Friction arose during the recording of “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” for a number of reasons. The Temptations did not like the fact that Whitfield’s instrumentation had been getting more emphasis than their vocals on their songs at the time, and that they had to press Whitfield to get him to produce ballads for the group. Norman Whitfield forced Dennis Edwards to re-record his parts dozens of times until he finally got the angered, bitter grumble he desired out of the usually fiery-toned Edwards. Whitfield’s treatment of the group eventually led to his dismissal as their producer. Legend has it that Edwards was angered by the song’s first verse: “It was the third of September/That day I’ll always remember/’cause that was the day/that my daddy died”, as his father was said to have died on that date.
Runaway Child, Running Wild
Masterpiece