"I'll Be Around" | ||||
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Single by The Spinners | ||||
from the album Spinners | ||||
A-side | "How Could I Let You Get Away" | |||
B-side | "I'll Be Around" | |||
Released | August 1972 | |||
Format | 7" 45 RPM | |||
Genre | Soul, pop, Philly soul | |||
Length | 3:13 | |||
Label | Atlantic | |||
Songwriter(s) |
Thom Bell Phil Hurtt |
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Producer(s) | Thom Bell | |||
The Spinners singles chronology | ||||
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"I'll Be Around" is a song recorded by the American R&B vocal group The Spinners (known as "Detroit Spinners" in the UK). The song was co-written by Thom Bell and Phil Hurtt and produced by Bell.
The lyrics of the song have the narrator (Spinners main lead singer Bobby Smith), pledging his devotion and love to a lover who has just left him for another while at the same time holding out hope that she will return to him ("There's always a chance, a tiny spark will remain/And sparks turn into flames/And love can burn once again..."). So, in case she changes her mind, he'll be around.
Recorded at Philly's Sigma Sound Studios, the house band MFSB provided the backing. The production of the song gives it a smooth, mid-tempo feel, with the signature guitar riff (in octaves) played by Norman Harris at the forefront and punctuation from female background singers, the MFSB horns & strings and conga-playing from Larry Washington. Bobby Smith handles lead vocals on the song.
The song was included on the group's 1972 self-titled album on Atlantic Records, their first album release for the label. It was initially released as the B-side of the group's first single on Atlantic Records, with "How Could I Let You Get Away" being the A-side. Radio deejays, however, soon opted for "I'll Be Around" which led to Atlantic flipping the single over and the song became an unexpected hit, eventually spending five weeks at number one on the U.S. R&B chart (the group's first number-one on the R&B chart), and reaching number three on the U.S. Pop chart in the fall of 1972. It also reached sales of over one million copies, The Spinners' first record ever to do so. The success of "I'll Be Around" would be the first in a series of chart successes The Spinners and Bell would have together during the 1970s.
"I'll Be Around" has been covered by many artists. Among them are The Moments, The Afghan Whigs, Devon Allman, Joan Osborne, The Rippingtons featuring Jeffrey Osborne, Funk, Inc., Doug Parkinson, Richie Kotzen and Hall & Oates, whose version reached number six on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart.