Top 40 Music on Compact Disc: Spinners One of a Kind Love Affair

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Topic: Spinners One of a Kind Love Affair

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Brian W.
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Posted: 26 December 2005 at 3:40am \| IP Logged

Database lists both a censored (3:17) version and an uncensored (3:30) version... which was the single version?

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Posted: 26 December 2005 at 9:23am \| IP Logged

Brian, the 45 was issued in both versions which is why there is no distinction made in the database!

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Brian W.
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Posted: 26 December 2005 at 1:04pm \| IP Logged

Thanks, Pat.

Grant
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Posted: 27 December 2005 at 1:17am \| IP Logged

Pat, can you tell us the history of that? Sounds like it was issued full-length, then reissued edited when people noticed the offending line.

edtop40
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Posted: 27 December 2005 at 7:26am \| IP Logged

what IS the offending line????

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sriv94
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Posted: 27 December 2005 at 8:07am \| IP Logged

edtop40 wrote:

what IS the offending line????

Appears right after the instrumental break:

One of a kind love affair
Makes you want to love her
you just have to f*** her, yeah

Then comes the "lame man walk, blind man talk about seeing again" verse.

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Todd Ireland
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Posted: 27 December 2005 at 8:58am \| IP Logged

What's interesting about this song is I can't tell if lead singer Phillipe Wynne really does sing the f-word on the offending lyric, or if radio stations and listeners incorrectly perceived it that way. To my ears, the lyric sounds like this:
One of a kind love affair
Makes you want to love her
You just got to hug her, yeah.

(You can judge for yourself at the 2:40 mark of the song if you have the Spinners Very Best of CD on Rhino 71213.)

Nonetheless, Atlantic quickly responded to the complaints by reissuing the song with the three verses edited out and thus the "One of a kind love affair makes a lame man walk, makes a blind man talk about seeing again" lyric was placed right after the instrumental bridge.

Edited by Todd Ireland on 27 December 2005 at 9:05am

Grant
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Posted: 27 December 2005 at 5:30pm \| IP Logged

I have listened to this over and over, and i'm certain he uses the "f" word.

Paul C
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Posted: 28 January 2007 at 10:12pm \| IP Logged

I know I'm resurrecting a long-dormant thread, but I've always heard the offending line as "You just have to hurt her". This is also how the line is given on various lyrics sites.

jimct
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Posted: 28 January 2007 at 11:56pm \| IP Logged

Paul C, Pat does an excellent job in the database for this one. 19 CD appearances; 12 are the "censored" version, and 7 are the "uncensored." Probably the most common CD featuring the "uncensored" is their Rhino GH. I don't doubt what you've heard, and what the lyric sites say, but I have BOTH 1973 promo 45 issues for this: Atlantic didn't come right out and say it on the 2nd promo; they just put "New Version", on both the mono/stereo sides of promo 45 #2. I was in high school, not radio, back in 1973, but I was there when we were refurbishing our library in '79. Our MD specifically pulled out our station library's original "uncensored" promo 45, and INSISTED we dub from THAT version, not the "censored lyric" one, then found on their GH LP. There was NO doubt, at least from a radio standpoint back then, WHAT was being said. I'll be curious as to your opinion, once I'm sure that you've heard the "uncensored" version.

EdisonLite
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Posted: 29 January 2007 at 1:21am \| IP Logged

<Our MD specifically pulled out our station library's original "uncensored" promo 45, and INSISTED we dub from THAT version, not the "censored lyric" one>

I don't understand -- why would your MD insist on having the "F" word sung on the air? Couldn't he get fired for allowing swear words on the station, with the FCC regulations and all?

jimct
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Posted: 29 January 2007 at 2:27am \| IP Logged

Edison, of course you're right, letter of the law. But the VAST majority of my 97%-male-dominated Top 40 co-workers (at the time) always struck me as a little bit embarrassed to have to play some of those "teenybopper" songs that we had to back then; I sensed a lot of "latent album-rock frustration" by the full-timers, as a young kid just starting out in AM Top 40. These jocks all seemed to love the personality part of it, the high-energy jingles, the remote broadcasts, all the many format elements (weather/news/traffic/contests, etc.), but I distinctly remember, in 1978, when "Who Are You" was a current, shortly after I started there - we got serviced a Polydor UK import 45: (5:00) long, that featured the "Who the f*** are you" lyric on it, not included on our (3:22/6:11) U.S. MCA promo, which was lyrically "cleaned up." We IMMEDIATELY started playing THAT import 45 version. Of course, I, the greenhorn, asked the very question you just did, coming off the Element 1,2 & 9 FCC test you had to take/pass to get on-air back then. My bosses said the FCC rarely, if ever, enforced that rule for song lyrics, that we could always "plead ignorance" if we had to, and that it made us sound MUCH more hip. They said that if we got multiple LISTENER complaints about the lyric, however, we'd be MUCH more inclined, at that point, to pull the version, which normally only got played after 7PM anyway. Same with Spinners, I imagine. Kind of a "We are SO hot and SO hip of a radio station that, see, we can straddle FCC language laws as much as that hipper, FM, AOR station across town we're competing against!" An old PD told me, many years ago, "Yeah, of course I want high ratings, but I'm not really trying to impress the LISTENERS - I'm mainly tryin' to impress my colleagues and my competitors, both in this market, in this region, and across the country 1000 times more than the listeners! THAT'S how you get hired into the Top 10 markets!" Hey, I don't really intend to speak for all the "radio guys" here - it just seemed to be a sort of "perverse pleasure" that those guys took at the time, for whatever reasons, and to them was apparently worth any perceived "risk." Any other old jocks with an opinion out there?

