David Ruffin: I Miss You, Part 1

Ooh…ooh…
(Oh, I)
Ooh…ooh…ooh…ooh…ooh…ooh…
(Oh, I)
(I miss you, baby)
(Oh…)

(Oh, I) Oh, I (Oh, I)
(Miss you) I miss you, baby (Miss you)
(Miss you, miss you) I swear I do
(Miss you) Mmm, hmm

Every since you went away
I ain’t been doing nothing but
(Thinking, thinking) (2x)
With my head in my hands
(Thinking)

You been away from so long
and I just don’t think I can carry on so I start
(Drinking, drinking) (2x)
Each and every night
(Drinking)

(Ah…ah…ah…)
Trying to drown all my loneliness away
I don’t forget a day
Fall down on my knees wishing for your return
And oh, how I hurt

‘Cause I (Oh, I) Oh, I (Oh, I)
(Miss you) I miss you, baby
(Miss you)
(Miss you, miss you)
Oh, Lord (Miss you)

You can look at my eyes and see
That a great big man like me has been
(Crying, crying) (2x)
Crying my heart and soul out to you, baby
(Crying)

Sitting in my lonely room
Filled with nothing but gloom and I feel like
(Dying, dying) (2x)
Hey, y’all help me
(Dying)

(Ah…ah…ah…)
‘Cause ever since the day you left
I don’t know what to do with myself
Oh…I wish for your return
And oh, how I hurt

‘Cause I (Oh, I) Oh, I (Oh, I)
(Miss you) I miss you, baby
(Miss you)
(Miss you, miss you)
I miss you, baby (Miss you), oh…I

(Ooh…ooh…ooh…ooh…ooh…ooh…ooh…ooh…)
Oh, I
I miss you, baby
(Miss you, miss you) (2x)
I swear I do (Miss you)

Oh, I (2x)
(Oh, I) Oh, I (Oh, I)
(Miss you, miss you)
I miss you, baby, without you, baby, they’re ain’t no future
(Miss you, miss you, miss you) Yeah, oh…no

(Oh, I) Oh, I (Oh, I)
I miss you, baby
(Miss you, miss you)
I miss you, baby, I miss you, baby
(Miss you, miss you, miss you)
Without you I don’t know what to do with myself, what to do with my time

Hmm
Hello
Did I disturb you
I didn’t mean to take up too much of your time but
Just thought I’d give you a ring and see how you was doing
How’s, how’s everything
A friend of mine told me he saw you the other day
Said you was still looking good
Heh, made me feel kind of good, you know
Told me, told me that you did ask about me
Heh
I been really meaning to try to get to talk to you
For now but
You know how a man’s pride is
Sometimes it kind of won’t let him do what he wanna do

(Oh, I) Yeah, baby
(Oh, I), come back to me, darling
(Miss you, miss you) (2x)
(Miss you, miss you)
I don’t want nobody else, hey, hey, baby (Miss you)
(Oh, I, Oh, I) Hey, baby
(Miss you, miss you)
I miss you, baby
(Miss you, miss you, miss you)
I miss you, baby, I don’t know what to do with my time, with myself
Without you, baby

Hmm, guess what
I know this will knock you dead but
I even went out and got a gig
Oh, forgot you know hip to the hip talk
Plain J-O-B, baby
In eight hours a day, all the overtime I can get
I don’t know, I guess it might be too late but
I swear I miss you

(Oh, I, Oh, I) Yeah, Lord knows
(Miss you, miss you)
(Miss you)
Don’t do me like this, baby (Miss you, miss you)
Yeah, I’m on my knees, I’m begging you please
(Oh, I, Oh, I)
Oh, baby, baby, baby, baby, I miss you, baby
(Miss you, miss you)
(Miss you)
Oh, Lord (Miss you, miss you)
Hey, girl, hey, girl
Hey, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby
(Oh, I, Oh, I)
I can’t go on without you, baby
(Miss you, miss you)
(Miss you, miss you, miss you)
What am I gonna do, what can I say
I love you, baby, ha

Heh, remember how I used to always say how lucky I done been
You know being they got that lottery, I hit it
I’d like to kind of make up for
A lot of things that just seemed not to go right
Don’t want you to think I’m trying to buy back your love or your friendship
But now I feel I got a chance to kind of make things up to you a little bit
Heh, enough about you and me
How’s my little son?
Hmm, he ever ask about me?
Just a little bit
does he still like to go down by the supermarket?
If I could just
If I could just see you
Can’t really say what you mean or what you want over the phone
I swear I miss you
You done heard it ten times or more but
I swear I done changed
I swear I done changed

(Oh, I, Oh, I) I miss you, baby
(Miss you, miss you)
(Miss you, miss you) Oh, Lord)
Miss you, baby, yeah, baby, yeah, baby, yeah, baby
(Oh, I, Oh, I)
(Miss you, miss you)
(Miss you, miss you, miss you, baby)

See also:

• David Ruffin
• David Ruffin: My Whole World Ended
• The Temptations: I Wish it Would Rain

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David Ruffin

David Ruffin (1941-1991) was an American R&B singer. He was the tenor and lead singer of The Temptations from 1964 to 1968. He is the lead singer of such hit songs as:

• 1964: My Girl
• 1966: I’m Losing You
• 1967: I Wish it Would Rain
• 1968: Ain’t Too Proud to Beg
• 1969: My Whole World Ended
• 1975: Walk Away From Love

He did all of them on the Motown record label and all but the last two with the Temptations.

