good evening from los angeles. i'm tavis smiley. a conversation with one of the greatest hitmaker of all time, smoky robinson. his c.d. is "smokey and friends." rei-imagining some of his most iconic songs with steven tyler, sheryl crow, elton john, and ja james taylor. glad you joined us. a conversation with william "smokey" robinson coming up right now. ♪

and by contributions to your pbs station by viewers like you. thank you. ♪ listing smokey robinson's accomplishments from multiple grammy wins to his songwriting talents to his induction into just about every hall of fame the music industry has would take all night. suffice it to say that the great william "smokey" robinson his a new c.d. equal dmpd. called "sm friends," that include sheryl crow, elton john, mary j. blige.

my friend, let's take a look. ♪ ♪ if you want it you got it forever ♪ ♪ not a one-night stand not a one-night stand ♪ ♪ there's a good look at my face you say my smile looks out of place ♪ >> it's an understatement to say that your music is appreciated by people all over the world. people with different musical taste, different musical experiences. something about your stuff bring us all together, man. >> well, thank you, man. i appreciate that very much. >> yeah. it's -- it is extraordinary all these years later to hear the different ways that your stuff can be reinterpreted, re-imagined. it turned me on to hear it. what did it do for you? >> i agree with you.

what randy did -- i've known randy forever, man. we've never had a chance to work like we've worked on this together -- >> randy jackson. >> randy jackson and i. and what he did of he contacted these people on this record and said, "what is your favorite smoky robinson song?" the song you hear them sing regular their favorite smokey robinson songs. he let them do their interpretation of them, and all i had to do of go to the studio and sing. it was beautiful. normally i'm worried about the production and arrangements. randy had all that. i went and sang their interpretations. >> which of these imaginings, reinterpretations -- >> don't do that to me. >> not going to say your favorite. >> okay. >> i want you to still have friends. smokey and his ecofriends. no, i don't want -- his ex-friends. no, i don't want to do that. i would not ask you your

favorite. i don't want you to leave here without friends. i do want to ask you, though, which of these reinterpretations, re-imaginings struck you as the most unique, the most interesting, like wow, i never thought of my song in that way? >> oh, gosh. there's a few of those. >> okay. >> yes, really. i think that james taylor's version of "ain't that peculiar." >> i knew you were going to say that. >> absolutely, man. he did his folk rock kind of thing feeling on it, you know. and that's totally away from marvin gay's version of it. the one i did on marvin. and see, james is a huge marvin gay fan. see, i guess that's why he picked that song. but his interpretation of "ain't that peculiar" is way off the charts from where it was, you know. then what randy did with "my girl," to slow it down and put a different chord change pattern on the end. there's a lot of different twists on those, yeah. >> yeah. let me ask you, set your modesty aside for a second.

when you hear your stuff reinterpreted in this way, what does it say to you about the brilliance of your songwriting ability? >> tavis, i don't know if it says anything about the brilliance. but it does say that i accomplished what i set tout do. when i set tout write a song, i'm trying to -- set out to write a song, i'm trying to write a song. i want to write something that meant something and in 50 years from now it's going to mean something. i know the song has the chance to live on and on. i might record it for somebody else, and people say, that's okay, you know. but if it's a song, see, it can live on and on and on. 20 years from now, somebody could pick it up and do a great arrangement, and it could be the goal every time. >> i let you off the first time. i ain't letting you off this time. tell me a couple of song of

yours since you mentioned it -- i wouldn't have gone there if you didn't say it first, smokes. since you mentioned that i may not do it the best way the first time, but 15, 20 years there now, somebody else will do. tell me one of the songs you thought you did a good job, but somebody else you think did a great job with. >> gosh, let me see. that's a good question, man. >> you went there. you opened the door for me. you're right. >> i did. i would say the most variety on a song is "ooh, baby, baby." i have it in different languages. different groups in different language-speaking countries have recorded that song. >> right. >> i have that in different languages. >> right. >> but i didn't expect this from it. >> right. >> and then another song that i didn't expect it to become what it has become -- i thought it was a really good song. and i -- i loved what i had done with it.

