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M. Welcome

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to Induction Vault, a production of I

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Heart Radio and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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M hmm. The

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Temptations are the quintessential Motown

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vocal group. They set the standard

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with their sense of style, show stopping

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dance moves, and vocal harmony that was

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deeply rooted in spirituals and gospel

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music. They were inducted

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into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in nine

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by Darryl Hall and John Oates. John

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shares the incredible impact of the Temptations

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had on his band, as well as so many

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others, even admitting quote,

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we still haven't even go close. Darrell

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describes the power of the original lead singer,

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the late great Paul Williams, and

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in tribute, they both begin to sing the Temptations

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classic Don't Look Back. The

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audience goes wild as the members of the group

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come on stage to join in the song, including

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the deep bass voice of Melvin Franklin

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and the lead of Dennis Edwards. The

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Temptations go on to thank the Rock Hall

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and acknowledge the spiritual power of the

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Lord for giving them the inspiration

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to sing, perform, and share

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their music with the world. Oh

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Damn Yeah,

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how are you doing tonight? Alrighty,

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all right? How many people out there are Temptations

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freaks?

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Well you know that we are, right, yeah,

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you know we are. Now in the mid sixties,

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when Darrel and I got together, there

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were a million vocal groups. Now they in

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those days you had to have uniforms, right well,

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the Temptations always had the best always

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the best dresses, that's right, man, you know. And

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of course you had to have steps, and

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the Temptations had the best steps.

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Positive Now you

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know, you had to sing, and

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you know that the Temptations could sing. Now,

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we had Eddie Kendrick with his falsetto.

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I think that's kind of set the standard

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for what's happening. You had David

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Ruffin with a voice that sends chills

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up your arms, you know what I mean. You

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had Otis, who put the whole thing together, and

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you had Melvin Franklin, who is quite possibly

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the best bass singer of all time, the lowest bass singer

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in the world, right and

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to us it was everything. I mean, we

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tried our best and uh we still

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haven't even got close but close.

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Good about that. But there's one more

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guy that we forgot to mention, yeah,

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well, yeah, you know, well the

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whole thing is like seeing those guys in the sixties was

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amazing. But you gotta remember, you know, they never stopped.

2:59

You know, they still they're still gigging on,

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you know, and through all their trial and tribulations,

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through all the personnel changes, and through all the

3:05

personal problems and everything, you know that there's

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still uh

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what am I saying? You know, they're they're still out there.

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You know, they're still working. And but

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that's what it's all about. That is what it's all about. You

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know that, that's what this is all about tonight. You know, this isn't

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about just the past. This is about the

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past blending into the present

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and uh yeah,

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transcending all that stuff. You know, this

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isn't about old people. This is about people

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that are digging right now. In fact, most of the people

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that are inducted tonight are still gigging right now.

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You know. I mean there's a few people in are, but most people are.

3:42

But there's one person that, uh I like to

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talk about that can't be here tonight. You know,

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everybody has made it tonight, or everybody that

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could make it, is one person that couldn't

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make it And uh

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uh. I think in some ways he was the soul of

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the Temptations. He was the guy that was the original,

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the original lead singer. He kind came

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up with all the steps and everything. And I got to know

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him a little bit back in the sixties when I was like seventeen

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years old whatever, you know. But you

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know his name is Paul Williams, the late Paul

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Williams. And I

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wish he could be here tonight, I really do. I

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know he's here somewhere. And

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he used to sing. He used

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to sing this one song. He used to end end the show

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with one song in the old days in the sixties,

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and he used to sing the song don't Look Back,

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and uh

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do you want me to sing singing

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man run? Okay, if

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it's love, that's you're running from.

