"I Second That Emotion" is a 1967 song written by

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive director. He was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief ...

and

Al Cleveland Al Cleveland (born Alfred W. Cleveland; March 11, 1930 – August 14, 1996) was an American songwriter for the Motown label. Among his most popular co-compositions are 1967's "I Second That Emotion" and 1969's " Baby, Baby Don't Cry" performed by ...

. First charting as a hit for Smokey Robinson and the Miracles on the Tamla/

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

label in 1967, "I Second That Emotion" was later a hit single for the group duet Diana Ross & the Supremes and

The Temptations The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top ...

, also on the Motown label.

Song origin

One morning in 1967, Robinson and Cleveland were shopping at Hudson's, a

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

department store. Robinson found a set of

pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...

s for his wife, Claudette. "They're beautiful." he said to the salesperson. "I sure hope she likes them." Cleveland then added "I second that emotion." Both songwriters laughed at Cleveland's

malapropism A malapropism (also called a malaprop, acyrologia, or Dogberryism) is the mistaken use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound, resulting in a nonsensical, sometimes humorous utterance. An example is the statement attributed t ...

; he had meant to say "I second that motion." The two were immediately inspired to write a song using the incorrect phrase.

The Miracles' original version

The Miracles' original version of the song finds lead singer and co-writer Smokey Robinson courting a girl who, weary of the game of love, prefers to string her men along and not get romantically involved. Robinson "wants no part" in such a relationship, but promises that if the girl changes her mind, he'll be around (''"If you feel like lovin' me/if you've got the notion/I second that emotion."'') This version peaked for three weeks in the United States at No. 4 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in December 1967. It became the Miracles highest charting popular single since " Shop Around". In this song, guitarists Eddie Willis and Robert White came up with their own guitar licks and riffs for this song based on a chord chart that was given to them by Robinson (this is a classic example of the creativity

the Funk Brothers The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Its members are considered among the most successful groups of stud ...

brought to the table during the recording sessions they participated in at the Snake Pit). Regular Miracles guitarist Marv Tarplin was also present on the song. The song also topped the ''Billboard'' Best Selling R&B Singles chart and was a million-selling hit for The Miracles, their sixth overall. The song was also a top 30 hit in the UK in 1967, reaching No. 27. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an onli ...

'' called it an "electrically sparkling slow-midspeed session" with "outstanding lead and the well worked team sound."

Personnel

The Miracles * Lead vocals by

* Background vocals by

Claudette Rogers Robinson Claudette Annette Rogers Robinson ( Rogers; born June 20, 1938) is an American singer, best known as a member of the vocal group The Miracles from 1957 to 1972. Her brother Emerson "Sonny" Rogers was a founding member of the group, which befor ...

, Pete Moore, Ronnie White, and Bobby Rogers. * Guitar by Marv Tarplin * Other instrumentation by

The Funk Brothers The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Its members are considered among the most successful groups of stud ...

** Eddie Willis - guitar ** Robert White - guitar

Charts

Diana Ross & the Supremes and The Temptations version

The song was covered and released by a group duet of Motown labelmates Diana Ross & the Supremes and

in 1969. This version peaked at No. 18 in the UK.

Personnel

* Lead vocals by

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups ...

and Eddie Kendricks * Background vocals by Mary Wilson,

Cindy Birdsong Cynthia Ann Birdsong (born December 15, 1939) is an American singer who became famous as a member of The Supremes in 1967, when she replaced co-founding member Florence Ballard. Birdsong had previously been a member of Patti LaBelle & The Blu ...

, Dennis Edwards, Paul Williams, Otis Williams, and Melvin Franklin * Instrumentation by

* Guitar by Marv Tarplin

Track listing

7" single (1969) (United Kingdom) #"I Second That Emotion" – 2:55 #"The Way You Do the Things You Do" – 1:39

Charts

Japan version

"I Second That Emotion" was covered by British new wave band

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, originally released as a single in 1980 without success. The single was re-released in 1982, on the back of the band's increased success in 1981, peaking at number 9 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in July, making it their second most successful single after "

Ghosts A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to re ...