i didn't think it was going to become what it has become today. "my girl" has become my international anthem as a songwriter. i have so many interpretations of that song. and i play it in my live concerts. and you don't even have to sing the words at first because even in countries where the primary language is not english, when they hear the bass -- [ laughter ] >> they know right after it happens. >> just the bass line. >> people who don't even speak english singing it. >> yeah. >> so this has really amazed me as far as the success of it around the world. because it's like everywhere i go, people sing it. >> you said something i want to follow up on. everyone in the music business who's being honest will tell you this kind of success is collaborative. no artist does this by himself or herself. >> right. >> it's a collaborative effort.

how much more now, now that -- not that you always haven't, but how much more now do you appreciate a particular like on a song that the funk brothers or somebody will put on it because to your point now when people hear that like, they're like, oh, i know what that is? >> yeah, yeah, yeah. i'll use "my girl" again. i'll use "my girl" again. when i wrote the song, i imagined it starting off with just the bass. then david's voice -- "i've got sunshine." i imagined it like that. the funk brothers were just an outstanding group of musicians. they were put together by a guy named mickey stevenson, our director at motown. he went to jazz clubs all over detroit and gathered these guys and put them together. they became the funk brother at motown. but they were so incredible as musicians. so now we're running "my girl" down for the first time in the studio. >> right. >> james jamieson -- james, play

this -- he starts playing that. and robert white, who was the lead guitarist, is sitting there. and all of a sudden, he jump out of his chair and starts walking around the studio. ♪ no, no, no, i said, no, no, no, no, no. one of the most famous guitar riffs ever i guess. >> it is. >> yeah. that came off the top of his head. and there it was. he was going, no, no, no. >> absolutely. yes. >> but it's a huge accomplishment. it is a huge compliment to all these years later to have people turned on not just by the rivers, not just by the chords or the likes, but for people to still be singing and not just singing with moved by, inspired by, encouraged by, brought made

to smile by the lyrical content in your stuff. that's what endures for me, the lyrics. >> thank you, man. like i said, as a songwriter, that's my goal, to sit down there -- i want to write a song. that's why it takes different times or different timeframes for me to write a song. >> right. >> i have -- like the very first million sold that we had in motown of "shop around" by the miracles. and "shop around" took me maybe 30 minutes to write that song. okay? >> right. >> whereas, "cruisin" took five years. >> yeah. >> five years it took to write it. >> it was war the wait, though. >> thank you very much. my guitarist who has passed on now, marv tarplin, of such an incredible guitar -- was such an incredible guitar player and made riffs and played them so i could come one song for the guitar riffs. many of my song started with his guitar riffs. he had given me that music for

"cruisin'," and i loved it, it was censure and sexy, and i would put that tape on and go to sleep by it at night. and i wrote a couple of song to it, but they didn't fit because they weren't sensual and sexual like his song, his music. so the first three lines that i came up with for that song after listening for two, three years, of, "you're going to fly away, and i'm glad you're going my way, because i love it." because we're together. no, that's not good. i love you because -- you love me. no, that's not it. i love it because i don't want to be with anybody else. no, that not it. one day, i'm driving down sunset boulevard, and i loved the rascals, okay? their hit, "groovin," came on the radio. ♪ >> i'm singing it. all of a sudden, i say, that's. it that's what it is. "groovin." i turned my car around, man. i went home and put the tape on. we were groovin together. i said, no, it's not sexual or

send absolutely, but i like the sound of the word. i did several until i came up with a word that i thought could be used in that capacity, and it was "cruisin'." i said, if i use this word, then it leaves it open for everybody's interpretation. and the people have come up to me, tavis, with bets -- i bet -- when you say it, i love when it's on, you meant so and so, didn't you? i said, "what did you mean by it?" "i meant" -- >> that's what i meant. that's exactly what i meant. >> that's what i meant. >> whatever your cruisin with your person is, that's what that is, you know. it's -- it took five years, man. then i finally was able to finish the song because i had a beginning, or i had a construction for it or something, you know? >> i've seen you in concert, as you know, more time than i can count. >> yeah. >> i always come backstage and give you a hug because you kill it every time. >> thank you very much, man. >> i don't even have language except to say -- i don't want to

