08:47.156 --> 0:08:49.276 you are Barry Gordy who writes all those sits for 0:08:49.316 --> 0:08:53.236 Jackie Wilson and all that, Yeah, and some songs edit, James, 0:08:53.476 --> 0:08:57.556 You're that Barry Gordy And he said yeah. I said, 0:08:57.556 --> 0:09:00.356 I got all your music, man. He said, well it's good. 0:09:00.396 --> 0:09:04.556 You got good taste, he said, but I like to 0:09:04.636 --> 0:09:06.996 couple your songs. He said, you got any more songs? 0:09:08.156 --> 0:09:10.316 He shouldn't have said that, because I had a loosely notebook, man, 0:09:10.316 --> 0:09:12.036 with about one hundred songs that I've been writing to 0:09:12.156 --> 0:09:14.436 elementary school, you know. So he takes me in this 0:09:14.476 --> 0:09:17.276 little room and he says, sing some of your songs 0:09:17.276 --> 0:09:19.156 from me. I like the sound of your voice. I said, okay. 0:09:19.316 --> 0:09:21.716 So I sang about twenty songs a rare that day, man, 0:09:22.956 --> 0:09:25.996 And I loved him because he never once said, okay, man, 0:09:25.996 --> 0:09:28.396 I'm tired, I heard enough, or I got the gold, 0:09:28.476 --> 0:09:30.516 I got a poet. He never said that. He just listened, 0:09:30.836 --> 0:09:33.836 and every song he critiqued it. Because I've always been 0:09:33.836 --> 0:09:36.156 able to rhyme stuff. I've always been able to. I 0:09:36.236 --> 0:09:38.396 used to write poems as a child, and I've always 0:09:38.396 --> 0:09:40.556 been able to rhyme stuff. But my songs at that time, man, 0:09:40.556 --> 0:09:43.676 I only had two songs. The two did like that 0:09:43.836 --> 0:09:46.196 made sense, you know what I mean. They were all 0:09:46.276 --> 0:09:50.476 rhymed up, really good, but they didn't make sense, you know, 0:09:50.556 --> 0:09:52.596 because the first verse had nothing to do with the 0:09:52.636 --> 0:09:56.156 second verse. You know. First verse is, oh, my love, 0:09:56.236 --> 0:09:57.756 I love you so much. It's so glad to have 0:09:57.836 --> 0:10:00.276 you here in my arms and holding you like this, 0:10:00.396 --> 0:10:02.876 and we should never part and all that, and it's 0:10:02.916 --> 0:10:05.996 all rhymed up, you know. Second verse is, oh baby, 0:10:05.996 --> 0:10:07.796 where are you? I haven't seen you in ten years 0:10:08.036 --> 0:10:11.116 and I need you back bad. But it's all rhymed up. 0:10:11.276 --> 0:10:12.916 But he got nothing to do with the bird first, 0:10:12.956 --> 0:10:14.956 you know. So after a while he pointed that out 0:10:14.996 --> 0:10:16.756 to me. He said, hey man, he said, let me 0:10:16.796 --> 0:10:18.196 tell you something. He said, the song has got to 0:10:18.236 --> 0:10:21.716 be like a short book or a short movie or 0:10:21.836 --> 0:10:23.876 short story where the beginning, in the middle and the 0:10:23.996 --> 0:10:28.396 ending tie in together and they you know, they go together, 0:10:28.476 --> 0:10:30.796 you know. He say, your song is just rambling, he said, 0:10:30.796 --> 0:10:32.676 But I want you to listen to radio and see 0:10:32.676 --> 0:10:35.396 what's happening, you know, and see how songs are. You know, 0:10:35.436 --> 0:10:37.076 he said, because you can rhyme really good, he said, 0:10:37.076 --> 0:10:39.076 but I want you to just see how songs go, 0:10:39.276 --> 0:10:42.076 you know. And he said, so do you guys have 0:10:42.116 --> 0:10:44.836 a manager? So I said no, we want to manage. 