3 Motown Hits From 1966 With Eternally Deep Grooves

The “Motown sound” redefined soul music with pop hooks, orchestral sophistication, a legendary house band, gospel vocals, and an ever-present tambourine. All of it on top of a danceable rhythm featuring melodic bass lines and high-energy drum beats. Even the most heartbreaking lyrics had grooves as deep as the vinyl 7-inch singles blaring from home stereos in the 1960s.

Videos by American Songwriter

And if you’re not moving to these three Motown hits from 1966, then you’re not doing it right because these grooves are eternally deep.

“Get Ready” by The Temptations

Smokey Robinson wrote and produced “Get Ready” for The Temptations, and in both the sentiment and the groove, Robinson wasn’t messing around. His love interest wants to play hide-and-seek with love. So Robinson builds a hook around the children’s game, ready or not, here I come! Backed by Motown’s session group, The Funk Brothers, as well as the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, The Temptations’ hit features Robinson’s playful metaphor and the kind of deep groove only found in Hitsville U.S.A. Check out the “Jack And The Beanstalk” reference below:

So, fee-fi-fo-fum,
Look out, baby, ’cause here I come.

“Standing In The Shadows Of Love” by Four Tops

Lamont Dozier, and brothers Brian and Eddie Holland put the “hits” in Hitsville U.S.A. They are responsible for dozens of charting songs, including 10 No. 1 singles recorded by The Supremes alone. “Standing In The Shadows Of Love”, yet another success for the prolific writers, is propelled by Motown’s signature four-beat drum pattern, which the Four Tops helped popularize. Levi Stubbs sings in desperation, and during the percussion breaks, he pleads for his partner to stay. He’s on the edge of a breakdown, supported by somber backing vocals and a relentless beat.

“You Keep Me Hangin’ On” by The Supremes

A persistent guitar mimicking Morse code defines the groove in “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”. This is a distress call, and Diana Ross has had enough of her partner’s on-again-off-again hesitations. The Supremes’ eighth No. 1, also written by Holland, Dozier, and Holland, is built atop a funk-rock rhythm section that stood apart from the trio’s familiar call-and-response hits. Ross reaches her limit with this powerful lyric: “Go on, get out, get out of my life.” Listen to how her voice breaks on the second “get out.” Raw emotion was an essential part of Motown’s deep grooves. The deeper the groove, the deeper the feels.

Photo by Cyrus Andrews/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images