I'll Be Around Cover

Released in July 1972, this week’s “Remake of a Classic” was originally the B-side of The Spinners single, “How Could I Let You Get Away”. However, radio deejays begin flipping the record over and "I'll Be Around" became an unexpected hit, eventually spending five weeks at number one on the U.S. R&B chart and reaching number three on the U.S. Pop chart. It 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 hits the group would enjoy. Bobby Smith handled the lead vocal and Philippé Wynne, Pervis Jackson, Henry Fambrough and Billy Henderson, along with Linda Creed and the Sigma Sweethearts, took care of the backups. The song was co-written by Thom Bell and Phil Hurtt and produced by Bell.

The instrumentation was taken care of by MFSB, which stood for "Mother Father Sister Brother", a group of more than 30 studio musicians based at Philadelphia’s Sigma Sound Studios. In addition to The Spinners, MFSB can be heard on tunes by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, the O’Jays, the Stylistics, Wilson Pickett, and Billy Paul (among others). In reality MFSB was the east coast’s R&B version of California’s Wrecking Crew.

Covering this was pretty fun (though I admit I’m no Bobby Smith). It was also a bit challenging to decipher which instrument is doing what in the original, so there was a certain amount of guess work. I decided to not video me playing the bongo part…it’s the same thing over and over, so I didn’t see the point.