be sacrilegious, but it is a spiritual experience -- i mean this sincerely -- it is a spiritual experience to be in the audience at one of your shows when you hit "cruisin." i mean, you have to neil on stage. you -- to feel this on stage. you have thousands, the whole audience standing up. there is this spirit of love and camaraderie and brotherhood and sisterhood, and every good thing i can imagine is embodied in the song. you got the whole -- first time i saw you do it years ago, you had this white tuck on. ooh, smokey, you came out with this white tux, you were cleaner than a sunday chitlin, cleaner than the board of agent. and i was -- board of health. and i got to the show late that night. rather than go to the seats that i had, i stayed in the back. i just sat in the back. my sister and i sat in the back. and to see it from that perspective and watch the whole audience on this -- it was a spiritual thing, man. >> you're quite an intuesday

youtive man. we've talked -- intuitive man. we've talked many time, had spiritual talk. you're spiritually intuitive, man. before i do a concert, every time wherever i am, if it's afternoon, night, whatever time, before we do the concert, i'm in prayer. i pray about it every time. i want it to be something where people feel some kind of spiritual connection. >> yeah. >> i want god to be in this mix. >> yeah. >> i want god to be out there gathering these people and -- and letting them hear what we're doing, you know. so i pray every time before the concert. >> it's just -- there aren't enough spaces in the world. i think maybe i'm one of these old foegies. i think that music is still pregnant with the kind of power to change the world. that may sound ideal stick to some, but i think that music still has the power to inspire people, to uplift people, to empower people. and they're just -- there are

just a few moment. and you can -- there are a number that can hit a groove and people go crazy. when you just lay in that thing, you just lay in it. and the audience starts to feel it. and it just whip up like a lather. before you know it, everybody's smiling, everybody's happy. it's just -- >> well, i hope so, man. that, once again, is one of my goals every night at a concert. you said a key thing when you said music is something that can -- has the power to change the world. i'm a living went for that because i feel that's what motown did in a sense. we changed the complexion of relationship with the music because, tavis, when we first started -- i know you heard this from me and berry gordy. i saw him with you. when we first started, man, eand especially in the deep south, we would go there, and we're doing concerts, and the stage is in this big arena. and it's in the center.

and on one side is white people. on the other side is black people. or vice-versa. and they're not really even looking at each other basically. we're in the middle of all this singing. and after about a year or so, we would go back to those same places, and there would be white boys there with block girlfriends. and black boys there with white girlfriends. and all of them were mingling and dancing and talking and so and so forth because they had a common love. and i think that music is like the international language. it doesn't require you to be able to speak a certain language to enjoy a piece of music. like i said, we go places where there are very few people there speaking english, but they're at the concerts. they're singing those songs. and they know them. and it's just a beautiful thing. and i think the music has the power to bring people together like that because especially in

the '60s when we were -- like really starting to roll in the '60s, when there was so much unrest going on with the civil rights movement and this and that, and to say this kind of thing taking place, because of music was beautiful. because we were trying to legislate that. we were trying to force that. we were trying to make people come together by law. the law says you have to do this, and the music of just there. she was saying, i want you to love me and love me in common. that's what happened. >> you can't legislate love. >> no, you cannot. >> it either happen or it doesn't. >> absolutely. so -- >> you mentioned berry gordy, the chairman of here a few weeks ago, talking about the motown 25 thing. i got his perspective and suzanne's perspective. how did you feel being on that stage that night celebrating that major anniversary? now i don't dvd. on blu-ray, you all have good stuff. that it mayor bloomberg a big night for you since you were there from the beginning.

>> it was one of the most spock lar nights of my life. it was profound -- spectacular nights of my life. it was profound. i've got the video that we're releasing on that. and in fact, otis williams of the temptations and duke faker of the four tops who were the only original guys left in those groups, and i did the commentary for the particular release of that dvd. >> yeah. >> but it was electric. it was just incredible night. and for people to come back -- i tell barry this all the time because he's my best friend. i tell him, he was disheartened by a lot of people because he left, and they felt -- he felt he wasn't appreciated and so on and so forth. i told him, all those people respect you. they respect you and love you enough to come back." i'm glad the dvd -- it shows not only all the artists came back but the writers, producers, and everybody connected. all the people who worked in the