0:10:44.876 --> 0:10:46.756 He said, well, I'm gonna manage you. And boy, that 0:10:46.916 --> 0:10:50.636 was just so I went out and we go out 0:10:50.676 --> 0:10:52.356 and I tell the group and everybody's all happy, he's 0:10:52.396 --> 0:10:54.316 gonna manage this and all that. So I go on 0:10:54.316 --> 0:10:56.116 and I started listening to the radio, like he said, 0:10:56.156 --> 0:11:00.036 to find out how songs go. The the continuity and 0:11:00.076 --> 0:11:02.156 now they tie in together and all that. So I 0:11:02.156 --> 0:11:03.956 could learn how to write like that. He started to 0:11:03.996 --> 0:11:08.636 mentor me on my songwriter and everything, and so there 0:11:08.636 --> 0:11:11.076 was no more At the time. I wrote a song 0:11:11.116 --> 0:11:14.196 called got a Job in answer to a group called 0:11:14.196 --> 0:11:16.076 the Silhouettes. They had a song called get a Job, 0:11:16.516 --> 0:11:18.516 which was the number one record in the world at 0:11:18.516 --> 0:11:20.636 that time, you know. So they're on Dick Clark one 0:11:20.716 --> 0:11:22.476 day and they're getting a gold record from Dick Clark 0:11:22.476 --> 0:11:24.876 for get a Job. And I see them. I'm looking 0:11:24.876 --> 0:11:27.236 at it, and I'm thinking to myself, get a Job. 0:11:27.636 --> 0:11:31.156 I'm gonna write got a Job. So I wrote the 0:11:31.156 --> 0:11:33.676 song got a Job, Man, and I went down to 0:11:33.876 --> 0:11:36.836 Barry's office where he was and interrupted him in a meeting, 0:11:36.996 --> 0:11:38.756 all that I got it, man, I got it, because 0:11:38.756 --> 0:11:40.076 he said, when you get it, come to me. So 0:11:40.156 --> 0:11:41.716 I said, I got it. I got it. So I 0:11:41.756 --> 0:11:43.476 sang it to him and he loved it, you know. 0:11:43.916 --> 0:11:46.436 So he recorded us, and he put us on in 0:11:46.636 --> 0:11:48.956 records out of New York, you know, because there was 0:11:48.996 --> 0:11:51.436 no Motown, so we weren't in label out of New York, 0:11:52.236 --> 0:11:55.916 and Got a Job turned out to be like a 0:11:56.036 --> 0:11:58.396 hit for us, man, because there were three charts at 0:11:58.396 --> 0:12:00.796 the time, four actually, but the three that were the 0:12:00.796 --> 0:12:03.356 main charts were what they call the pop charts. Were 0:12:03.356 --> 0:12:05.236 all the white artists are on that chart, you know. 0:12:05.796 --> 0:12:08.196 And then they had the Rhythm and Blue chart, you know, 0:12:08.236 --> 0:12:10.196 we're all the black artists were. And then they had 0:12:10.276 --> 0:12:14.436 the classical chart, you know. So anyway, got a Job 0:12:14.516 --> 0:12:18.196 goes to number five on the Rhythm of Blues chart, 0:12:18.836 --> 0:12:21.036 so we know, okay, this is a hit man, it's 0:12:21.076 --> 0:12:26.316 gotta be. So we had got a Job and another 0:12:26.396 --> 0:12:28.836 song which was the other side of got a Job, 0:12:28.836 --> 0:12:30.876 which is a song we had sung at that audition 0:12:30.916 --> 0:12:32.876 in a song called My Mama and told me that 0:12:32.996 --> 0:12:34.876 was on the flip side of got a Job. And 0:12:34.916 --> 0:12:38.196 then we had another forty five with in Rerecords out 0:12:38.196 --> 0:12:41.676 of New York and a song called I Cry, a 0:12:41.676 --> 0:12:45.036 song called I Need some Money, not the one by 0:12:45.036 --> 0:12:47.476 Barret Strong art Strong was money That's what I want. 0:12:48.036 --> 0:12:53.236 But anyway, so we had those four sides with them. 0:12:53.476 --> 0:12:55.076 Now we know got a Job. So he consists in 0:12:55.076 --> 0:12:57.636 the top five that those four sides with them, and 0:12:57.716 --> 0:13:00.836 come time to pay the royalties, which very still has this, 0:13:01.276 --> 0:13:02.996 but come time to pay the royalties, this guy sent 0:13:03.116 --> 0:13:08.996 us a check for foresights for the writing royalties, the 0:13:09.156 --> 0:13:13.836 producers royalties, the for the UH, the publishing royalties, and 0:13:13.876 --> 0:13:16.636 the group royalties. He sent us a check for those 