*** Welcome to piglix ***

Don't Look Back (The Temptations song)

"Don't Look Back"
Single by The Temptations
from the album The Temptin' Temptations
A-side "My Baby"
Released September 30, 1965
(1st pressing)
October 30, 1965
(2nd pressing)
Format 7" single
Recorded Hitsville USA (Studio A); May 5, May 10 and May 12, 1965
Genre Soul, R&B, pop
Length 2:50
Label Gordy
G 7047
Writer(s) Smokey Robinson
Ronald White
Producer(s) Smokey Robinson
The Temptations singles chronology
"Since I Lost My Baby"
(1965)
"My Baby" / "Don't Look Back"
(1965)
"Get Ready"
(1966)
Music video
"Don't Look Back" on YouTube
"(You Gotta Walk And) Don't Look Back"
You-got-to-walk-dont-look-back-peter-tosh.jpg
Single by Peter Tosh with Mick Jagger
from the album Bush Doctor
B-side "Soon Come"
Released 1978
Format 7" single
Genre Reggae
Label EMI
Writer(s) William Robinson
Ronald White
Peter Tosh with Mick Jagger singles chronology
/ "(You Gotta Walk And) Don't Look Back"
(1978)
Music video
"(You Gotta Walk And) Don't Look Back" on YouTube
"Walk and Don't Look Back"
Walk-and-don't-look-back-dirk-de-smet.jpg
Single by Dirk De Smet
Released 2008
Genre R&B
Label Ariola / Sony Music(for distribution)
Writer(s) Smokey Robinson
Ronald White
Dirk De Smet singles chronology
/ "Walk and Don't Look Back"
(2008)
Music video
"Walk and Don't Look Back" on YouTube

"Don't Look Back" is a 1965 song recorded by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label. The flip side to their Top 20 hit "My Baby", "Don't Look Back" broke out and became a hit among the R&B audience on its own, reaching #14 on the R&B charts.

Considered one of original lead singer Paul Williams' showcases, "Don't Look Back" was regularly employed as the closing number for Temptations live performances. Although the original flip side, "My Baby", was initially more popular with pop audiences at the time, over the decades, "Don't Look Back" has proven to be the far more popular and enduring tune. It was also performed by the group on The Ed Sullivan Show. There are no known cover versions of "My Baby".

The song inspired many cover versions by Al Green, Phil Collins, Bobby Womack, The Persuasions, and Teena Marie. In 1978 Peter Tosh and Mick Jagger covered it as a reggae tune as "(You Gotta Walk And) Don't Look Back". In 2008, Belgian singer Dirk De Smet covered it as "Walk and Don't Look Back".

Written by Miracles members Smokey Robinson and Ronald White, the authors of the No. 1 Temptations hit "My Girl", "Don't Look Back" is a reassurance to the tentative that finding true love is worth the heartbreak and failed relationships it takes to reach it. As the song's narrator, Paul Williams, promises his lover, in his trademark gritty tone:

Smokey Robinson, the song's producer, specifically assigned Paul Williams to sing lead on the song. Although Williams had been the group's original lead singer during its formative years, his role had by 1965 been eclipsed by David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks, who had both sung lead on Temptations hit singles. As such, Williams was often overlooked for leads, even on album tracks and B-sides, prompting him to complain, "shit, y'know, I can sing too!"


...
Wikipedia

...