“Ball of Confusion” by The Temptations
One of the many classic Temptations singles produced by Norman Whitfield and written by Whitfield and Barrett Strong, this song is another worried look at the current state of the world in the wake of race riots in the late 60s and early 70s and the ongoing Vietnam War. Berry Gordy chastised Whitfield for penning the blatantly anti-Vietnam track “War” for the Tempts (it would later be a huge hit for Edwin Starr), so Whitfield gave the quintet this fiery, but slightly-more subtle single.
