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Spinning Wheel (song)

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"Spinning Wheel"
Single by Blood, Sweat & Tears
from the album Blood, Sweat & Tears
B-side"More and More"
ReleasedMay 1969
RecordedOctober 9, 1968
Genre
Length4:05 (Stereophonic album version)
3:26 (Original Quadraphonic album version)
2:39 (single edit)
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)David Clayton-Thomas
Producer(s)James William Guercio
Blood, Sweat & Tears singles chronology
"You've Made Me So Very Happy"
(1969)
"Spinning Wheel"
(1969)
"And When I Die"
(1969)
Official audio"Spinning Wheel" on YouTube
"Spinning Wheel"
Single by Peggy Lee
from the album A Natural Woman
B-side"Lean on Me"
ReleasedMarch 1969
Genre
Length2:35
LabelCapitol
Songwriter(s)David Clayton-Thomas
Producer(s)Phil Wright
Peggy Lee singles chronology
"Big Spender"
(1969)
"Spinning Wheel"
(1969)
"Is That All There Is?"
(1969)
Official audio"Spinning Wheel" (Remastered 2003) on YouTube

"Spinning Wheel" is a song recorded in 1968 by Jazz fusion/Rock band Blood, Sweat & Tears; it was written by Canadian lead vocalist David Clayton-Thomas and included on their eponymous album, released in 1968.

The song, released as a single in 1969, peaked at no. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in July that year, remaining in the runner-up position for three weeks.[1] "Spinning Wheel" was kept out of the no. 1 position by both "The Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet" by Henry Mancini and "In the Year 2525" by Zager and Evans.[2] In August that year, the song topped the Billboard Easy Listening chart for two weeks.[3] It was also a crossover hit, reaching No.45 on the US R&B chart.

"Spinning Wheel" was nominated for three Grammy Awards at the 1970 ceremony, winning in the category Best Instrumental Arrangement. The arranger for the song was the band's saxophonist, Fred Lipsius. It was nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year; the album won the Grammy for Album of the Year.

Composition

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Clayton-Thomas was quoted as describing the song as being "written in an age when psychedelic imagery was all over lyrics ... it was my way of saying, 'Don't get too caught up, because everything comes full circle'".[3]

In Clayton-Thomas's 2010 autobiography, Blood, Sweat and Tears, he wrote that the Joni Mitchell song "The Circle Game" inspired some of the lyrics. They lived across the hall from one another in Yorkville, the bohemian rock music epicenter of Toronto similar to Greenwich Village in Manhattan at the same time. He claimed a long-unrequited crush on her. "In later years, our common love for jazz brought us closer together... I was so completely smitten by her that I borrowed a phrase from her song 'The Circle Game', the line about 'painted ponies', and used it in my song 'Spinning Wheel'. In 2007 both songs were inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and I confessed my plagiarism to her. She said she had never even noticed".[4]

The album version ends with the 1815 Austrian tune "O Du Lieber Augustin" ("The More We Get Together" or "Did You Ever See a Lassie?")[5] and drummer Bobby Colomby's comment: "That wasn't too good", followed by laughter from the rest of the group. According to producer James William Guercio this section was inserted at the last minute after the end of the master tape was recorded over accidentally by an engineer at the studio. Most of this section and Lew Soloff's trumpet solo were edited out for the single version; the instrumental break features also an eight-bar piano solo which precedes the trumpet solo on the album version, and that section was overdubbed with guitar on the single version before the last verse. The quadraphonic mix is presented as the song was originally intended, retaining the guitar solo in the instrumental break from the single version, while the finale (which fades out in this version) is presented uncut as originally recorded before the Austrian tune was added and recorded over for the album version. Alan Rubin sat in on trumpet for Chuck Winfield, who was not able to attend the recording session.

Chart history

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Cover versions

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 68.
  2. ^ "Billboard Hot 100". Billboard.
  3. ^ a b Hyatt, Wesley (1999). The Billboard Book of #1 Adult Contemporary Hits (Billboard Publications), page 74.
  4. ^ Clayton-Thomas, David (2010). Blood, Sweat and Tears. Toronto: Viking Canada. p. 65.
  5. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2003). Top Pop Singles 1955-2002. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, Inc. p. 66. ISBN 0-89820-155-1.
  6. ^ Go-Set National Top 40, August 23, 1969
  7. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1969-07-28. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  8. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1969-07-21. Retrieved 2022-04-09.
  9. ^ Flavour of New Zealand, 12 September 1969
  10. ^ "SA Charts 1965–March 1989". 1969-09-12. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  11. ^ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  12. ^ Cash Box Top 100 Singles, July 26, 1969
  13. ^ "RPM Top Singles of 1969". Library and Archives Canada. RPM. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  14. ^ Musicoutfitters.com
  15. ^ Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 27, 1969
  16. ^ "Peggy Lee Discography - the Capitol Years, Part 7".
  17. ^ Peggy Lee "Spinning Wheel" on The Ed Sullivan Show on YouTube
  18. ^ "Something for Everyone". SecondHandSongs.
  19. ^ Spinning Wheel (1994 Remaster) on YouTube
  20. ^ Barbara Eden "Spinning Wheel" on YouTube
  21. ^ Ron Wynn (1970-01-02). "Drives - Dr. Lonnie Smith | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2016-10-02.
  22. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2000). Top Pop Singles 1955–1999. Menomonee Falls, WI: Record Research, Inc. p. 79. ISBN 0-89820-140-3.
  23. ^ White, Cliff (1991). "Discography". In Star Time (pp. 54–59) [CD booklet]. New York: PolyGram Records.
  24. ^ "Various - Linger Awhile". Discogs. 1973. Retrieved 2017-10-26.
  25. ^ Bruce Kennewell (2011-06-17), Benny Goodman & Orchestra - Spinning Wheel, retrieved 2017-10-26
  26. ^ Maull, Samuel (December 7, 1990). "Songwriter-Singer Sues Milli Vanilli for Alleged Copyright Infringement". AP News.
  27. ^ Forrest, Jason; Trussell, Joel (June 1, 2012). "Jason Forrest - War Photographer" (video). youtube.com.
  28. ^ Ad for Graham Brown Wallpaper - Oct 1986, 31 March 2012, retrieved 2021-12-16
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