Releases

The song was first released in March 1980 in the UK with a

fade-out In audio engineering, a fade is a gradual increase or decrease in the level of an audio signal. The term can also be used for film cinematography or theatre lighting in much the same way (see fade (filmmaking) and fade (lighting)). A reco ...

version of "

Quiet Life ''Quiet Life'' is the third studio album by English new wave band Japan, first released on 17 November 1979 in Canada by record label Hansa (it would be released in the UK some weeks later). The album was a transition from the glam rock-influe ...

" on the B-side. In Japan, "Quiet Life" had been released as a single in 1979, so " European Son" was released as the B-side instead. In 1982, the song was remixed by

Steve Nye Steve Nye is an English music producer for several artists. Career Nye started out as a tape op at AIR Studios in London in 1971, where producer Rupert Hine discovered him. There he got into engineering (and later producing) many well-known a ...

and released as a single, with the B-side "Halloween" originally released on the album ''

''. In Australia, the single was released with the B-side as the 1978 re-recorded version of "

Adolescent Sex ''Adolescent Sex'' is the debut album by the English band Japan, released in April 1978 by record label Hansa. To avoid controversy over the title, the album was renamed simply as ''Japan'' in some countries. Content According to AllMusic, ' ...

", originally from the band's debut album of the same name.

Track listings

7": Ariola Hansa / AHA 559 (1980, UK) # "I Second That Emotion" – 3:45 # "

" – 3:51 7": Ariola Hansa / VIPX-1501 (1980, Japan) # "I Second That Emotion" – 3:46 # " European Son" – 3:40 7": Hansa / HANSA 12 (1982, UK) # "I Second That Emotion" – 3:52 # "Halloween" – 4:23 12": Hansa / HANSA 12-12 (1982, UK) # "I Second That Emotion" (extended remix) – 5:15 # "Halloween" – 4:23 7":

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

/ 104039 (1982, Australia) # "I Second That Emotion" – 3:50 # "

" – 4:10

Personnel

* David Sylvian – vocals, guitar, keyboards * Richard Barbieri – keyboards * Rob Dean – guitar * Mick Karn – fretless bass, saxophone *

Steve Jansen ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

– drums * John Punter – producer * Nigel Walker – engineer *

– remixing (1982)

Charts

In popular culture

The song was often performed by the

Jerry Garcia Band The Jerry Garcia Band was a San Francisco Bay Area rock band led by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. Garcia founded the band in 1975; it remained the most important of his various side projects until his death in 1995. The band regularly tour ...

. Between the years 1976 to 1994, the Jerry Garcia Band performed the song 154 times, not including seven live performances by the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, country, jazz, bluegrass, blues, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, world music, ...

. In 1983, the song appeared on ''

The Big Chill Big Chill can refer to: * The Big Chill (music festival), an annual music and comedy festival held in England * ''The Big Chill'' (film), a 1983 American film directed by Lawrence Kasdan *The Big Chill at the Big House, a 2010 U.S. college ice hoc ...

'' soundtrack Disc 1, Track 8. " I Second That Emotion" is the title of a 1999 ''

Futurama ''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of the professional slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1000 years ...

'' episode. On June 18, 2012, '' American Songwriter'' named "I Second That Emotion" its "Lyric of The Week". The publication wrote: the song "marches to the beat of its own drum, thanks to three stanzas of crafty doo-wop poetry and one punny one-liner—a malapropism, if you want to get technical—that never really loses its novelty appeal".

Song origin

The Miracles' original version

Personnel

Charts

Diana Ross & the Supremes and The Temptations version

Personnel

Track listing

Charts

Japan version

Releases

Track listings

Personnel

Charts

In popular culture

References

Further reading