LOS ANGELES ‒ Christmastime and Motown are two of the world’s favorite things, and both share a distinctly American musical history.
Smokey Robinson and the Miracles recorded the famed label’s first complete holiday album with 1963’s “Christmas With the Miracles,” followed by Yuletide classics such as the 1973 star-studded “A Motown Christmas Album.”
So it’s no wonder the seemingly ageless Robinson, 84, donned brilliant red and green outfits to co-host NBC’s “A Motown Christmas” (Wednesday, 9 EST/PDT) with “Little Mermaid” star Halle Bailey. He performs along with Martha Reeves, Gladys Knight and The Temptations. The seasonal music-filled special harkens back to the annual Motown Christmas parties of the past.
“They were so festive,” Robinson tells USA TODAY. “People would just perform there, impromptu. Christmas is a very special time of year.”
Motown Christmas party memory: Stevie Wonder hands over ‘Tears of a Clown’
One of Robinson’s most vivid memories of Motown Christmas parties was when his friend Stevie Wonder handed him a cassette tape recording he’d made with songwriter/producer Hank Crosby. “Stevie gave me a cassette to listen to because he couldn’t think of a song to go with it,” says Robinson. “I put it in my pocket.”
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Robinson immediately thought of the sad clown from the Italian opera “Pagliacci” when he finally played the cassette and heard the distinctively whimsical opening.
“I had learned in school that everybody loved the clown Pagliacci, and they cheered for him,” says Robinson. “But when he went to his dressing room, he cried because he didn’t have that kind of love from a woman. I wanted to make ‘Tears of a Clown’ about something personal.”
It was all smiles after that. The song was an instant hit, remains an international multimillion seller and was a 2002 Grammy Hall of Fame inductee.
Unknown Marvin Gaye got it on during one Motown Christmas party
Robinson hadn’t heard through the grapevine about Marvin Gaye’s talent when the undiscovered musician showed up at an early Motown Christmas party. But when Gaye, an accomplished pianist, sat in the studio to play “The Christmas Song,” it was seasonal healing.
“He was singing it to himself. But everybody started to gather around, especially the ladies,” says Robinson, “because he had that voice. So that’s when I first met Marvin Gaye at that Christmas party. And, wow.”
Robinson had a close shave when he was stuck on ‘Tracks of My Tears’
Robinson performs his classic “Tracks of My Tears” on “Motown Christmas.” The superhit started as a haunting number from his frequent Miracles collaborator and guitarist Marv Tarplin. The lyrics took weeks to write.
“I came up with the first three lines of the chorus. ‘Take a good look at my face/You see my smile looks out of place/ If you look closer it’s easy to trace,” Robinson recalls. “And then, what? ‘I’m sad’? No. ‘You’re gone and I’m still here’? No. I went through a bunch of those.”
Weeks later, Robinson was still stuck while shaving.
“I’m looking at my face in the mirror and I thought, ‘What if a person cried so much that their tears left tracks in their face,’ ” says Robinson, who got into a lather. “I said, ‘That’s it!’ That’s when I finished the song. Each song I’ve written took a different time to write. My song ‘Cruising’ took five years to complete.”
How Smokey Robinson still moves like a new Temptation at 84
Robinson still moves on stage as smoothly as he sings. He credits his limberness to yoga, which he’s practiced for five decades.
“I do it religiously,” says Robinson. “It keeps your body stretched out and your blood flowing. I don’t want to be an old man or decrepit or need someone to pick me up to take me out. I want to be as mobile and fluid as possible.”
Robinson gets why Mike Tyson still fights: ‘I tried retiring, too’
Robinson was among the millions of viewers who saw Mike Tyson, 58, fight YouTuber Jake Paul, 27, last month on Netflix. While the spectacle was derided as a payday stunt, Robinson gets why Tyson was lured back into the ring: “Because fighting for Mike is like music for me; it’s in his blood,” says Robinson. “I tried retiring too and didn’t know what to do with myself after about three years.”
In 2023, Robinson released “Gasms,” his first album of new material since 2009. Tyson fought a reality show star half his age, with Paul declared the winner after eight uneventful rounds.
“As to whether or not Mike should have done it, especially after seeing the fight. I’m not sure,” says Robinson. “But I love Mike. If that’s what he wanted to do, I understand.”
