I Second That Emotion

"I second that motion" is a common phrase heard at meetings in America where policy is being determined. It's what Motown producer Al Cleveland meant to say when he was on a shopping trip with Smokey Robinson. As Robinson recalls in his 1989 autobiography, he and Cleveland went to a Detroit department store called Hudson's to do Christmas shopping in December 1967. Smokey's wife, Claudette, had recently given birth to twins that didn't survive the premature birth, and he was looking to get her a gift. At the jewelry counter, Smokey picked out some pearls and asked Robinson what he thought. "I second that emotion" was his reply, and later that afternoon the pair wrote a song around the misspoken phrase. Robinson and Cleveland produced the song, and it was released in October 1968, entering the US Top 40 in December, about a year after it was written. The song was also a #1 R&B hit.

This was the first Top 10 hit for the group after their 1967 name change from The Miracles. Robinson and Cleveland teamed up to write several more hits for the group, including "Special Occasion" (#26 US, 1968), "Yester Love" (#31 US, 1968), and "Baby, Baby Don't Cry" (#8 US, 1969).

Robinson and Cleveland wrote a third verse for this song, which pushed the length to 3:15. Acutely aware that songs longer than 3 minutes were often denied airplay, Motown head Berry Gordy had them eliminate the verse and bring the song down to 2:38, which was much more palatable for radio programmers. Robinson was OK with altering the song, as he had tremendous respect for Gordy's judgment and wanted the song to be a hit. He felt that he could tell a story in a song in whatever time he was allotted - even under 3 minutes.