Today’s classic song of the day is a post-Motown hit by the Four Tops. The song is “When She Was My Girl” and it was released on the Casablanca Records label in August of 1981. It marked a welcome return to the charts for the former Motown legends, peaking at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100, #10 on the Cash Box Top 100, #9 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, and #1 on Billboard’s Hot Soul Singles (R&B) chart.
The Tops had a tremendous career at Motown, chalking up 17 top forty hits between 1964 and 1972, including “Baby I Need Your Loving” (#11 in 1964), “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)” (#1 in 1965), “It’s the Same Old Song” (#5 in 1965), “Reach Out I’ll Be There” (#1in 1966), “Standing in the Shadows of Love” (#6 in 1966), “Bernadette” (#4 in 1967), a stellar cover of “Walk Away Renee” (#14 in 1968), and “Still Water (Love)” (#11 in 1970). They left Motown in 1972 for the ABC/Dunhill label, where they had four more top forty hits, including “Keeper of the Castle” (#10 in 1972) and “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I Got)” (#4 in 1973). The group moved to Casablanca in 1981 (where they scored with “When She Was My Girl”), back to Motown in 1983 (scoring no major hits there that time around), then to Arista in 1987 (with one big hit, 1988’s “Indestructible”).
“When She Was My Girl” was written by Larry Gottlieb and Marc Blatte, and produced by David Wolfert. Gottlieb was a pro songwriter with songs recorded by the Main Ingredient, the Tymes, Rachel Sweet, the Manhattans, Laura Brannigan, Marie Osmond, Blue Oyster Cult, Trisha Yearwood, Martine McBride, and Kim Richey. His song “Believe Me Baby (I Lied)” for Ms. Yearwood was nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Song in 1997. (It lost to “Blue” by LeAnn Rimes.)
The Four Tops were Levi Stubbs, Lawrence Payton, Obie Benson, and Duke Fakir. Levi handled lead on almost all their tunes, including “When She Was My Girl,” although he had ample support on this one from Obie’s prominent bass line.
Which leads us to today’s daily bonus video of the day, the Four Tops performing “When She Was My Girl” live on the December 11, 1981, episode of the Fridays television show. Man, I love these guys.
