"I Could Never Love Another," The Temptations (1968)

A beautiful song about real-life darkness

Sep 20, 2023

∙ Paid

Peak: #1 on the R&B chart; #13 on the Hot 100
Streams: 2.2 million

Motown’s classic hits are so beautiful — so pleasing to hear — that it’s easy to overlook how dark some of them are. “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” is a song about jealouys and suspicion. “Love Child” is a song about illegitimate children. And “I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)” is a song a tortured man wrote about his cheating wife shortly before he shot himself.

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to The Lost Songs Project to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.