“Ain't Too Proud To Beg” by Temptations

"Ain't Too Proud to Beg" hit in 1966 on Motown's Gordy label, and it's the Temptations at their most desperate and most delicious: David Ruffin out front, pleading like a man with nothing left to lose, while Melvin Franklin, Eddie Kendricks, Otis Williams and Paul Williams build the backing vocals behind him and the Funk Brothers drive the whole thing along. It also appears on the album Gettin' Ready.

Norman Whitfield wrote it with Eddie Holland and produced it, and the timing mattered. "Get Ready", the single before it, had come up short, and when this one topped the R&B chart for eight weeks, on and off, Whitfield took over from Smokey Robinson as the group's main producer. Decades later its spot on The Big Chill soundtrack carried it to number 94 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs poll.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.