Will It Go Round in Circles

"Will It Go Round in Circles"
Side A of the US single
Single by Billy Preston
from the album Music Is My Life
B-side	"Blackbird"
Released	March 1973
Genre	Funk, soul
Length	3:42 (single version) 4:28 (album version)
Label	A&M
Songwriter(s)	Billy Preston, Bruce Fisher
Producer(s)	Billy Preston
Billy Preston singles chronology
"Slaughter" (1972) "Will It Go Round in Circles" (1973) "Space Race" (1974)
Official audio
"Will It Go Round In Circles" on YouTube

"Will It Go Round in Circles" is a song by American soul musician Billy Preston from his 1972 album Music Is My Life. It was written by Preston and Bruce Fisher and released as a single in March 1973. The record topped the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over a million copies. This was the first of two number one hits for Preston as a solo performer, the other being "Nothing from Nothing", although he is also credited on the Beatles' 1969 hit "Get Back".

Personnel

Source:[1]

• Billy Preston – piano, vocals
• George Johnson – guitar
• Louis Johnson – bass guitar
• Hubert Heard – organ, melodica
• Manuel Kellough – drums
• Tom Scott – saxophone
• Jim Horn – saxophone
• George Bohanon – trombone
• Buck Monari – trumpet
• Paul Hubinon – trumpet

Chart performance

Weekly charts Chart (1973) Peak position Australia (Kent Music Report)[2] 99 Canadian RPM 100[3] 1 South Africa (Springbok)[4] 20 US Billboard Hot 100[5] 1 U.S. Billboard Hot Soul Singles[6] 10

Year-end charts Chart (1973) Rank Canadian RPM Year-End[7] 18 U.S. Billboard Hot 100[8] 8 All-time charts Chart (1958–2018) Position US Billboard Hot 100[9] 358

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[10]	Gold	1,000,000^^
^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Covers

The song was covered by Donny Osmond on his 2009 album Love Songs Of The '70s. Phish did two renditions in 1999, including on 10 September at The Gorge Amphitheatre.[11] Orlando Brown recorded it for the 2006 soundtrack album That's So Raven Too!, for his Disney Channel series That's So Raven; his version was also featured in the Disney Channel original film Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior.[12] The song was performed in Hebrew by Yehonatan Geffen and Dani Litani in their 1974 live show That's All for Now - For Now That's All.[13]

In popular culture

• Appearance in the soundtrack of the 1996 Matt Dillon film Beautiful Girls.[14]
• Featured as the opening theme in the 1997 HBO Sports documentary Long Shots: The life and times of the American Basketball Association.[15]

References

1. Adapted from Music Is My Life: A&M Records (1971_, AMLS 63516
2. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 238. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
3. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
4. "SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved 5 September 2018.
5. "Billy Preston Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
6. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 468.
7. "Best of 1973 songs and music, on MusicAndYears.com!". Archived from the original on 2015-02-24. Retrieved 2015-05-25.
8. "Top 100 Hits of 1973/Top 100 Songs of 1973". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
9. "Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary Interactive Chart". Billboard. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
10. "American single certifications – Billy Preston – Will It Go Round in Circles". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved August 15, 2024.
11. "Phish Relisten". relisten.net. Retrieved 2016-12-22.
12. "Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior Entry". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
13. בינתיים זה הכל at Discogs
14. "Beautiful Girls Entry". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
15. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Longshots - The Life & Times Of The American Basketball Association". YouTube. 5 January 2014.

External links

• Billy Preston - Will It Go Round in Circles on YouTube