Shop Around

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"Shop Around"
Single by The Miracles
from the album Hi... We're the Miracles
B-side "Who's Lovin' You"
Released September 27, 1960 (regional)
October 15, 1960 (national)
Format 7" single
Recorded Hitsville USA (Studio A)
1960
Genre Soul
Length <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • 3:04 (Detroit version)
  • 2:50 (National hit version)
Label Tamla
T 54034
Writer(s)
Producer(s) Berry Gordy
The Miracles singles chronology
"Way Over There"
(1960)		 "Shop Around"
(1960)		 "Who's Lovin' You"
(1960)

"Shop Around" is a 1960 single by the Miracles (credited as "The Miracles featuring Bill 'Smokey' Robinson") on Motown's Tamla label, catalog number T 54034. It is the label's first number 1 hit on the Billboard R&B singles chart, and it also hit No. 2 on the Hot 100.[1] "Shop Around" also reached No. 1 on the Cash Box magazine Top 100 pop chart and is also noted for being the first million-selling record for the Miracles and for the Motown Record Corporation,[2] as well as a 2006 Grammy Hall of Fame inductee.

The Miracles' original version was ranked No. 500 on Rolling Stone′s list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[3]

History

The song, written by Robinson and Berry Gordy, depicts a mother giving her now-grown son advice about how to find a woman worthy of being a girlfriend or wife ("My mama told me/'you better shop around'").[2] The original recorded version of the song had a strong blues influence, and was released in the local Detroit, Michigan area before Gordy decided that the song needed to be re-recorded in order to be more commercially viable outside of Detroit. So at 3 a.m. one morning,The Miracles, (Robinson, Claudette Rogers, Bobby Rogers, Ronnie White, and Pete Moore), recorded a new, poppier version of "Shop Around" that became a major national hit. The original record label credits Bill "Smokey" Robinson as the writer, with Berry Gordy as producer.

Since its release, "Shop Around" has become an often-remade tune, on record, in live performance, and on television. The Captain & Tennille cover reached number four in Canada and on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1976; Toni Tennille changed the lyrics slightly so that they were sung from a woman's perspective. Their version became a gold record, and topped the easy listening chart for one week in 1976.[4]

"Shop Around" also inspired an answer record, "Don't Let Him Shop Around" by Debbie Dean. Dean's "Don't Let Him Shop Around" charted No. 92 on the Hot 100 in February 1961 and was Dean's only chart entry. Smokey Robinson later recorded a sequel song for his 1987 album One Heartbeat, entitled "It's Time to Stop Shopping Around".

The B-side to "Shop Around", "Who's Lovin' You", also saw a plethora of covers, including a famous one by The Jackson 5 in 1969.

Awards and accolades

The Miracles' original version of "Shop Around" has received the following awards and acknowledgments:

  • The Motown Record Corporation's first million-selling hit record.
  • Inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 2006.
  • The Motown Record Corporation's first Billboard number-one R&B hit. It held the No. 1 position on the Billboard R&B Chart for 8 consecutive weeks.[5]
  • Voted as No. 500 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[3]
  • Reached number one on the Cash Box magazine Pop Chart.
  • The first Motown Records song to reach the top 5 on the Billboard pop chart (No. 2).
  • Honored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll".

Cover versions

Other cover versions are by: The Astronauts, Don Bryant, The Allusions, Jessica Sierra, David Archuleta, Clarence Reid, Neil Merryweather, Lynn Carey, and Angela Miller.

Personnel

Personnel: The Miracles

Other personnel

See also

References

  • Hits Of The Sixties: The Million Sellers by Demitri Coryton & Joseph Murrells (pg 43).

Notes

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ "The Miracles", Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

External links

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