sales department. everybody came back fa night, man. and it was just -- came back that night, man. and it was just absolutely beautiful. i was looking at it for the first time. i watched it probably a consume of weeks ago. i was on the road. i was watching it in my suite. and tears came to my eyes because i was looking and thinking, golly, i'm a part of this. this wonderful occurrence. this -- this wonderful entity. and i'm a part of that. and as far as i'm concerned, motown was -- the way we had it was a once in a lifetime musical event. see, nothing like that had happened before that time. as you see, nothing like that has happened since. >> no -- >> so, it was a once-in-a-lifetime event for all these artaists to be under the same banner -- artists to be under the same banner. and for all of us to have the relationship that we have. there is a motown family, and

there always has been. people used to think of that as being mythical. a motown family, they just say that. no. we have a family, man. we were not just musical stablemates or anything like that, we socialized. we went to each other's homes, we did had dinner with each -- we had dinner with each other, school, pool parties. we did everything together, man. it was just like that. it still is with those of us who are still alive. we still have that. >> before you walked in -- i'm glad you walked in when you did. we were making a mockery of your stuff trying to sound like smoky robins robinson. >> i want to hear that. >> i'm going to put them on the spot right now. at home -- they can't see it off camera because he's in the wings. everybody had their own smokey robinson song that they think is overplayed, undervalued. >> all right. >> we know all the its. he's got a whole bunch. too many hits took little time. you can't do it on one night.

too little time. brian is from detroit. he put his vote in for the smokey song he think is most underappreciated. you going to give me a two-second like of it? come on, come on. ♪ [ laughter ] >> you did it, you did it! >> that's enough for two reasons, not one. getting carried away. we've got to pay if you sing more than two like of it. we've got to pay smokey, man. we can't afford that. i could even argue on that. there are some songs that you labored over just as hard that don't get the airplay as others. every song can't be a hit. are there a couple of song in your mind that you think are really good that didn't go as high on the charts as you thought they would have? >> yeah, yeah, there's a song called "i'll try something new." i really thought that was going

to be a big, big hit. it was a hit, but it didn't do nearly what i thought it was going to do. it's like one of those occult songs that is bigger now than it was when it was out. same with "who's loving you?" thank god for michael jackson -- >> michael jackson, that's -- >> who's loving you is -- i mean, i can't even tell you. the proceeds it's bringing now as opposed to when it first came out. "who's loving you" is a song that was on the back of "shop around." and the -- when i recorded that song and wrote the song, the miracles and i sang it. and back in those days, they used to flip the record over and play the b side. it was like hate for the miracles. and then here comes an 11-year-old boy who cannot possibly even know who "who's lovin' you" is talking about. you know what i mean? [ laughter ] >> he sing the song so good until now when i sing it in

person in concert, young people come up and say, "why did you sing michael's song?" [ laughter ] >> well, originally -- >> yeah. long before you were born, yeah. >> yeah. so some songs do that. and so i'll try something new, and "who's lovin' you" are song like that. today they're more popular than they were when they came out. >> it was a hit for you, too. i have in my -- i have all your stuff to my ipad. there's something about that hook on "just to her." that's something okay -- i love that. >> you know what, i do, too. and i didn't write "just to see her." it was written by jimmy george and lou pardili. it was brought to the director at the time, russ regan. a really good friend of mine. he brought me that song. i thought it was great because "just to see her" has one of the

most empowering melodies of a song that i've ever heard. it's one of those song along type of song. ♪ everybody singing it. >> yeah. >> it's just a wonderful song. i had written it down -- >> but you -- you've written a few of your own, though. i loved your voice on that, and the lorain countial content is amazing. -- and the lyrical consent is amazing. there are people who will agree with me -- >> i love him. my brother! i love him! >> there are so many great song writers. i love steify, motown -- stevie, motown. smo smokey's stuff is enduring all these years later. of the tact that many people have re-imagined on this project, "smoky and friends," you'll hear their versions, mary

j. blige, elton join, cee lo -- >> john mayer. >> john mayer. wouldn't have been possible without you. you're welcome any time. love you, man. that's our show for tonight. thanks for watching, and as always, keep the faith. for metro station information on today's show -- for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. join me next time as we take a dive into what's grabbing the country's attention. that's next time. see you then.

and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

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