soulmo:

Gladys Knight & The Pips “My Bed Of Thorns” (From The LP Everybody Needs Love, 1967)

Few singers could make devastating heartbreak and defeat seem so painful yet so normal, so matter of fact of life like Gladys Knight. Between her vocal power, use of phrase and vocal control, she could slip by you some of the most poisonous, painful tales of heartbreak like it was ordinary gossip.

One of her best efforts from her early days at Motown in this vein was this man made misery paean given to her and the family by Smokey Robinson. From the shrieking strings you can probably tell you’re in for a morality tale, but it remains subtle, almost ethereal from then on out.