I Can't Get Next To You

Album: Puzzle People (1969)
Charted: 13 1
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  • David: I...
    Melvin: Can turn a grey sky blue, uh...
    Melvin: I can make it rain,
    Whenever I want it to, huh!
    Paul: I can build a castle
    From a single grain of sand
    I can make a ship sail, huh,
    On dry land

    Dennis: But my life is incomplete
    And I'm so blue
    'Cause I can't get next to you
    David: I can't get next to you
    David: Get next to you...
    I just can't get next to you
    Temptations: I can't get next to you babe,
    I can't get next to you, I...

    David: Can fly like a bird in the sky
    Eddie: Hey, I can buy anything
    That money can buy
    Temptations: Oh, I...
    Melvin: I can turn a river
    Into a ragin' fire
    Melvin: I can live forever,
    If I so desire

    Eddie: Unimportant, are all these things
    I can do
    'Cause I can't get next to you
    Temptations: I can't get next to you
    Eddie: No matter what I do
    Temptations: I can't get next to you, babe
    Temptations: Wooo, oooh-oooh
    Wooo, oooh-oooh
    Chicka boom, chicka boom
    Chicka boom-boom-boom

    David: I can turn back the hands of time...
    You better believe I can
    Paul: I can make the seasons change
    Just by a wave of my hand
    Temptations: Oh, I...
    Eddie: I can change anything
    From old to new
    Paul: The things I want to do the most,
    I'm unable to do

    David: Unhappy am I
    With all the powers I possess
    Cause girl, you're the key to my happiness
    Temptations: Can't get next to you

    'Cause I can't get...
    Temptations: Next to you
    Dennis: Can't you see these tears
    I'm crying, I can't get uh...
    Temptations: Next to you
    Dennis: Girl, it's you that I need...
    I gotta get...
    Temptations: Next to you
    Dennis: Can't you see these tears
    I'm cryin, I can't get...
    Temptations: Next to you
    Dennis: I, I, I, I, I can't get now...
    Temptations: Next to you
    Dennis: Girl, you blowin' my mind

    fade to end Writer/s: BARRETT STRONG, NORMAN J. WHITFIELD, NORMAN WHITFIELD
    Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 6

  • Jennifur SunSam from sherman oaks I know of one person who could tell you because he probably played on the session, Joe Messina one of the only two original Funk Brothers still alive
  • Sam from Sherman OaksCan somebody please explain to me what the heck was going on in the studio where they recorded this song before they rolled the tape? Cause in many versions of the song, in the intro, there is loud clapping and whooping and hollering before one of the temps quiets everybody else down and then the piano player kicks the song off.. I’m thinking maybe there was a concert going on before they recorded this song and the engineer decided to hit record when whatever song they were doing before they started to record I Can’t Get Next To You was done and he was just recording the group’s reaction to hearing that song then they recorded the rest of the song. Now the question is what was that song or was that ruckus noise just done on purpose and they weren’t playing or singing anything else before they recorded I Can’t Get Next To You? I feel like the only person alive that would know the answer to this question is the lone surviving original member of the Temps (Otis Williams) Cause I’m not sure if anybody from that recording session is still alive today (I think 90% of the people who were for that session are now dead) Hopefully a Motown expert/junkie can answer my question about this. I would definitely appreciate that!.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyExactly fifty years today on October 12th, 1969 the Temptations' "I Can't Get Next To You" peaked at #1 {2 weeks} on Billboard's Top 100 chart...
    The rest of the Top 10 was:
    At #2. "Hot Fun In The Summertime" by Sly and the Family Stone
    #3. "Sugar, Sugar" by The Archies
    #4. "Jean" by Oliver
    #5. "Little Woman" by Bobby Sherman
    #6. "Suspicious Minds" by Elvis Presley
    #7. "That's The Way Love Is" by Marvin Gaye
    #8. "Wedding Bell Blues" by The 5th Dimension
    #9. "Easy To Be Hard" by Three Dog Night
    #10. "Tracy" by The Cuff Links
    And on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart, "Green River" by Creedence Clearwater Revival was in it's third of four weeks at #1...
    Plus leading the seventeen new arrivals on the Top 100 were the Beatles with "Something", it debut at position #20, with the flip-side, "Come Together", entered at position #23...
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn September 28th 1969, the Temptations performed "I Can't Get Next To You" on the CBS-TV program 'The Ed Sullivan Show'...
    One month earlier on August 10th, 1969 it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #84; and nine weeks later on October 12th, 1969 it peaked at #1 {for 2 weeks} and spent 17 weeks on the Top 100...
    And on September 28th, 1969 it also reached #1 {for 5 weeks} on Billboard's R&B Singles chart...
    The two weeks it was at #1 on the Top 100 it prevented "Hot Fun in the Summertime" by Sly and the Family Stone from reaching #1; it was at #2 for both those week and never made the top spot...
    Between 1965 and 1975 the Temps had fifteen records peak at #1 on the R&B Singles chart.
  • Betty from Dayton, OhWooooo! good vocals!
  • Lester from New York City, NySavoy Brown does a great studio version of this and even better live versions.
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