November 5, 2016 - The Temptations - Papa Was A Rolling Stone (1972)

The version of Papa Was A Rolling Stone I'm posting today is the 6:54 single edit, as opposed to the 12:02 album version.

Recorded entirely in Bb minor, we are treated to a myriad of voices and instruments as the mystery of who exactly 'Papa' was is asked of 'Momma' by her children. The opening 1:55 is the musical introduction - three bass notes, cymbals, glistening strings, wah guitar, horns, harp, handclaps...the whole orchestral shebang, a la Isaac Hayes's Shaft and Walk On By. 

It's a sad story...It was the 5th of November 3rd of September, that day I'll always remember, yes I will...that was the day Papa died. Who was Papa? The first singer says he never knew him and never heard nothing but bad things about him. He decides to ask Momma. Throughout the song it's obvious that she has no idea what to say - she hangs her head and say he was a guy who wandered around, wherever he laid his hat was his home. This answer is insufficient for the kids, who keep pestering her in verse after verse:
- was he a deadbeat? a polygamist? a false preacher? a common thief? a boozer? Come on, Momma, didn't you know this guy at all?  Nope. My favorite verse is the one sung by Melvin Franklin at 3:38: And, mama, some bad talk goin' round town sayin' that papa had three outside children and another wife, And that ain't right.
Well, he obviously took advantage of people, knocking up women then leaving them with hungry mouths to feed. He was a big zero, not a hero. All he left us was alone. (Or a loan, for a used 1970 Chevy Impala?) He would have probably blamed it all on 'the man', or his circumstances. But who knows what sort of trouble Papa went through in his life, he probably didn't have many opportunities to succeed.

I like to sing 'papa was a rolling stone, (Mick Jagger), wherever he played a gig was his home.'