0:13:16.636 --> 0:13:20.916 four sizes for three dollars and nineteen cents for you know. 0:13:21.196 --> 0:13:23.076 So I guess that was the start that broke to 0:13:23.116 --> 0:13:26.356 camel's back for Barry because he started, he was really 0:13:26.436 --> 0:13:29.116 upse three dollar ninety cent. So he borrowed eight hundred 0:13:29.156 --> 0:13:31.876 dollars from his family and started Motown Man. And I 0:13:31.956 --> 0:13:33.636 think that was the straw that broke the camel's back 0:13:33.636 --> 0:13:36.676 that started him that wanted him to start his own record. 0:13:36.716 --> 0:13:39.076 Where I thank George Goldener for that, cause he's got 0:13:39.116 --> 0:13:42.316 all in records. So because that made Berry start Motown Man, 0:13:42.916 --> 0:13:45.436 and UH liked, the rest is history. But I tell 0:13:45.476 --> 0:13:47.636 everybody was a godday because he didn't have to be 0:13:47.676 --> 0:13:49.836 there that day we went to audition man. He did 0:13:49.876 --> 0:13:52.196 not have to be there that day, or we didn't 0:13:52.196 --> 0:13:53.476 have to go on a day when he he was 0:13:53.476 --> 0:13:55.636 there just to turn in some new songs to Jackie Wilson. 0:13:55.796 --> 0:13:57.796 In fact, he had lonely tear drops with him that day, 0:13:58.076 --> 0:14:00.436 you know, t t to to turne into Jackie Wilson. 0:14:00.716 --> 0:14:02.836 So he was just there for that purpose. But he 0:14:02.876 --> 0:14:04.356 didn't have to be there the day that we came, 0:14:05.156 --> 0:14:06.756 and we didn't have to go the day that he 0:14:06.796 --> 0:14:08.636 was gonna be there. Attorney knows himself. So I tell 0:14:08.676 --> 0:14:12.036 everybody was God date because it just started a new 0:14:12.076 --> 0:14:15.276 life for me, you know, yeah, yeah, meeting him like 0:14:15.316 --> 0:14:19.196 that by chance like that, and then for him to 0:14:19.556 --> 0:14:21.316 you know, take an interest in me and take an 0:14:21.356 --> 0:14:24.036 interest in our group, and then to start Moti home 0:14:24.116 --> 0:14:25.716 and you. 0:14:25.676 --> 0:14:27.836 Know, it's it's really hard to believe. And there's so 0:14:27.916 --> 0:14:31.436 many there's so many moments in that story where it 0:14:32.036 --> 0:14:35.116 just maybe couldn't have happened or what you know, or 0:14:35.116 --> 0:14:37.756 any other way, you know, just one thing you got 0:14:37.756 --> 0:14:41.716 there slightly laid or yeah, after the break, we'll be 0:14:41.756 --> 0:14:48.796 back with more from Smokey Robinson. Now all that talent, 0:14:49.596 --> 0:14:53.876 but you you as well included an amazing, gorgeous, beautiful voice. 0:14:55.036 --> 0:14:58.396 I mean, I'll never forget go with my wife about 0:14:58.676 --> 0:15:01.596 maybe five years maybe twenty nineteen to go see you 0:15:01.636 --> 0:15:03.636 at the Greek It was a little maybe was a 0:15:03.676 --> 0:15:07.876 year earlier, and I'll never forget you finished ooh baby baby. 0:15:08.556 --> 0:15:11.996 And I've i never seen an ovation that long or 0:15:12.156 --> 0:15:14.516 that people and I saw Barry Gordy was like, right 0:15:14.556 --> 0:15:16.756 over this way, I'm looking at Barry Gordon, I'm looking 0:15:16.756 --> 0:15:19.156 at you and I'm tripping out. I'm like, that's Barry Gordy, 0:15:19.276 --> 0:15:21.836 that's Smokey Robinson. You finished your baby, Baby, and it 0:15:21.876 --> 0:15:25.556 was like a five minute standing over you. It's incredible. 0:15:25.596 --> 0:15:28.396 I mean to this day, still an incredible voice. But 0:15:28.436 --> 0:15:32.156 the writing talent that you had, you know, and then 0:15:32.196 --> 0:15:35.036 to be a producer too, you know, you had so 0:15:35.236 --> 0:15:40.916 much Like what what was it about music for you 0:15:40.956 --> 0:15:45.516 that made you want to have all of those pieces? 