Song of the Day: Billy Paul, “Me And Mrs. Jones” #rmf

Rocktober MusicFest, Song of the Day 1 Minute

"Me and Mrs. Jones" was written by Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, and Cary Gilbert and recorded by Billy Paul for his 1972 album 360 Degrees Of Billy Paul. It ended up being his only #1 single, reaching that peak in 1973 for four weeks, knocking Helen Reddy’s "I Am Woman" out of the top spot, being knocked out of the top spot by Carly Simon’s "You’re So Vain." The song also reached #1 on the R&B and Cash Box charts, #10 on the Adult Contemporary chart, #9 in Australia, #12 in the UK, and #14 in Canada. Okay, so the song was about adultery…

Published by John Holton

Internet disc jockey, lover of old TV (especially the commercials), inveterate wise guy.

Published

24 thoughts on “Song of the Day: Billy Paul, “Me And Mrs. Jones” #rmf”

  1. Pingback: The Last Sunday of Daylight Saving Time Week That Was – The Sound of One Hand Typing

  3. Hi John – great reminder of a lovely song – even if about adultery … thanks for reminding us about Billy Paul and Lou Rawls – I agree pity people weren’t promoted enough – all the best – Hilary

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    1. I have to find somewhere to fit the Chcago acts in, particularly Lou. He was especially proud of his Chicago roots. Song of the day continues even after Rocktober is over, so I’ll get to them eventually.

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  4. Wow it’s been a long time. This is one I don’t hear anymore…thanks John it brings back childhood memories.

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      1. Yea that is the key…you have to search them out…John even really good new music you have to search for…which isn’t right

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  6. Sometimes we have odd connections to music. For me, it’s the summer of 1982. I was 11, and most nights I stayed up late after watching Cardinals baseball or listening to it on my transistor radio. After the games I’d go to sleep listening to a station that played a mix of Top 40 and classic hits such as this one. And they played it all the time. It seems almost random, like there must’ve been one late night DJ who really liked the song. I certainly do.

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  7. I didn’t appreciate how wonderful this song really was until adulthood. Billy Paul had such an amazing voice. And I think you’re right; Top 40 radio at the time was very, very white … unless you were safe/bland. Billy Paul was anything but.

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    1. I read somewhere that Berry Gordy had made it a goal to have most Motown records play on white Top 40 stations. In Chicago, even with such stars as Lou Rawls, Curtis Mayfield, Jerry Butler, Chaka Khan, the Chi-Lites etc., you generally had to check out one of the Black stations (WJPC,WVON etc.) to hear more than Motown… Kind of strange, because we were all watching Soul Train (which got its start in Chicago) to hear what we didn’t hear on WLS and WCFL…

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  10. This is a great song and I have listened to it many times.i had no idea it was about adultery because I can never truly understand all the lyrics. I was so happy when I bought records and the lyrics were placed on the record sleeve.

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    1. It’s a classic, and he had a great voice. Sad he only had the one crossover hit. He might have had more if Top 40 stations weren’t worried he’d scare the white people. Lou Rawls was another one, which was a damn shame, especially in Chicago…

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