The Motown Song


"The Motown Song" is a song performed by Rod Stewart and featuring The Temptations. The song is from Stewart's 1991 album Vagabond Heart. It was written by Larry John McNally and was originally recorded by McNally for the soundtrack to the film Quicksilver in 1986. McNally recorded a new version 2015 for the compilation "I. C. Independent Celebration, Vol. 1" for the German label "Birdstone Records".
The single peaked at number 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 on 21 September 1991 and at number one on the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart on 5 October. It also reached number three on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and number one on the RPM Adult Contemporary chart.

Music video

The music video with Rod Stewart was produced by Animation City, an animation company in London, England, directed by Derek Hayes. It followed the success of the Madonna video "Dear Jessie", and Elton John's "Club at the End of the Street", by the same company.
It paid tribute to Motown and featured other headline-making stars of the time, including animated versions of rapper Vanilla Ice, and singers Sinéad O'Connor, Madonna and Elton John; along with both a live action and an animated Rod Stewart with his animated dog. At the end of the video, the live action Stewart is sitting in his art studio and crumbles up a piece of paper where the animation was. Then, he proceeds to kick the paper into a bin, smiles, and leaves.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts