A-side "Going to a Go-Go" Format 7" single Label Tamla
T 54127 | Released December 6, 1965 Genre Soul/pop | |
Recorded Hitsville USA (Studio A): March 9, 1965 | ||
"Choosey Beggar" was a 1965 song recorded by Motown R&B group The Miracles on its Tamla label subsidiary. It was issued as the B-side of the group's top-20 million-selling single, "Going to a Go-Go", and was taken from the group's Billboard Top 10 Pop album of the same name.
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Written by Miracles members Smokey Robinson and Pete Moore and produced by Robinson, this song also became a national hit, reaching number 35 on the Billboard R&B chart. As the song's narrator, lead singer Smokey Robinson, using a play on the old axiom, "Beggars can't be choosers", portrays a man who simply refuses to accept just "any girl":
Beggars can't be choicey, I know...that's what the people say...But though my heart is begging for love ...I've turned some love away..." Only one girl is right for him... "I'm a choosey beggar...and you're my choice..."
"Choosey Beggar" has inspired cover versions by Debby Boone, and Jazz artist Chazz Dixon, and has been included in the Miracles' compilation album Greatest Hits-Vol.2, along with several other Miracles "Greatest Hits" compilations.