He had a rough voice and wore glasses with thick, dark rims, which became something of a trademark for him. He used to go with Tammi Terrell, the one who sang so many songs with Marvin Gaye.

He was fired from the Temptations in 1968. His cocaine habit made it hard for him to show up to work on time and he became so full of himself that he would refuse to ride in the bus with the others and wanted the Temptations to be named “David Ruffin and the Temptations”. Not only was he hard to work with, but he also asked uncomfortable questions about where all the money was going. Dennis Edwards took his place.

In the 1970s he sang on his own, but still for Motown since he was under contract to them. He had some hits, but his cocaine habit and the lack of support from Motown made it hard.

He left Motown in 1977 and continued to record and perform right up to the end of his life. In the 1980s he performed again with the Temptations and then separately with Eddie Kendricks, also a one-time singer of the Temptations, and later with both Kendricks and Dennis Edwards.

At Live Aid in 1985 he performed with Eddie Kendricks and two fans named Hall & Oates. Although a hero to Daryl Hall, Hall had little patience for Ruffin’s drug habit.

It was crack cocaine that killed Ruffin in the end, at age 50.

Ruffin was born in Whynot, Mississippi, not far from Meridian. He never knew his mother: she died when he was still a baby. He was the son of a strict Baptist minister, growing up singing gospel music. In 1955 at age 14 he left home and headed for Memphis. There he joined the gospel scene. He knew the Staple Singers and the Womack brothers. Ruffin himself became part of Dixie Nightingales – not to be confused with the much more famous Dixie Hummingbirds.

Two years later he moved on and came to Detroit, where his brother Jimmy was a singer. There Ruffin started singing for a record label owned by a sister of Berry Gordy. It would later become part of Motown.

In 1964 he joined the Temptations: their tenor had just been fired and Ruffin was a good performer on stage, so they hired him.

At first he was meant to be a backing singer with Eddie Kendricks as lead, but then in 1964 Smokey Robinson wrote a song just for his voice: “My Girl”. It was a huge hit and the rest is history.

See also:

• songs
  • The Temptations: I Wish It Would Rain
  • David Ruffin: My Whole World Ended
  • David Ruffin: I Miss You, Part 1

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The Temptations: I Wish It Would Rain

Sunshine, blue sky, please go away,
My girl has found another, and gone away
With her went my future, my life is filled with gloom,
So day after day, I stay locked up in my room

I know to you it might sound strange,
I wish it would rain (oh how I wish that it would rain)
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah

Cause so badly
I wanna go outside (such a lovely day)
Everyone knows that a man ain’t supposed to cry
But listen, I got to cry, cuz crying, ooooooooh,
Is the pain, oh yeah

Yeah you know people, this hurt I feel inside,
Words, they, could never explain,
I wish it would rain (oh how i wish that it would rain)
Oh let it rain, rain, rain, rain (oh how i wish that it would rain)
Ooooooh baby

Let it rain (rain, rain)
Oh yeah, let it rain

Day in day out, my tear stained face
Pressed against my window pane
I search the skies, well, desperately for rain
Cause rain drops will hide my teardrops and no one will ever know
That I’m crying (crying) crying (crying)
When I go outside

To the world outside my tears I refuse to explain,
I wish it would rain (oh how I wish that it would rain)
Rain, rain, rain (oh how I wish that it would rain)
ooooh baby

Let it rain
I need rain to disguise the tears in my eyes
Yeah, You know I’m a man, I ain’t got no pride,
Til it rains, I’m gonna stay inside,
Let it rain, Let it rain
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah…
Oh how I wish that it would rain…

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David Ruffin: My Whole World Ended

Last week my life had meaning
It was beautiful and so sweet.
But now it’s nothing, nothing without you, baby
My whole world is incomplete
‘Cause I can’t see you no more.
That was all that you said, baby.
But you just might as well have
Placed a gun to my head.
Baby, baby, why did you do it?
My whole world ended the moment you left me
Oh baby
My whole world ended the moment you left me
It tumbled to the ground baby.
Did you ever mean those sweet things
That you used to say?
Have a house and a lovely, a lovely daughter,
And a little baby some day.
Where did I go wrong, honey?
Whatever changed your mind, baby?
I’ve asked myself these questions
Over a million times.
Baby, baby, why did you leave me?
My whole world ended the moment you left me
Oh baby
My whole world ended the moment you left me
It tumbled to the ground baby.
Now my body is numb
It feels so senseless to the touch.
My life is wasted, wasted without you
I guess I loved you much too much.
How can I face tomorrow
When yesterday is all I see?
I just don’t want to face tomorrow, honey
If you’re not sharing it with me.
Baby, baby, oh baby
My whole world ended…

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