…The concept of the United States of America is the greatest concept in the world. It’s beautiful. It’s a wonderful concept. There’s no place like America. So, for people to come in and try to fuck that up is ridiculous. I’m a Black man, and I’m telling you this: I’ve been all over the world. The only places I haven’t been are Africa, China, and Russia. Here, people say “African American.” Don’t call me no African American. I’m a Black American. [You’re not] going to label me to try to say that I don’t belong in this country when my people have fought and died to establish this country. Black soldiers have fought and died for this country. They were doing it for Mississippi and Georgia and Alabama. I’m a Black American.
American R&B singer, songwriter and producer (born 1940)
William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an R&B and soul singer and songwriter. Robinson is noted for being one of the primary figures associated with the Motown record label, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy As both a member of Motown group The Miracles and a solo artist, Robinson recorded seventy Top 40 hits for Motown between 1959 and 1990, and also served as the company's Vice President from 1961 to 1988.
From: Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Birth Name:
William Robinson
Also Known As:
Smokey
Alternative Names:
William 'Smokey' Robinson, Jr.
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Wm. Robinson
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William Robinson, Jr.
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Bill "Smokey" Robinson
From Wikidata (CC0)
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Now if there's a smile on my face,
It's only there tryin' to fool the public,
But when it comes down to foolin' you;
Now honey, that's quite a different subject.
But don't let my glad expression
Give you the wrong impression.
Really I'm sad.
I'm sadder than sad.
You're gone and I'm hurtin' so bad.
Like a clown I pretend to be glad.
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You better beware, my friends all told me
When they saw that I was falling for you.
You better beware they told me that girl ain't gonna be true.
She'll have you walking with your head in the air,
Have you thinking that she really, really care.
Then-a, then she'll let you down, she'll really let you down.
She's a girl with no understanding.
And when she's getting tired of you hanging around,
She'll let you drop and say... have a happy landing (happy landing).
…it’s disappointing for the people who are still of that frame of mind to be in that place where they think that people are different. The only difference between people is the texture and the color of our skin. If you skinned everybody alive, you wouldn’t know who anyone was. All our hearts are in the same place, our organs, our everything is in the same place. We all have red blood. We’re all human beings. It’s almost 2021. It’s a damn shame that all this time’s gone in life, and people still don’t get that. I’ve wished many times that we would get attacked by some outer-space planet or something like that so we can all come together as earthlings and help each other. See, there’s evil, and there’s good, and people who adopt evil, that’s who they are. It ain’t got shit to do with the color of their skin or where they live. And young people are seeing through that shit…
…If you had a good song, and you were a producer or writer at Motown, you had access to all the artists. It didn’t matter who had the last hit record. If they liked you at all, you had the opportunity. I wanted to write something sweet for David Ruffin to sing, which became “My Girl.” And he sang the shit out of it, so it was contagious. I don’t regret that whatsoever.
Ah, they tell me that the river's too deep
And it's much too wide for you can't get across to the other side.
But they don't know I've got to get there and hold her in my arms
Just a one more time like I did before when she was mine all mine.
Cause I can hear her saying (come to me baby)
I'm going away.
I'm going to stay.
I'm gonna get to you, no matter what I have to do.