Graham Reid | | <1 min read
In the mid Sixties when people were earnestly looking to Bob Dylan for answers, someone asked him who his favourite poet was.
"Smokey Robinson," he replied.
Fair call. Smokey's songs like Got a Job had wit and Tracks of My Tears had heart. You can't add or subtract a word from My Guy or You Really Got a Hold On Me.
But even poets have their off days and you'd have to think Smokey was at a low point when he scribbled down Floy Joy -- and so were the Diana Ross-less Supremes to accept it.
Mary Wilson gamely does her best with the banal lyrics but there's not a lot to be said for it other than it at least sounded like the Supremes of the mid Sixties thanks to the Funk Brothers.
But it was a top five hit (because of its simplicity?) . . . and perhaps it was an early example of bubblegum pop (because of its simplicity?).
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