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There's no hiding play can't

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run, you can't hide, you can't

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run. And those problems I

4:47

know that the one you

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just have he run,

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you can't hide here run,

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So just just put your

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hand in mind. We're

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got to leave all troubles

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behind, keep on walking in Donna

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look back, don't love

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door about the past, and don't love

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back baby they love

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and don't look back. Don't

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he

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heylind

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you bind

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you if your first love broke

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your heart, there's

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something that honey play

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came your

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love can't well

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a baby love if

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you jest, put your hand in

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mind good

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even keep

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walking dog the back, baby,

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don't look don't

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love back battle

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baby, don't macing.

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No, no, no, no, don't babe,

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don't look at We had

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to come up. I'm sorry about that job.

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It's a great pleasure to introduced to Temptation. After

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the break, we will hear from the Temptations

6:25

on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction

6:27

volt. Oh,

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thank you very much, and

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we thank the Lodger's Place for

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happing us to a great job and coming

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into the Hall of Fame. And I'll

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let the rest of the guys speak for themselves.

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Thank you. It's indeed a pleasure being

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here. I like to say thank

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God because we had no idea

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that we would be here twenty nine years later. I

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wish Paul Williams was here to share in this honor.

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I'd like to thank our

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manager, Shelley Burger, Jerald Busby,

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Abe Summers, almen, everyone

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that was responsible for us being

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here, and thank

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you all for a whole night, of course, Thank you very guy.

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Oh, David Jr. Happy

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birthday, David Ruffian today is his birthday.

7:37

Really, thank

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you very much. This

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is really wonderful. You're

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looking back through the years of when

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I first heard the temptation saying, I

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knew right there and there that was a sound that

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really reminded me of something that we saw a little

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bit earlier. They

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showed a picture of Mrs Harris and J. J. M.

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Soulstairs, and

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I remember Sam's about eighteen and nineteen

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we stop up the show for the Soulstairs and

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I still have that picture sitting on his knee right today.

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And when I heard the Temptations saying, it reminded

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me of the spiritual background

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that I came from.

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And I really hope that somewhere in

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your heart that we have put

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a little up and

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our thought remained from

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the endurance that we

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have been

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through through the years. But this makes up

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for a lot of it. I like

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to say to all of you, thank you, and God bless

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you, and thank you Tempo. Thank

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you so much. I'd like to say, first of all, it I

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like a thank God for giving

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me the opportunity to sing

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with the greatest group in the world. You

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know. I

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know that at the late Great

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Paul Williams has been here, I wouldn't be up here.

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But I just want to thank him

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for showing me my way when he was in the group.

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He gave me all all the inspiration

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I needed. And I just thank God that I'm a

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part of this great unit. Thank you. Before

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the

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before the

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the festivities started this evening, I

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was led to call all of my

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brother Temptations together, including Ron

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Tyson, Richard Street in Holly Woodson, and

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I read to them from the Bible Deuteronomy,

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second chapter twenty one first, because

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there's a lot of time ahead for the Temptations,

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and I said, Oh, Lord God, thou

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hast begun just to us thy servants,

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the greatness of thy hand and thy

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mighty hand. We thank all of you

10:05

for your support over the years, and we strive

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to be worthy of the good things you've

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given us. And there's almighty praise

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from the Temptations. Thank you so much.

10:32

Thanks for joining us on this week's episode

10:34

of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Vault

10:36

for more on your favorite inductees, to shop

10:38

Inductee merch or to plan your trip to

10:40

the rock and Roll Hall of Fame visit rock

10:43

hall dot com plus rock

10:46

and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Special on demand

10:48

on HBO Max. Our

10:51

executive producers are Noel Brown, Shelby

10:53

Morrison, and Esa Gurkey. Supervising

10:56

producer is Taylor Shakoin. Research

10:58

and archival assistants from Bell Keeper

11:00

and Shannon Herb. Thanks again for joining

11:03

us on this week's episode of Rock and Roll Hall of

11:05

Fame Induction Ball. Induction Ball

11:07

is a production of I Heart Radio and the Rock

11:09

and Roll Hall of Fame. For

11:17

more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the I

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