My Girl

The Temptations released My Girl in December 1964, and it gave the Detroit vocal group their first number one in America early the following year. Smokey Robinson wrote and produced it with his Miracles bandmate Ronald White, and David Ruffin's lead vocal was his first on a Temptations single. Couples choose it for the famous rising bass and guitar introduction, which guests recognise within two notes, and for a lyric that compares love to sunshine breaking through cloud. The mid tempo sway suits a dance that is relaxed rather than rehearsed. Robinson's wife Claudette, who sang alongside him in the Miracles, inspired the song, and in 2017 the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry.