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 Vinyl record (7" 45 RPM)
Recorded Hitsville USA (Studio A);
1960
Genre Soul
Length 3:04 (Detroit version)
2:50 (National hit version)
Label Tamla
T 54034
Writer(s) Smokey Robinson
Berry Gordy
Producer 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") for the Tamla (Motown) label, catalog number T 54034. It is notable as being the label's first #1 hit on the Billboard magazine R&B singles chart, and also hit #2 on the Hot 100.[1]. "Shop Around" also reached #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, as well as a 2006 Grammy Hall of Fame inductee.

The Miracles' original version was ranked #495 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[2]

Contents

[edit] 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'"). 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, 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 hit number four on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976; Toni Tennille changed the lyrics slightly so that they were sung from a woman's perspective. Their version topped the easy listening chart for one week in 1976.[3]

"Shop Around" also inspired an answer record, "Don't Let Him Shop Around," performed by Debbie Dean (the first white female artist, but sometimes misidentified as the first white artist ever signed to a Motown label-this distinction actually belongs to instrumental combo Nick and the Jaguars). Dean's "Don't Let Him Shop Around" charted #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", became a Motown classic composition, mostly due to its plethora of covers, including a famous one by The Jackson 5 in 1969.

[edit] 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.
  • Voted as # 500 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[4]
  • 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 (#2).

[edit] Cover versions

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Personnel: The Miracles

[edit] Other personnel

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 404. 
  2. ^ "The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". RollingStone.com. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6596340/shop_around/1. Retrieved 2008-06-19. 
  3. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 45. 
  4. ^ "The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". RollingStone.com. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6596340/shop_around/1. Retrieved 2008-06-19. 

[edit] External links

The Miracles
Group members
(past and present)
Bobby Rogers  · Mark Scott  · Claudette Robinson  · Dave Finley  · Tee Turner
Smokey Robinson  · Ronnie White  · Pete Moore  · Marv Tarplin  · Billy Griffin  · Donald Griffin  · Carl Cotton  · Sidney Justin  · Alphonse Franklin
Pre-Miracles: Emerson "Sonny" Rogers · James Grice · Clarence Dawson
Production
Studio albums
Hi... We're The Miracles (1961) · Cookin' with The Miracles (1961) · I'll Try Something New (1962) · The Fabulous Miracles (1963) · The Miracles Doin' Mickey's Monkey (1963) · I Like It Like That (1964) · Going To A Go-Go (1965) · Away We A Go-Go (1966) · Make It Happen/The Tears Of A Clown (1967) · Special Occasion (1968) · Time Out For Smokey Robinson & the Miracles (1969) · Four in Blue (1969) · What Love Has Joined Together (1970) · A Pocket Full Of Miracles (1970) · One Dozen Roses (1971) · Flying High Together (1972) · Renaissance (1973) · Do It Baby (1974) · Don't Cha Love It (1975) · City of Angels (1975) · The Power of Music (1976) · Love Crazy (1977) · The Miracles (1978)
Live albums
Other albums
Christmas with The Miracles (1963) · The Season for Miracles (1970)
Compilations
Greatest Hits from the Beginning (1965) · Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 (1968) · Anthology (1974) · Greatest Hits (1977) · Anthology '86 (1986) · The Thirty-Fifth Anniversary Collection (1994) · Anthology: The Best of Smokey Robinson & The Miracles (1995) · The Ultimate Collection (1998) · Ooo Baby Baby: The Anthology (2002) · Smokey Robinson & The Miracles: Gold (2006) · Depend On Me: The Early Albums (2009)
Singles
(US/UK Top Twenty singles)
Videography
Discography
Related topics
See also
The Miracles singles discography
1950s
"Got a Job" (1958) · "Your Love (Is All I Need)" (1958) · "I Cry" (1958) · "I Need a Change" (1959) · "It" (1959) · " Bad Girl" (1959) · "The Feeling Is So Fine" (1959) / " (You Can) Depend on Me" (1959)
1960s
"Way Over There" (1960) · "Shop Around" (1960) / Who's Lovin' You" (1960) · "Ain't It Baby" (1961) · "Mighty Good Lovin'" (1961) / Broken Hearted" (1961) · "Everybody's Gotta Pay Some Dues" (1961) · "What's So Good About Goodbye" (1961) / " I've Been Good To You" (1961)  · "I'll Try Something New" (1962) · "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" (1962) / "Happy Landing" (1962)  · "A Love She Can Count On" (1963) / "I Can Take a Hint" (1963)  · " Mickey's Monkey" (1963) · " I Gotta Dance to Keep From Crying" (1963) · "The Christmas Song" (1963) · "(You Can't Let the Boy Overpower) The Man in You" (1964) · "I Like It Like That" (1964) · "That's What Love Is Made Of" (1964) · "Come On Do The Jerk" (1964) · "Ooo Baby Baby" (1965) · "The Tracks of My Tears" (1965) / "A Fork in the Road" (1965) · "My Girl Has Gone" (1965)  · "Going to a Go-Go" (1965) / "Choosey Beggar" (1965) · "Whole Lot of Shakin' in My Heart (Since I Met You)" (1966)  · "(Come 'Round Here) I'm the One You Need" (1966) · "The Love I Saw in You Was Just a Mirage" (1967) · "More Love" (1967) · " I Second That Emotion" (1967) · If You Can Want" (1968) · "Yester Love" (1968) · "Special Occasion" (1968)  · "Baby, Baby Don't Cry" (1969) · "Here I Go Again" (1969) / "Doggone Right" (1969)  · "Abraham, Martin & John" (1969) · "Point It Out" (1969) / "Darling Dear" (1969)
1970s
"Who's Gonna Take the Blame" (1970) · "The Tears of a Clown" (1970) · "I Don't Blame You At All" (1970) · "Crazy About the La La" (1971)  · "Satisfaction" (1971) · "We've Come Too Far to End It Now" (1972) · "I Can't Stand to See You Cry" (1972) · "Don't Let It End ('Til You Let It Begin)" (1973) · "Give Me Just Another Day" (1973) · "Do It Baby" (1974)  · "Don't Cha Love It" (1974) · "Gemini" (1975) · "Love Machine" (1975) · "Night Life" (1976) · "Spy for Brotherhood" (1977) · "I Can Touch the Sky" (1977) · "Mean Machine" (1978)
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