"Two Lovers" was the third collaboration between Motown hit-makers Mary Wells and Smokey Robinson, following "The One Who Really Loves You" and "You Beat Me to the Punch." The 1962 hit plays on a risqué theme of a woman torn between two lovers, one who's sweet and kind and one who makes her cry - and she "ain't ashamed." But the surprise ending saved the song from the censors: "you're a split personality, and in reality, both of them are you."
Smokey Robinson said that this song was inspired by his then-wife, Claudette Rogers, who also performed with him in the Miracles.
The song was also inspired by an old movie that Smokey was watching on TV one night. He recalled to Mojo: "This woman had these two men that she loved. And see, people think that love is exclusive, 'How can you love somebody else if you love this person?' That's just the way love is. Love doesn't have no boundaries, no formulas, and no rules, love doesn't know that." "So I thought, OK she's got these two lovers, she loved them both, and in the movie I think one guy died or something, but I thought about it. What if she has two lovers but they're the same person? So I wrote the song."
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