0:15:45.556 --> 0:15:48.036 Nothing made me want to have them. I guess it's 0:15:48.116 --> 0:15:50.436 just a part of what happened for me, man, because 0:15:51.516 --> 0:15:53.436 you know, like I said, after I met Barry and 0:15:53.476 --> 0:15:55.716 he started to mentor me on my songwriting, and I 0:15:55.756 --> 0:16:00.436 started to really concentrate on what he said about making 0:16:00.476 --> 0:16:03.916 a song be a short story, something that somebody can 0:16:03.956 --> 0:16:05.836 relate to all the way through and all that you know. 0:16:06.636 --> 0:16:09.356 And so even today, man, when I said write, so 0:16:09.436 --> 0:16:11.916 I want to write a song, I really want to 0:16:11.916 --> 0:16:14.116 write a song. I hope it's going to be a hit. 0:16:14.716 --> 0:16:16.796 I hope that, you know, when I record it on 0:16:16.836 --> 0:16:19.076 myself or someone else, it's going to be a hit. 0:16:19.636 --> 0:16:22.236 But it might not be. But if it's a song, 0:16:22.956 --> 0:16:25.796 it's got a chance to live on for ten more 0:16:25.876 --> 0:16:27.476 years and somebody can pick it up and say, hey, 0:16:27.676 --> 0:16:30.236 I like this song and record it and it could 0:16:30.276 --> 0:16:32.556 be hit if it's a song. So I always go 0:16:32.676 --> 0:16:34.836 in with the idea that I'm going to write a 0:16:34.836 --> 0:16:38.116 song first. That's my first goal. Let me write a 0:16:38.156 --> 0:16:40.556 song before I ben going to the studio, and I'll 0:16:40.556 --> 0:16:42.476 get in the studio man, and change it, you know, 0:16:43.036 --> 0:16:47.476 and change something. Because actually that's how I was raised. Barry, 0:16:47.676 --> 0:16:49.716 Like I said, bar Goodie is a wonderful teacher. Man. 0:16:49.756 --> 0:16:52.676 He taught us so well. We just had his ninety 0:16:52.676 --> 0:16:55.116 fifth birthday party, not to know, and all the artists 0:16:55.116 --> 0:16:57.316 who and all the writers and producers who are still 0:16:57.356 --> 0:17:00.076 alive were there and we got up and we talked 0:17:00.076 --> 0:17:01.876 about him, and they all said the same thing. He's 0:17:01.916 --> 0:17:04.596 a great teacher. He taught us, he groomed us, he 0:17:04.876 --> 0:17:06.956 you know, he did all those things for us and everything. 0:17:07.436 --> 0:17:10.196 You know, it's a great thing to have a guy 0:17:10.316 --> 0:17:13.916 like him who has that interest in young people. But 0:17:14.036 --> 0:17:21.796 we had the opportunity to do our works and to 0:17:22.236 --> 0:17:26.156 go into the studio and record and and and to 0:17:26.476 --> 0:17:29.796 uh play off of each other. We were. He very 0:17:29.996 --> 0:17:32.476 created a sign that he had in the benning in 0:17:32.516 --> 0:17:37.636 the lobby of HISSEO says, competition breeds success. So he 0:17:37.716 --> 0:17:39.756 wanted us to compete with it that we were fierce 0:17:39.796 --> 0:17:43.556 competitors man against each other, because we had we had 0:17:43.556 --> 0:17:47.756 a policy in Motown whereas all the writers and all 0:17:47.796 --> 0:17:51.916 the producers had access to all of the artists. It 0:17:51.956 --> 0:17:54.236 wasn't like you know, say, for instance, I got to 0:17:54.316 --> 0:17:58.036 hit record on the Temptations and automatically I was gonna 0:17:58.036 --> 0:18:00.476 get that next Temptation record because I had It wasn't 0:18:00.516 --> 0:18:03.916 like that, man. Everybody had access to all the artists, 0:18:03.916 --> 0:18:05.996 and if they liked your song, you were free to 0:18:06.076 --> 0:18:09.956 record it on them. And we had money morning meetings 0:18:09.956 --> 0:18:13.876 where only the producers and writers were allowed in. Nobody 0:18:13.876 --> 0:18:16.556 else from the company was allowed in those meetings. And 0:18:16.636 --> 0:18:20.436 we sat there and we critiqued each other's music to 0:18:20.596 --> 0:18:23.276 try to make it better. Even though we were competing 0:18:23.356 --> 0:18:26.996 against each other, we were there trying. Man. I'll use 0:18:27.076 --> 0:18:30.556 this as an example. My biggest competition as a producer 0:18:31.516 --> 0:18:36.636 foreign artists was the Temptations against Norman Woodfield and barred strong. 