The Rubberband Man - The Spinners
3:33
Happiness Is Being with the Spinners, 1976
Written by Thom Bell and Linda Creed
My first exposure to this song was watching Lynda Carter perform it, wearing a stunning blue dress, with a band made of sentient rubber bands on "The Muppet Show." I won't say it broke my brain, but it definitely made an impression. Anyhoo, the song came about when songwriter Thom Bell's son Mark was being teased by his classmates for being overweight. It was written to improve his son's self-image: "I was so surprised, I was hypnotized / By the sound these cats put down / When I saw this short, fat guy / Stretch a band between his toes." Is that... is that body-positive and affirming? The backing singers "do-do-do-do" chorus reminds me of "Love the One You're With." I like how the bass line of the song recalls the sound of a rubber band. Bassist Bob Babbitt reportedly ran his bass through a device he called a "funk box," whatever that is.
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