​Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me) 1971

Written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong
Performed by The Temptations

This song is gorgeous from start to finish, but it's the bridge that really knocks me out. During the verses, the narrator (as mostly portrayed by Eddie Kendricks) sings about his amazing gal and their wonderful relationship, only to reveal in the chorus that it was just his imagination running away from him - they are not together, they are not a couple, she's just walking by his window.

But yet, our narrator remains in good spirits. Despite an overactive imagination, he's self-aware and hasn't lost touch with reality. The music is upbeat and cheerful - listen to those playful strings! But what stands out most to me is the song's bass line, performed by the legendary Funk Brother, Bob Babbitt. While other instruments change throughout the song, and specifically from verse to chorus, the bass line does not.

But at around 2.5 minutes, the bass, his connection to reality, pauses. The strings dreamily climb further from reality and into a different state of our narrator's consciousness. He has lost his grounding. Oh boy...

Vocally, the bridge starts with a solo line from Paul Williams, and you can just feel him falling to his knees. After some group prayer, Kendricks takes back the lead but the emotional state does not change: this guy is now completely deluded. He's scared he will lose a girl he doesn't have, and one, that he finally admits, doesn't even know him. And with this admission is a return to reality, the chorus, and that groovin' bass. 

He has regained his self-awareness and is once again grounded, but won't she be walking by again tomorrow? I'm worried about this dude. And for her. What if his delusion and paranoia escalate? Can't one of the other Temptations help? By harmonizing you are only encouraging him!

The Rolling Stones covered this on the album Some Girls. I love the Stones, and we will eventually see them on this blog, but, I'm sorry, this is a bad cover. It does nothing for me. Their version of Ain't Too Proud to Beg is much more successful. But there's no bridge in it. 

- Matthew J. Kaplan