Once upon a time, when I was a much younger man there was a singing group who I thought the world of. That group was The Temptations. From 1964-1969 there was no better performing group on the planet than the Tempts. If you went to one of their concerts, your world for 60 minutes was full of song and dance. They didn’t play any instruments. It was just five men, David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Otis Williams, Melvin Franklin and Paul Williams, on stage singing and dancing telling me that beauty is only skin deep, or that I should get ready.
All five men were lead singers in their own right and removed any doubt about that fact when they performed. I loved the voices of all five except for Paul Williams whose voice always bothered me for some unknown reason. Unknown until I commented to my wife, upon hearing Williams sing lead on “Don’t Look Back” the other day that he sounded just like my father. At that point I stopped, realizing what I’d said and just sat there lost in the “oh, wow” moment.
While I’m sure Freud would have a ball with my revelation, the fact is I loved my father and yes I remain angry that he died when I really needed him the most. But I have since learned that most of us don’t get to chose the time, method and place of our death. We simply die and few of us have any control over that.
Paul Williams also had a tragically short life. But his voice no longer grates on me the way it did for years. Frankly, his rendition of “For Once in My Life” is the best and most emotional version of that song that has ever been recorded.
Yep, now I love hearing the Temptations sing – all of them.
