Date: Mar 6, 1965
Weeks: 2
Here's a song that's difficult to separate from its cultural legacy. When people refer to the sound of the Motown label, this is the song that comes to my mind. This is the classic song by the classic Motown band, at least for me. It's one of the defining songs of its era, and that makes it difficult to analyze as just a song.
The easy part to critique is the vocals. The Temptations are all very talented and have a wonderful vocal harmony. This is their first single to chart, as far as I can tell, so it didn't chart based on their reputation or popularity. It charted because they could sing it, and it built their popularity. So it's well-sung, to be sure.
The music is pleasant. It sets out to create a specific mood of pleasantness, and it succeeds. The guitar line is recognizably classic all on its own. The drums are pretty basic, but fit the song well. The strings fill out the bulk of the backing music, but I think they seem a bit too orchestral. They support the general tone of pleasantness, to be sure, so it's a small nitpick. The only part of the music I don't like is the horns. They pop up with a quick fanfare from time to time, and I don't think they support the rest of the music. They sound like they're from a different song. Overall, though, I think the music achieves what it needs to. The entire song is very gentle, which fits the theme of the lyrics.
The theme is, of course, that the guy feels happy because he's in love with a girl. And I think the lyrics are quite clever in the way they describe this. "I've got sunshine on a cloudy day" is a classic metaphor and it uses contrast to make a great point. I'd like to highlight every line in the verses as excellent songwriting, but suffice to say I like them all. I'm a little less enamored of the line in the chorus "I guess you'll say what can make me feel this way?" That feels a little awkward. A better way to express that might be "Wonder why I feel this way?" but of course that doesn't fit the meter. On paper, the line reads badly, is all. It works in-context, probably because the rest of the song is so good.
My verdict: Like it. It's not perfect, but it's very enjoyable. The pros easily outweigh the cons.
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