Otis Williams Details How The Temptations Made 'My Girl': 'Never Would've Imagined It Would Be That Big' (Exclusive)

Smokey Robinson and Ronald White of The Miracles wrote and produced the 1964 classic for the Motown icons

The Temptations knew they could sing "anything" in 1964.

So when Smokey Robinson approached them with what's now considered one of the greatest songs ever recorded, they didn't hesitate to step into the booth.

Speaking with PEOPLE in honor of the 60th anniversary of the group's 1964 debut album Meet the Temptations last month, The Temptations' sole surviving founding member Otis Williams also broke down the signature song that soon followed months later: "My Girl."

And as Williams now reflects, he knew the "undeniable" hit had potential... but had "no idea" it would turn into what it's since become.

"Smokey came to see The Temps at a popular club in Detroit called The 20 Grand. Him and his [now former] wife Claudette, it was packed. Smokey was ranting and raving about how great the show was, 'You guys looked good, you moved good, the choreography,'" Williams, now 82, says. "And then during the course of him running that down, he stopped and he looked at David [Ruffin], he said, 'I've got a song for you.'"

"So us being young and cocky men, [we said], 'Bring it on. We can sing anything,'" Williams recalls telling Robinson, now 84.

Of course, that "anything" turned into "My Girl" — The Temps' first No. 1 single and a song that's now part of the National Recording Registry. It even earned the group a congratulatory telegram from The Beatles, as Williams previously shared.

Related: The Temptations' Debut Turns 60: Otis Williams on Journey from 'No Hit Wonder' to Motown Legend (Exclusive)

But before they could record the track, The Temptations needed to hear it first. "And when he played it for us, we wasn't going to turn down Smokey after 'The Way You Do the Things and You Do.'"

"We went to Detroit and recorded 'My Girl' and said, 'OK, sound good.' But that song took on a whole-nother daylight when [Motown arranger] Paul Riser added the strings and the horns on it," Williams said of the song, which was also co-written with Ronald White of The Miracles. "I'm sitting there in the studio and I'm listening, I'm sitting there. I said, 'Oh, this song has taken on a whole-nother fervor.'"

Williams reveals he had some words — and a bit of a prediction — for Robinson when stepping into the control room.

"I said, 'Smoke. I don't know how big a record this is going to become, but this is going to be a record.' Motown released 'My Girl' at the end of December '64. "I never would've imagined it would be that big of a hit, but everywhere we would go, even today, people love that song," Williams says.

"Because it's now used in a lot of different facets in the sense of a father giving his daughter away, that's one of the songs that they would play," Williams adds. "So it has taken on a whole-nother life because I knew it was going to be a hit. At [one point], I started to [say], 'Come on y'all. We've got other records, play something else.' I had that kind of attitude, but 'My Girl' is just undeniable."

Related: Otis Williams Recalls Most Important 'Grooming' Rule Temptations Learned at Motown: 'Keep Your Teeth Clean' (Exclusive)

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Williams also reflected on a moment when The Temptations attempted to cut "My Girl" from their live performances, when group member Paul Williams was "lining up the show" and taking care of setlists.

"So after 'My Girl' went up high and laid up there [on the charts] for a few weeks, then it came down. Paul said, 'Well, 'My Girl' has done all it's going to do. We can take it out now because that's it.' We went out on the stage and we performed. We did not do 'My Girl,'" Williams says.

"The audience almost called us every name except 'the child of God.' So that is one song that can never ever come out of the line-up."

He adds: "'My Girl' has since became standard. It's no longer looked at upon — it's not only a popular record. I heard a while back, the late great Tony Bennett was singing 'My Girl.' I said, 'Oh my God, we have arrived.'"

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