It would be difficult to name a late-20th-century American songwriter with more classics under his belt than Smokey Robinson. Tunes like "The Tracks of My Tears," "I Second That Emotion," and "The Tears of a Clown" made Robinson's group, The Miracles, one of the most popular acts of the 1960's. Then there were songs he wrote for others - "Get Ready," "The Way You Do the Things You Do," and "My Girl" for the Temptations, "My Guy" for Mary Wells, and "Ain't That Peculiar" for Marvin Gaye. He has co-written more than 4000 songs.

But I'd always wondered about my favorite of Robinson's songs, "Ooo Baby Baby." With its slides and embellishments on almost every note, the song stood apart; it was dream-like and more emotional than other tunes of the era. So, when I finally connected with him by phone, after his sound check before a Florida performance, I asked Robinson how he wrote that tune.

"That song happened by accident," Robinson says. "The Miracles had a love medley we used to do at the end of our show. One night it was really going great, so I started singing ‘Ooh baby baby' over the music, and we were so in tune with each other that [the Miracles] jumped right in and backed it up. The audience just went crazy. We started working that into the show, and then we thought, if they love it so much, we should write that into a song."

"Ooo Baby Baby" is just one of Robinson's songs that has become a contemporary standard. When Linda Ronstadt resurrected it in 1978, it went right back up the charts. No less than the Beatles covered another Robinson tune, "You've Really Got A Hold On Me," on the group's second album.

Robinson could obviously sit back and collect royalties at this stage of his life. But he has just finished recording a new album, "Time Flies When You're Having Fun," which features guests like Joss Stone and Carlos Santana, and he has a busy concert schedule.

Growing up in Detroit, William "Smokey" Robinson's home was full of music. Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, blues records; his family loved it all. Later on he listened to and admired singers like Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke, and Little Anthony.

Robinson, who has one of the most gorgeous voices in the history of pop music, can't remember a time when he didn't sing. "My sisters have told me I was singing from the time I could open my mouth," he says. "I knew I could sing. I just didn't think I would get to do it [away] from my neighborhood."

It was a poor neighborhood, but, as luck would have it, the greatest black record label of the mid-20th century would soon give Detroit's young black artists a chance to flourish. Robinson remembers the excitement of the late 1950's, when he met Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records. It wasn't long before Robinson was writing, recording, and producing for the label.

"It was energy, man, pure energy," says Robinson, who became vice president at Motown. "I learned a lot about the business from Berry Gordy. He's still my best friend after 50 years."

Collaboration was big at Motown; most of Robinson's songs were co-written. In many cases his guitarist Marv Tarplin would record guitar riffs and Robinson would listen to them until he came up with lyrics. In the case of one of their best-known songs, "The Tracks of My Tears," it wasn't easy.

"That song took a long time to write," says Robinson. "I had the first three lines of the chorus: ‘Take a good look at my face, You'll see my smile seems out of place, If you look closer it's easy to trace...' I tried a lot of things for the fourth line. Then I was driving in the car one day and I thought, What if you had cried so many tears that someone could actually trace the tracks?"

When Robinson left the Miracles in 1972 he had made his mark and was ready to settle down. "I didn't think I would ever sing again. I had two kids and I thought I would retire. After three years Berry Gordy told me I was driving everyone crazy and I should go back out and sing," he says.

Robinson embarked on a solo career in 1975. Songs like "Cruisin'" and "The Agony and the Ecstasy" were more jazzy than the songs he had performed previously. The title of one of his songs, "Quiet Storm," became the name of an entire genre of adult-contemporary music. "It was a whole new style," says Robinson.

The legacy of his music is so deeply embedded in American culture, he is constantly reminded of how much it has meant to people. "Just today a security guard told me if it wasn't for my music he wouldn't be here," says Robinson. "He said he was conceived to one of my songs."

Smokey Robinson

Eastman Theatre

8 p.m. | $45-$85