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Song Stories

“Baby I Need Your Loving”

The Four Tops | 1964

The Four Tops formed 11 years before the release of this ballad, their first hit on Motown. The group had just wrapped up a gig at a Detroit nightclub when Brian Holland, who wrote the song with partners Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland, invited them to Motown's studio to record into the wee hours of the night. In 2004, Holland explained how the words came to him one morning: "I was feeling very close to my wife, and thought of singing 'Baby I need your loving.' The phrase just entered my head. I felt she didn't really understand me, so I could explain how I felt through this song."

Find out which Motown king used to sing on Detroit street corners with the Four Tops.
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“Sherry”
The Four Seasons | 1962
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“The '59 Sound”
The Gaslight Anthem | 2008

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Song Stories

“Everyday People”

Sly and the Family Stone | 1968

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.

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