0:18:37.476 --> 0:18:39.956 Norman Whitfield could be in the studio recording a song 0:18:39.996 --> 0:18:42.076 on the Temptation, and we hung out at Hitsfield. 0:18:42.116 --> 0:18:42.356 Man. 0:18:42.556 --> 0:18:45.716 His field was not just our workplace. It was our 0:18:45.756 --> 0:18:48.436 hanging place. When you got back in off the road. 0:18:48.516 --> 0:18:50.836 If you had been on the road or somewhere and 0:18:50.876 --> 0:18:52.596 you got back in, the first thing you did was 0:18:52.596 --> 0:18:55.356 to go home, change your clothes and go to Hitsfield. Why, 0:18:55.556 --> 0:18:58.476 because everybody's over there. That's where we hung out. We 0:18:58.516 --> 0:19:01.756 did everything there, man. We played games, we want to 0:19:01.756 --> 0:19:05.516 each other's homes. We weren't just stablemates artists that you 0:19:05.756 --> 0:19:08.756 knew each other from the same record company and we see, hey, man, 0:19:08.796 --> 0:19:12.556 how you doing now? We hung out every day almost 0:19:13.156 --> 0:19:15.836 We went to each other's homes. We had picnics, we 0:19:15.876 --> 0:19:19.876 had outings, We went to the movies together the guys. 0:19:19.916 --> 0:19:23.476 Nowadays or in the last few years, it had turned 0:19:23.516 --> 0:19:26.596 to golf. But back in those days we bowld everybody 0:19:26.596 --> 0:19:29.356 bold and well, all the guys we bowled every But 0:19:29.436 --> 0:19:32.836 we did everything together, man, And it was just a wonderful, 0:19:32.916 --> 0:19:38.756 wonderful place to be, and especially being a kid growing 0:19:38.836 --> 0:19:41.996 up in Detroit and not thinking that any of this 0:19:42.156 --> 0:19:45.436 was ever going to be possible, you know, And to 0:19:45.636 --> 0:19:48.836 see all these people come along and be mentored by 0:19:48.836 --> 0:19:52.556 Barry Gordy into and to have but more time to 0:19:52.596 --> 0:20:00.756 become what it has become internationally is still unbelievable to me. 0:20:00.836 --> 0:20:01.036 Man. 0:20:01.436 --> 0:20:03.756 You know, Barry Goldy is my best friend, and I 0:20:03.796 --> 0:20:05.996 just was at this house a couple of days ago, 0:20:06.556 --> 0:20:10.116 and we talk about that all the time. How neither 0:20:10.156 --> 0:20:12.836 one of us thought that. He didn't think it, you know, 0:20:13.436 --> 0:20:15.516 he did not think that it was going to be 0:20:15.516 --> 0:20:18.116 what it has become. He just was tired of people 0:20:18.156 --> 0:20:21.756 not paying him. He wanted to start his own thing, 0:20:22.116 --> 0:20:26.356 thank god. But yeah, so we had that kind of 0:20:26.836 --> 0:20:30.596 that kind of place, man, and we had and we 0:20:30.636 --> 0:20:32.396 still have for those of us who were still alive. 0:20:32.436 --> 0:20:36.036 We still celebrate the Motown family because we were family. 0:20:36.476 --> 0:20:38.916 We weren't just a record company. We were family, man, 0:20:39.156 --> 0:20:41.796 and we had the Motown family. So, like I said, 0:20:41.836 --> 0:20:44.436 we were at his ninety fifth birthday party, man, and 0:20:44.476 --> 0:20:47.796 everybody got up and said basically the same things, how 0:20:48.676 --> 0:20:52.876