"Spinning Wheel" is a song from 1968 by the band

Blood, Sweat & Tears Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is a jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. In addition to original music, the group has performed popular songs by Laura N ...

, written by

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

lead vocalist

David Clayton-Thomas David Clayton-Thomas (born David Henry Thomsett, 13 September 1941) is a Grammy Award-winning Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the American band Blood, Sweat & Tears. Clayton-Thomas has been inducte ...

and appearing on their eponymous album. Released as a single in 1969, "Spinning Wheel" peaked at #2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in July of that year, remaining in the runner-up position for three weeks. "Spinning Wheel" was kept out of the #1 position by both "The

Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet "Love Theme from ''Romeo and Juliet''", also known as "A Time for Us", is an instrumental arranged by Henry Mancini (from Nino Rota's music written for Franco Zeffirelli's film of ''Romeo and Juliet'', starring Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey) ...

" by

Henry Mancini Henry Mancini ( ; born Enrico Nicola Mancini, ; April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flautist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Award ...

and " In the Year 2525" by Zager and Evans. In August of that year, the song topped the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

Easy Listening chart The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by sta ...

for two weeks.Hyatt, Wesley (1999). ''The Billboard Book of #1 Adult Contemporary Hits'' (Billboard Publications), page 74. It was also a crossover hit, reaching #45 on the US R&B chart. "Spinning Wheel" was nominated for three

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

s at the 1970 ceremony, winning in the category Best Instrumental Arrangement. The arranger for the song was the band's

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pro ...

Fred Lipsius Fred Lipsius (born 19 November 1943 in the Bronx) is an American musician who is the original saxophonist and arranger for the jazz-rock band Blood, Sweat & Tears, for which he played alto saxophone and piano. He was with the band from 1967 to 197 ...

. It was nominated for

Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without reg ...

and Song of the Year; the album won the Grammy for

Album of the Year Album of the Year, often abbreviated to AOTY, may refer to: Awards * ARIA Award for Album of the Year, Australia * Brit Award for British Album of the Year, UK * Grammy Award for Album of the Year, US * Juno Award for Album of the Year, CA * Lati ...

. 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'." The song ends with the 1815 Austrian tune "

O Du Lieber Augustin "" ("Oh, you dear Augustin") is a popular Viennese song, first published about 1800. It is said to refer to the balladeer Marx Augustin and his brush with death in 1679. Augustin himself is sometimes named as the author, but the origin is uncl ...

" ("

The More We Get Together "The More We Get Together" is a popular English children's song, originally written for a British charitable organisation for children, claimed authorship by Irving King in 1926, based on an old Viennese tune, "Oh du lieber Augustin", like" Did You ...

" or " Did You Ever See a Lassie?") 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 Lewis Michael Soloff (February 20, 1944–March 8, 2015) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and actor. Biography From his birth place of New York City, United States, he studied trumpet at the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard Sc ...

's trumpet solo were edited out for the single version. The eight-bar piano solo which precedes the trumpet solo on the album version is overdubbed with guitar on the single version before the last verse.

Alan Rubin Alan Rubin (February 11, 1943 – June 8, 2011), also known as Mr. Fabulous, was an American musician. He played trumpet, flugelhorn, and piccolo trumpet. Early life and education Rubin was born in Brooklyn. He began attending Juilliard S ...

sat in on trumpet for Chuck Winfield, who was not able to attend the recording session.

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Cover versions

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress, over a career spanning seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalis ...

's 1969 single release climbed the ''Easy Listening'' chart, with a peak at #24, even before the BST version. *

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His conc ...

's instrumental version was released on a

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wif ...

album in 1973. * Sammy Davis Jr. included the song on his 1970 album ''Something for Everyone'' *

Shirley Bassey Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Best known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, Bassey is widely regarded as one of the most popular vocalist ...

included the song on her 1970 album '' Something''. * Nancy Wilson covered the song in the '' Hawaii Five-O'' episode "Trouble in Mind," which originally aired September 23, 1970. * In 1970

Marianne Mendt Marianne Mendt (née Krupicka; born 29 September 1945) is an Austrian jazz singer and actress, best known for her participation in the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest. Early career Mendt trained as a jazz singer and toured as a singer and bass p ...

released a version of the tune in Austria as "A g'scheckert's Hutschpferd" *

Barbara Eden Barbara Eden (born Barbara Jean Morehead; August 23, 1931) is an American actress, singer, and producer best known for her starring role as Jeannie in the sitcom '' I Dream of Jeannie'' (1965-1970). Other notable roles include Roslyn Pierce opp ...