Edited by jimct on 29 January 2007 at 2:30am

BillCahill
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Posted: 02 February 2007 at 6:02pm \| IP Logged

I had the opposite experience. We made sure we DIDN'T play the original promo copy cause I was told "he uses the "f" word."

By the way, I think it's "hug".

MMathews
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Posted: 03 February 2007 at 10:36am \| IP Logged

Hi

I was never even aware of the "F" issue with this song. I was amused so i pulled it out to hear it and for what it's worth (which is nothing) I'm hearing "hug".
Besides the blinding logic that this is a Spinners soft fluffy love song produced and issued for radio and i'm fully confident that neither the lead singer nor Atlantic would drop an F-bomb in it.
However i can see where in passing it can be mistaken so i can understand them being cautious and removing it later.

-MM

Paul Haney
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Posted: 04 February 2007 at 8:15am \| IP Logged

For some reason this thread brought back memories of April Wine's "If You See Kay":)

JMD1961
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Posted: 04 February 2007 at 3:03pm \| IP Logged

Just my two cents worth here.

I remember the first time I heard the uncensored version. It was playing in the background while I worked on some chart stuff, so I wasn't doing much more than casually listening. When the debated line came by, it sounded enough like the f-word to cause me to stop what I was doing and look up.

I immediately replayed the track, this time listening carefully. That time, I clearly heard it as "hug".

So, I agree with MMatthews on this one. It's not what it sounds like, but sounds enough like it that I could see radio asking it to be "fixed".

crapfromthepast
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Posted: 21 August 2007 at 4:21am \| IP Logged

I think it's "hug", too, especially considering it's from a group best known for being tasteful.

In any case, here are instructions for creating the "censored version", found on quite a few CDs, including The Best Of Spinners (Atlantic 19179-2), from the "uncensored version", also found on a few CDs, including The Very Best Of Spinners (Rhino R2 71213, 1993).

Keep 0:00.0 to 2:31.4 of "uncensored" version.
Edit at the drum hit before the downbeat - on 1-and-2-and-3-and-4-AND-.
Keep 2:42.2 to end at 3:35.6 of "uncensored" version.

As to why you'd do this, since the "censored" version is readily available on lots of CDs, I particularly like the sound quality on Very Best, which is mastered by Bill Inglot & Dan Hersch. Excellent levels and EQ throughout. I think it sounds better than the older The Best Of Spinners and the 2-CD A One Of A Kind Love Affair set, which is too loud overall and clips a little bit.

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The Hits Man
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Posted: 23 August 2007 at 4:56am \| IP Logged

I'm pretty sure it's the "F" bomb...

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jrjr
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Posted: 24 August 2007 at 1:01pm \| IP Logged

ahh, the detroit spinners, one of the great soul bands of the 70's, or any era for that matter, and what a shame that phillippe wynne died so young! i have to believe that the lyric is "hug" because back in '73 the ultra-conservative top 40 AM station here in central NY that i listened to when i was a kid, that never ever played anything that sounded remotely "black", played every spinners single release and played the hell out of "one of a kind" and i never knew anything but the "uncensored" version... i never would have even thought of the f-word being there had it not been for this chat room! too classy a group and too classy a producer (thom bell)...

The Hits Man
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Posted: 24 August 2007 at 4:01pm \| IP Logged

jrjr wrote:

Well, I think the real answer died with Philleppe, but I am certain that it is the "F" word. From all accounts, the man was a loose cannon, so it's not unthinkable. Back then, people tried to see what little things they could get away with. It had nothing to do with class or style. It was probably a way to "cut loose", or "blow off steam" on record. It was the 70s, after all.

I also think it's funny that the ultra-conservative station wouldn't play anything "black", but played everything by the Spinners. I guess they figured the Spinners were "white" enough. I also find it humorous that a station can play top 40 music and avoid anything sounding "black"! It must have had a very small playlist and been run by bigots! Don't scoff! Many stations were/are run and programmed by bigots!

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