Poll: The Greatest Motown Single...

Too many to post. I think I covered most of the hit singles from the classic Motown era.
My favorite.

 

I can't participate in this poll. Too many amazing songs to choose from. Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Reach Out I'll Be There, The Tracks Of My Tears, What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted, the list goes on and on. I want to select each and every one of these songs (and then some others too).

 

Since I kept it 60's (golden era) I wasn't able to include all of the brilliant singles from the 70's. (ABC,What's Going On,Superstition,Papa Was a Rolling Stone,etc.)

 

''I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)'' These are all fantastic songs though.

 

Just went over Marvin Gaye's singles. Wow!

R&B Charts:
Stubborn Kind of Fellow #8
Hitch Hike #12
Pride and Joy #2 (US Pop #10)
Can I Get a Witness #3
You're a Wonderful One #3
Once Upon a Time #3
What's the Matter With You Baby #2
Try it Baby #6
Baby Don't You Do It #14
How Sweet It Is #3 (US Pop #6)
I'll Be Doggone #1 (US Pop #8)
Ain't The Particular #1 (US Pop #8)
One More Heartache #4
Little Darling #10
It Takes Two #4
Ain't No Mountain High Enough #3
Your Unchanging Love #7
Your Precious Love #2 (US Pop #5)
You #7
If I Could Build My World Around You #2 (US Pop #10)
Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing #1 (US Pop #8)
You're All I Need To Get By #1 (US Pop #7)
Chained #8
I Heard it Through The Grapevine #1 (US Pop #1)
Too Busy Thinking ABout My Baby #1 (US Pop #4)
That's The Way Love Is #2 (US Pop #7)
What You Gave Me #6
The End of the Road #7

I love how he started as a singles artist then crossed over to an album artist in the 70's.

 

Papa Was A Rolling Stone

 

Toughest poll in the history of this forum. Not even gonna try, but this would be up there. (And psst: Some Rare Earth choices and "What's Going On" shoulda been in there).

 

I wanted to focus on the golden era of Motown. If I included "What's Goin On" or "Superstition" there wouldn't be much competition.

 

What a superb body of work! I wouldn't mind that on my resume!

 

Back in the 70s I would have chosen My Guy as my favorite Motown single.
Alas, the overplay of the single in later years did ruin it for me.
But I still voted for it b/c I can't think of any other Motown single from the 60s that's better

 

Honey Chile is kind of a lost gem. It's just about as good as their very best singles

 

From an oft-overlooked (sadly) part of their career:

"It's a Shame" - The Spinners.

 

Disregarding all the dancefloor fillers and emotions bound up in other songs, I voted "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" on the basis of sheer brilliant songwriting.
It's one of those songs that sounds simple enough to cover until you try and unravel it. That is - on one level - great, great art.

Brilliant songwriting is either something sounding really tricky that is so simple, or the exact opposite, perfectly encapsulated in "What Becomes." A mind-bendingly tortuous song to try and play that moves as effortlessly as white light and mercury.

Many of the others on the list (and not) were simply and as publicly admitted, written to template.
DD

 

They're all great.
I voted for Money though.
Other top one for me is You've Really Got A Hold On Me.

 

Oh, The Tears of A Clown! man that's a great one...

 

And War! Edwin Starr....what a classic...

 

Baby Love has always seemed pretty lame to me. I'm glad Frank Zappa parodied it, though I love most of the Supremes' 60s hits.

I would replace Baby Love with Don't Mess With Bill by the Marvelettes.

 

Dancing In The Streets!

 

Among those listed, "Shop Around". But I think my all time favorite is "You Can't Hurry Love". Which I'll now go back to double check I didn't just overlook there on the list...
Oh, and among the more obscure Motown greats, can't forget "Leaving Here" by Eddie Holland (yes, he actually recorded a few songs as well as writing them).

 

Hard to believe, but I have heard most of these. My vote goes to Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through the Grapevine. Classic!

 

I Want You Back

 

Other - Temptations - I'm Losing You

 

Supremes You Can't Hurry Love

 

Gotta be Marvin and Tammi!

 

Reach Out, I'll Be There is beyond great.