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David Ruffin had replaced Elbridge Bryant in the Temptations, a group whose leads mostly went to Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams. On the Motortown Revue, Smokey Robinson watched Ruffin sing the Drifters’ Under the Boardwalk during a medley and decided he was a sleeping giant. With Ronald White, Robinson wrote My Girl for Ruffin’s rough-edged voice, drawing on his feelings for his wife Claudette, and let the Temptations arrange their own background vocals at Hitsville USA.

The Funk Brothers and Detroit Symphony players backed them, with Paul Riser’s arrangements, Robert White’s ascending guitar riff and James Jamerson’s bass line. Released just before Christmas 1964, the record hit No. 1 pop in March 1965, the Temptations’ first No. 1 and the Gordy label’s first Hot 100 No. 1. Motown even had the group record German and Italian versions, and decades later New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor made it his walk-up song, with 40,000 fans singing along during the 2024 postseason.

• The song appeared on the 1965 album The Temptations Sing Smokey.
• Otis Redding’s 1965 cover reached No. 11 in the UK, and Suave took his version to No. 20 in the U.S. in 1988.
• The 1991 film My Girl sent the original back to No. 2 in the UK.
• It entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998 and the National Recording Registry in 2017.
• The touring Temptations performed it at Citi Field before Game 5 of the 2024 National League Championship Series.