BLUE EYED PHILLY SOUL

Okay, we’re gonna turn the heat up just a bit here and really get in the groove with a little Philadelphia (Blue Eyed) Soul, as prompted this morning by Jim at Song Lyric Sunday.

When this song first came out in September of 1972, I was a newlywed of exactly three months with nothing but loving on my mind. I thought this was possibly the sexiest, most titillating and steamy song I’d ever heard.

It’s the story of an affair between a married man and his equally married lover. In the song, the two meet in secret “every day at the same café” at 6:30 where they hold hands and talk. The two are in a quandary: “We’ve got a thing going on. We both know that it’s wrong but it’s much too strong to let it go now.”

I’m presenting a cover version of this song by my favorite duo of all time – Hall and Oates, the most successful pair in music history (yes, even more successful than Simon & Garfunkel).

Why a cover and not the original when the original is an excellent recording? Two words: Daryl Hall. Fifty-plus years after seeing him on MTV, I still “have a thing going on” for Daryl Hall so please allow me this one indulgence.

Here now are Hall and Oates doing a live performance of “Me and Mrs. Jones”.

“Me and Mrs. Jones” was a #1 single originally performed by Billy Paul, recorded and released in 1972 on CBS Records’ Philadelphia International imprint. The single, included on the album 360 Degrees of Billy Paul, was written by Cary ‘Hippy’ Gilbert, Kenny Gamble, and Leon Huff, and arranged by Bobby Martin.

Lyrics
Me and Mrs. Jones
We got a thing goin’ on
We both know that it’s wrong
But it’s much too strong
To let it go now

We meet every day at the same café
Six-thirty and no one knows she’ll be there
Holding hands, making all kinds of plans
While the jukebox plays our favorite songs

Me and Mrs., Mrs. Jones
Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Jones
We got a thing goin’ on
We both know that it’s wrong
But it’s much too strong
To let it go now

We gotta be extra careful
That we don’t build our hopes up too high
‘Cause she’s got her own obligations
And so, and so do I

Me and Mrs., Mrs. Jones
Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Jones
We got a thing goin’ on
We both know that it’s wrong
But it’s much too strong
To let it go now

Well, it’s time for us to be leaving
It hurts so much, it hurts so much inside
Now she’ll go her way and I’ll go mine
Tomorrow we’ll meet
The same place, the same time

Me and Mrs., Mrs. Jones
Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Jones
We got a thing goin’ on (thing)
We gotta be extra careful (goin’ on)
We can’t afford to build our hopes up too high
I wanna meet (thing) and talk with you
At the same place (goin’ on), the same café, the same time
And we gonna hold hands like we used to
We gonna talk it over, talk it over
(Thing) we know, they know (goin’ on), and you know
And I know that it was wrong
But our thing is strong, we gotta let ’em know now
That we got a thing going on, a thing going on

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Cary Grant Gilbert / Kenneth Gamble / Leon Huff
Me and Mrs Jones lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc

And now for the original by Billy Paul:

This will always be one of the smoothest, coolest and sexiest songs ever recorded.

Thanks, Jim, for a fun Philadelphia Soul prompt!

Philadelphia Soul