performed a live version on U.S. television in 1970. *Jazz organist

Dr. Lonnie Smith Lonnie Smith (July 3, 1942 – September 28, 2021), styled Dr. Lonnie Smith, was an American jazz Hammond B3 organist who was a member of the George Benson quartet in the 1960s. He recorded albums with saxophonist Lou Donaldson for Blue Note b ...

recorded an extended instrumental version for his 1970

Blue Note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical c ...

album '' Drives''. * American organist Lenny Dee covered Spinning Wheel on an album by the same name in 1970. *

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the hono ...

scored a minor hit in 1971 with an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

version of the song, reaching #90 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. He also performed it at his shows as early as 1969. * Canadian

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

music group, Cadence also covered this song. * In 1970

P. P. Arnold Patricia Ann Cole (born October 3, 1946), known professionally as P. P. Arnold, is an American soul singer. Arnold began her career as an Ikette with the Ike & Tina Turner Revue in 1965. The following year she relocated to London to pursue a solo ...

recorded a version produced by

Barry Gibb Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb (born 1 September 1946) is a British musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He rose to worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees, one of the most commercially successful groups in the history of popula ...

; it remained unreleased for almost five decades until the long-delayed 2017 issuing of her album "The Turning Tide". * Maynard Ferguson released a big-band arrangement by Adrian Drover on his 1972 album " M.F. Horn Two". *The

Milli Vanilli Milli Vanilli were a German-French R&B duo from Munich. The group was founded by Frank Farian in 1988 and consisted of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus. Their debut album, ''All or Nothing'' in Europe, reconfigured as ''Girl You Know It's True'' in ...

song "

All or Nothing All or Nothing may refer to: Film and television * ''All or Nothing'' (film), a 2002 film by Mike Leigh * ''All or Nothing'' (game show), a 2004–2005 Russian game show based on ''Deal or No Deal'' * ''All or Nothing'' (sports docuseries), ...

", released as a single in 1990, has a similar melody to "Spinning Wheel", and was later the subject of a copyright-infringement lawsuit filed by

In popular culture

*An instrumental rendition of this song was used as a cue on the first ''

Wheel of Fortune The Wheel of Fortune or '' Rota Fortunae'' has been a concept and metaphor since ancient times referring to the capricious nature of Fate. Wheel of Fortune may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Art * ''The Wheel of Fortune'' (Burne-J ...

'' pilot titled '' Shopper's Bazaar''. *In Germany, a part of the song was used as opening tune for the political cabaret TV show "

Neues aus der Anstalt (English: "News from the (mental) institute") was a political cabaret program on German television station ZDF, hosted by Urban Priol and Frank-Markus Barwasser, who replaced Georg Schramm. Broadcast monthly from 2007 to 2013, it usually featur ...

", aired 2007-13. *The song is performed by

Jeffrey Tambor Jeffrey Michael Tambor (born July 8, 1944) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles such as Jeffrey Brookes, the uptight neighbor of Stanley and Helen Roper in the television sitcom ''The Ropers'' (1979–1980), as Hank Kings ...

's character Hank Kingsley in an episode of

The Larry Sanders Show ''The Larry Sanders Show'' is an American television sitcom set in the office and studio of a fictional late-night talk show. The series was created by Garry Shandling and Dennis Klein and aired from August 15, 1992, to May 31, 1998, on the HBO ...

("Larry's Agent"), where he creates a more Latin sound to it, hoping to perform tap-dancing along with the song. *"Spinning Wheel" appears in the films ''

Indian Summer An Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Several sources describe a true Indian summer as not occurring until after the first frost, or more s ...

'', '' Where the Truth Lies'', ''

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' is a 1974 spy novel by British author John le Carré. It follows the endeavours of taciturn, aging spymaster George Smiley to uncover a Soviet mole in the British Secret Intelligence Service. The novel has receive ...

'', and '' Elvis & Nixon''. *In the mid 1980s, a version of the song was used in a British advertisement for Graham & Brown's Superfresco wallpaper. * In Stage 5 (S6E14) of the HBO series

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster, portraying his difficulties as he tries to balance ...

Paulie Gualtieri Peter Paul "Paulie Walnuts" Gualtieri is a fictional character portrayed by Tony Sirico on the HBO series ''The Sopranos'', one of the chief henchmen of series protagonist Tony Soprano. Sirico originally auditioned for the role of Uncle Junior ...

mistakenly quotes the song, saying "Ride the painted pony, let the spinnin' wheel glide"

References

External links

Graham & Brown advertising campaign
{{Authority control 1969 singles 1971 singles Blood, Sweat & Tears songs RPM Top Singles number-one singles Song recordings produced by James William Guercio Song recordings produced by Barry Gibb James Brown songs Peggy Lee songs Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) 1968 songs