Song of the Day 11/1: The Temptations, “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today)”

Another song that sadly hasn’t lost any relevance over the past 54 years. In early 1970 Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong took a hard look at the wreckage of the ’60s and proclaimed it an unholy mess that was flashing by while the band played on. When Motown’s Wrecking Crew recorded it they kept playing for almost 11 minutes. Berry Gordy cut that down to just over 4 minutes for the Temptations single, which went to No. 3 on the Hot 100, and it was trimmed even more for this TV appearance.

Whitfield didn’t let that backing track go to waste. He used the whole thing the next year when he put together his own psychedelic soul band, the Undisputed Truth.

The song made another appearance in 1982. Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh of the British new wave band Human League tapped Tina Turner for guest vocals on a cover of the song for their collaboration as the British Electric Foundation. Turner’s career had been on the skids since her split from Ike in the mid-’70s, but when the record was released as a single it became a surprise hit in Norway, of all places. That convinced Capitol Records to give her a contract, and when her next single (again produced by Ware and Marsh), a cover of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together,” reached the charts in Europe and America, her comeback was off and running.