Shop Around

"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 pop, Cashbox). This history-making song is also noted for being The Miracles' first million- selling record as well as the first million- selling record for The Motown Record Corporation, as well as a 2006 Grammy Hall of Fame inductee.

[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. One notable version by The Captain and Tennille hit #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976. The Captain and Tennille's Toni Tennille changed the song's lyrics slightly so that they were sung from a woman's perspective.

"Shop Around" also inspired an answer record, "Don't Let Him Shop Around," performed by Debbie Dean (the first white artist ever signed to a Motown label). It 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 album, entitled "It's Time To Stop Shopping Around"

"Shop Around's" b-side, "Who's Lovin' You", also became a Motown classic composition, mostly due to its plethora of covers, including a famous one by The Jackson 5 in 1969.

This song was voted #495 in the List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time