Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today)

Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today)

The Temptations

“Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today)” was recorded by The Temptations in April of 1970 and released as a single the following month. The song, which reached #2 on the US R&B charts and #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong and produced by Whitfield, who had been responsible for nearly all of the Temptations' singles since 1966’s “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” and would produce for the group well into the 1970s. Though the track never appeared on a Temptations studio album, it was included on the group’s Greatest Hits II LP released in 1970.

“Ball of Confusion” is an example of the “psychedelic soul” style, inspired by the success of Sly and the Family Stone, that marked most of the Temptations' singles following the 1968 firing of singer David Ruffin and his subsequent replacement by Dennis Edwards. It can also be considered a kind of proto-rap song, as many of the lines are spoken or intoned, rather than sung. “Ball of Confusion” is also noteworthy for its overtly political themes, something that Motown songwriters were generally encouraged to shy away from throughout the company’s 1960s heyday. The song has been covered by a number of other artists, including Tina Turner in 1982 and English alternative rock band Love and Rockets in 1985.