"Baby I Need Your Loving" (The Four Tops)

The Four Tops had been around for about a decade, touring small venues and waiting for their big break, when Motown Records signed them in 1963.  Their very first Motown single, "Baby I Need Your Loving" by the writing team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland, became a Top 20 hit in 1964.
Holland-Dozier-Holland went on to write lots of other hit songs for The Four Tops (among other Motown artists), but few have the sensuous, tender feel of "Baby I Need Your Loving."
It's no wonder the song broke The Four Tops to mainstream success: there's real candor in those lyrics.  The yearning and loneliness in Levi Stubbs's vocals are visceral.  In fact, the emotion reaches operatic levels when the rest of the group (along with The Andantes, Motown's female backing group) join him on each chorus.
Plus, there's that bass-heavy groove, courtesy of The Funk Brothers, that keeps everything upbeat and danceable.
The song is just pure passion, pure joy for making music, and pure Motown.