Shop Around

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“Shop Around”
Single by The Miracles
from the album Hi... We're the Miracles
B-side "Who's Lovin' You"
Released October 1960
Format vinyl record (7" 45 RPM)
Recorded Hitsville USA (Studio A)
1960
Genre Soul
Length 3:04 (Detroit version)
2:50 (National hit version)
Label Tamla
T 54034
Writer(s) Smokey Robinson
Berry Gordy
Producer Berry Gordy
The Miracles singles chronology
"Way Over There"
(1960)		 "Shop Around"
(1960)		 "Who's Lovin' You"
(1960)

"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 first million-selling record of The Miracles' and 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 (who is sometimes misidentified the first white artist ever signed to a Motown label -- this distinction actually belongs to instrumental combo Nick and the Jaguars). Dean's "Don't Let Him Shop Around" 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. "Shop Around" song was voted #495 in the List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

David Archuleta performed "Shop Around" on Season 7 of American Idol during the top 24 performances. It was released for download from the iTunes store on February 20, 2008. The Miracles can be seen performing "Shop Around" on the Motown DVD release: Smokey Robinson & The Miracles: The Definitive Performances (1963-1987).

[edit] Credits