The Temptations – Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)

About The Song

The song is about a guy who is madly in love with a girl, but they’re only together in his imagination. Every day, he watches her walk by his window, and in his reverie he pictures their life together. In reality, she doesn’t even know him.

Motown writers Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong wrote “Just My Imagination” in the late ’60s, but since psychedelic songs were popular at the time, they decided to wait a few years before releasing it. Whitfield pulled it out of the mothballs after the relative failure of The Temptations’ “Ungena Za Ulimwengu (Unite the World),” which hit #33 in 1970 (unacceptable by their standards). Whitfield felt they needed to change direction to stay on top of the game, so he steered Temptations away from their string of socially relevant songs and had them record this airy ballad. The strategy worked, and the song rose to #1 in America.

Eddie Kendricks took lead vocals on this track, which ended up being his last single with the group. An original member, Kendricks left The Temptations for a solo career soon after the song was released. With his replacement, Damon Harris, the Temps landed their last big hit in 1972 with “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone,” which went to #1 in the US. Kendricks had his own chart-topper in 1973 with “Keep On Truckin’.”

“Just My Imagination” was also the last song for group member Paul Williams, who sings the “Every night on my knees I pray,” line. Williams remained on salary as an advisor, but was plagued with personal problems – he was separated from his wife, owed back taxes and was being treated for alcoholism. He committed suicide in 1973 at age 34. >>
This was the third of four #1 hits by the Temptations. The track was released in February 1971, and took off right away, peaking at #1 in April.

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