In 1968, Sly & the Family Stone had a hit with their single "Dance to the Music", and Temptations member Otis Williams introduced Norman Whitfield to the band's music. At first, Whitfield did not want to produce anything with such a radically different sound. "I don't want to get into all that crazy shit," he said. "That ain't nothing but a little passing fancy."[4] Within a few weeks, however, he had created the backing tracks for the newest Temptations single, a psychedelic-styled number called "Cloud Nine", and stuck primarily to such songs well into the early 1970s.[4]
Recording
Featuring all five Temptations trading lead vocals à la The Family Stone,[4] "Cloud Nine" was a marked departure from the standard Tempts sound: wah-wah guitars and a harder, driving beat propelled the record, as opposed to pianos and strings. The song also features the Cuban percussionist Mongo Santamaria on conga drums. Edwards, Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams swap leads on the verses, bridges and choruses, such as this example from the first bridge:
Otis Williams has some brief lead lines on the last half of the song (i.e.: he repeats "Reality…"), and Melvin Franklin also gets a line near the end ("There's no difference between day and night…"). The lyrics for the song were about the struggles and pains of living poor, as opposed to being about relationship and love troubles. The broke, unemployed, and despondent main character in the song proclaims that he gets over all of his problems by "riding high on 'cloud nine'". This has been interpreted by many (including Motown head Berry Gordy) as a reference to drug abuse, although Whitfield, Strong, and The Temptations deny that "Cloud Nine" is about drugs.[4]
Cash Box called it "near revolutionary," praising the "touches of progressive pop in the track, elevated lyric message and the solid performance."[5]Record World said that "the kids will be on cloud nine when they hear it."[6]
Mongo Santamaria recorded his own, instrumental version in 1969 for the Stone Soul album; released as a single (Columbia 4-44740), it reached #32 Pop, #33 R&B and #30 Easy Listening.[7]
