The Temptations' “Papa Was A Rollin' Stone” was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong and produced by Whitfield. Released as a single on the Gordy label in late September 1972, the song became an instant smash, and only the veteran group’s third single – after 1964’s “My Girl” and 1971’s “Just My Imagination” – to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (though it only reached #5 R&B). The Tempts' version was actually the song’s second single release. Whitfield had initially recorded the song – in a more typical funk arrangement, with lush, almost Latin-inflected instrumentation – on second-tier Motown group The Undisputed Truth, who had a minor hit with it (#24 R&B) earlier in the year. “Papa” was a critical as well as a commercial success, garnering three Grammy Awards in 1973 for the group, the songwriters, and long-time Motown arranger Paul Riser.

At 6:54, “Papa” was easily the longest track Motown had released as a single up to that point, and quite a departure from the company’s “in-and-out-in-under-three-minutes” ethos of the previous decade. The LP version – appearing on the Tempts' album All Directions – is nearly twice as long at over twelve minutes.

With its relatively sparse but expansive instrumentation, the song marks something of a departure from the Sly and the Family Stone-influenced “psychedelic soul” of the early Dennis Edwards era, into the more “orchestral funk” sound that Isaac Hayes and others had made popular through their soundtrack work on so-called blaxploitation films. Like most of the group’s singles since 1968, however, “Papa” finds the Temptations sharing lead vocals. Dennis Edwards, Richard Street, Damon Harris, and Melvin Franklin all snatch a verse of their own, with only founding member and group leader Otis Williams declining to step up to the mic.

Single edit of the Temptations' “Papa Was A Rollin' Stone”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzly6jrepRU

The Undisputed Truth’s earlier version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s6W4FR39qQ