"Don't Look Back" is a 1965 song recorded by The Temptations for the Gordy label. The flip side to their Top 20 hit "My Baby", "Don't Look Back" broke out and became a hit among the R&B audience on its own, reaching #14 on the R&B charts. Considered one of original lead singer Paul Williams' showcases, "Don't Look Back" was regularly employed as the closing number for Temptations live performances. Although the original flip side, "My Baby", was initially more popular with pop audiences at the time, over the decades, "Don't Look Back" has proven to be the far more popular and enduring tune. It was also performed by the group on The Ed Sullivan Show. There are no known cover versions of "My Baby". The song inspired many cover versions by Al Green, Phil Collins, Bobby Womack, The Persuasions, Teena Marie and Sugababes. In 1978 Peter Tosh and Mick Jagger covered it as a reggae tune as " Don't Look Back". In 2008, Belgian singer Dirk De Smet covered it as "Walk and Don't Look Back".
Background
Written by Miracles members Smokey Robinson and Ronald White, the authors of the No. 1 Temptations hit "My Girl", "Don't Look Back" is a reassurance to the tentative that finding true love is worth the heartbreak and failed relationships it takes to reach it. As the song's narrator, Paul Williams, promises his lover, in his trademark gritty tone: Smokey Robinson, the song's producer, specifically assigned Paul Williams to sing lead on the song. Although Williams had been the group's original lead singer during its formative years, his role had by 1965 been eclipsed by David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks, who had both sung lead on Temptations hit singles. As such, Williams was often overlooked for leads, even on album tracks and B-sides, prompting him to complain, "shit, y'know, I can sing too!" "Don't Look Back" was originally this single's A-side, but was passed over by the nation's DJs in favor of the Ruffin-led "My Baby", which had a much bigger pop success than this song, and placed on the B-side. The song nevertheless was promoted as if it were an A-side and would be the only B-side to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 for the group. Although the song's relatively modest initial chart success prevented Paul Williams from getting any more leads on Temptations singles releases, the fact is that "Don't Look Back" became a huge belated hit, because his dynamic performance of the song on the Temptations Live! LP received huge airplay by R&B DeeJays nationwide, and propelled sales of the album into the Top 10 of the Billboard pop album chart. Both sides of the single would receive a second pressing and the tracks remixed, with the following statements added on: "Taken from the album #G 914 The Temptin' Temptations." With the second printing, the sides were reversed, making "My Baby" the A-side, while "Don't Look Back", the original A-side, was relegated to B-side status. "Don't Look Back" was more often performed at Temptations live shows than "My Baby". On the 1967 Temptations Live! album, the women in the audience can be heard demanding that the group perform the song, which they proceeded to do. Paul Williams, who developed many of The Temptations' dance steps, developed a routine for the live shows that had him following the song's advice to "keep on walkin'" and performing a strut across the stage, to the delight of the audience. As befitting an intended "A" side, "Don't Look Back" was conceived by Motown Records as an elaborate and dynamic closing number for the Temptations. As Paul Williams' specialty number, "Don't Look Back" was retired from The Temptations' repertoire after Williams, suffering from complications of sickle-cell disease and alcoholism, left the group in 1971. The group performed the song at their induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a tribute to Williams, along with Daryl Hall and John Oates, who announced the induction.
Many cover versions have been made by artists like Al Green, Bobby Womack, The Persuasions, and Teena Marie. David Lindley covered the song on his 1981 album El Rayo-X. Phil Collins recorded a cover during the sessions of his 2010 album Going Back.
Peter Tosh and Mick Jagger version
scored a minor hit in 1978 with a reggae version of the song, sharing vocals with Mick Jagger. That version bore the modified title " Don't Look Back". The song however hit #1 in the Netherlands. The track appears also on Peter Tosh 1978 album Bush Doctor with credited Mick Jagger vocals. The pair played the song together that year on an episode of Saturday Night Live and a couple of times during Tosh's opening performance on the Rolling Stones US Tour 1978. The Rolling Stones rehearsed it for that tour and played it once in Chicago 2002. Tosh had previously recorded the song with The Wailers in ska style in 1966.
Dirk De Smet version
, the winner of the second series of the Belgian edition of X Factor musical competition made a remake of the song under the title "Walk and Don't Look Back" being his debut release after the win. It reached #4 on the Flemish UltratopBelgian Singles Chart in 2008.
