Album: The Ultimate Collection (1970)

Charted: 7 3

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• One, two, one, two, three, four, ow
  
  People moving out, people moving in
  Why, because of the color of their skin
  Run, run, run but you sure can't hide
  
  An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
  Vote for me and I'll set you free
  Rap on, brother, rap on
  
  Well, the only person talking about love thy brother is the preacher
  And it seems nobody's interested in learning but the teacher
  Segregation, determination, demonstration, integration
  Aggravation, humiliation, obligation to our nation
  
  Ball of confusion
  Oh yeah, that's what the world is today
  Woo, hey, hey
  
  The sale of pills are at an all time high
  Young folks walking round with their heads in the sky
  The cities ablaze in the summer time
  
  And oh, the beat goes on
  
  Evolution, revolution, gun control, sound of soul
  Shooting rockets to the moon, kids growing up too soon
  Politicians say more taxes will solve everything
  
  And the band played on
  
  So, round and around and around we go
  Where the world's headed, nobody knows
  
  Oh, great googa-looga, can't you hear me talking to you
  Just a ball of confusion
  Oh yeah, that's what the world is today
  Woo, hey
  
  Fear in the air, tension everywhere
  Unemployment rising fast, the Beatles new record's a gas
  
  And the only safe place to live is on an Indian reservation
  
  And the band played on
  
  Eve of destruction, tax deduction, city inspectors, bill collectors
  Mod clothes in demand, population out of hand, suicide, too many bills
  Hippies moving to the hills, people all over the world are shouting, end the war
  
  And the band played on
  
  Great googa-looga, can't you hear me talking to you
  Sayin' ball of confusion
  That's what the world is today, hey, hey
  
  Let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya
  Sayin', ball of confusion
  That's what the world is today, hey, hey
  Let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya
  Ball of confusion Writer/s: BARRETT STRONG, NORMAN WHITFIELD
  Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 8

• Julie from DmvI've always loved this song. My kids know it because Motown us all listen to but I just read the words to them because they're so relevant today!! Wow! God help us!
• Major from Lost In ArkansasIf ever a 'song' that ALL can\could relate 2...itz Ball of Confusion...
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyPer: http://www.oldiesmusic.com/news.htm
  Dennis Edwards, who sang on Temptations hits like "Ball Of Confusion", "I Can't Get Next To You", "Cloud Nine" and "Papa Was A Rolling Stone", died Friday (February 2nd 2018) in Chicago while rehabilitating from an aneurysm. The Fairfield, Alabama native was one day shy of his 75th birthday.
  The Edwards family moved to Detroit when Dennis was 10 and he began singing with the Mighty Clouds of Joy gospel group there. In 1961 he recorded a local secular single, but gave up music temporarily while serving in the military. In 1966 he auditioned for Motown Records, where he was placed on retainer and sang for awhile with the Contours. He then moved on to the Temptations, where he replaced the troubled David Ruffin. Dennis himself was released by the group in 1977 but returned three years later (though he was let go on two more occasions). In recent years he has toured as the "Temptations Review featuring Dennis Edwards", a splinter group of the originals. He was married briefly to Ruth Pointer of the Pointer Sisters. Dennis was inducted along with the Temptations into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.
  May he R.I.P.
• Markantney from BiloxeMay 2015, I like this song (a lot) but many others of theirs I like more but they don't get enough credit (them, Motown,...) for this song is a huge departure from their reps.
  
  Yet the song is arranged/performed like all their other hits but this one is singing about serious issues outside of Love and Romance.
• Jorge from Sunrise, FlPlayed this for my daughter : She told me " This is about all the problems today!" well....
• Tony from Vienna, WvConfusion, mixed up minds, political unrest, war, taxes, racism, fighting, hate, love, tears, religion, anti-religion, and joy. What else can be said. Norman Whitfield wrote a song of the time and he could not have found a better group to record it. Jump in, jump out, all there was to do was play on!
• Charlie from Nyc, Nygreat song by the temptations. great beat and lyrics.
• Jay from Brooklyn, NyI am shocked that no one else has commented on this song, because it is one of the Temptations' greatest. Ball of Confusion is chaotic: a singer darts in with a few lines - or a few words - before another singer comes in to take his place and the lyrics jump from theme to theme in a disjointed manner. The song is utterly insane and perfectly displays what so many people were feeling in the late sixties and what many people are feeling today.

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