The Rubberband Man Explained

The Rubberband Man
Cover:	The Rubberband Man.jpg
Type:	single
Artist:	the Spinners
Album:	Happiness Is Being with the Spinners
B-Side:	Now That We're Together
Released:	August 1976
Studio:	Sigma Sound, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Genre:	Soul funk Philadelphia soul
Length:	7:23 (album version) 3:33 (single edit)
Label:	Atlantic
Producer:	Thom Bell
Prev Title:	Wake Up Susan
Prev Year:	1976
Next Title:	You're Throwing a Good Love Away
Next Year:	1977

"The Rubberband Man" is a song recorded by American vocal group the Spinners. The song, written by producer Thom Bell and singer-songwriter Linda Creed, is about Bell's son Mark, who was being teased by his classmates for being overweight. Intended to improve his son's self-image, the song eventually evolved from being about "The Fat Man" to "The Rubberband Man".^[1]

The last major hit by the Spinners to feature Philippé Wynne on lead vocals, "The Rubberband Man" spent three weeks at number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 (blocked from the top spot by Rod Stewart's massive hit single "Tonight's the Night") and topped the U.S. R&B chart at the end of 1976.^[2] It was also a top-20 hit in the UK Singles Chart, reaching number 16 in October 1976.^[3]

The song was included in the Detroit Free Presss "Detroit's 100 Greatest Songs" list, ranking 70th.^[4]

Arrangement and structure

Wynne alternates between singing the verse and interjecting verbal asides and improvises the eight bars linking the chorus with the bridge. The backing singers' retort of "do-do-do-do" recalls the distinctive chorus in Stephen Stills' song "Love the One You're With."^[5]

Later uses

• Performed by Lynda Carter twice on TV in 1980: during her first (of five) Lynda Carter Special, and in an episode of The Muppet Show accompanied by a band of Rubberband Men Muppets.
• The song also appears in the 1981 movie Stripes.
• "The Rubberband Man" was used on the TV show Suits in the 2012 episode "Discovery".
• The song enjoyed a surge in popularity in 2018 as a result of its use in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film .
• From 2004–2007 in several back-to-school advertising campaigns for OfficeMax, the song Rubberband Man was used as the theme for The 'Rubberband Man', a character played by actor Eddie Steeples, who would happily distribute school / office supplies to surprised and somewhat disappointed children or thankful office employees. In one commercial, Steeple's character has lost his rubber ball, and the commercial documents his search for the missing ball. ^{[6] [7]} At that time, Steeples was popular portraying the character of Darnell "Crab Man" Turner on the television sitcom My Name Is Earl.
• The song was featured in the CBS sitcom Young Sheldon in the final episode of the series. It played right before Sheldon Cooper was baptized.^[8]

Personnel

• Lead vocals: Philippé Wynne
• Background vocals: Bobby Smith, Pervis Jackson, Henry Fambrough and Billy Henderson
• Additional background vocals: the Sigma Sweethearts (Barbara Ingram, Carla L Benson and Yvette Benton)
• Instrumentation: MFSB:
  • Thom Bell

keyboards

• • Tony Bell, Bobby Eli: guitars
  • Bob Babbitt

bass guitar

• • Andrew Smith: drums
  • Larry Washington: percussion
• Produced, arranged and conducted by Thom Bell

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1976–1977)	Peak Position
Canada Top Singles (RPM)	7
Australia (ARIA)^[9]	20
UK Singles Chart (The Official Charts Company)	16
US Billboard Hot 100	2
US Billboard Hot Soul Singles	1
US Cash Box Top 100	3

Year-end charts

Chart (1977)	Rank
Canada^[11]	101
U.S. Billboard Hot 100^[12]	81

Notes and References

1. Book: 0-8230-7695-4. The Billboard Book of No. 2 Hits. Billboard Books. 2000. Feldman, Christopher G.. registration.
2. Book: Whitburn, Joel . Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004. Joel Whitburn . 2004 . Record Research . 545.
3. Web site: The Detroit Spinners: The Rubberband Man. 45cat.com.
4. Web site: Detroit's 100 Greatest Songs. May 10, 2018.
5. Web site: The Rubberband Man . Planer, Lindsay . . January 30, 2013.
6. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Web site: officemax "rubberband man" . YouTube.
7. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Web site: Rubberband Man Back-to-School - OfficeMax . YouTube.
8. Web site: Sheldon gets baptised Scene / Young Sheldon 7x14 . YouTube.
9. Web site: Steffen Hung . Forum – 1970 (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts) . Australian-charts.com . October 11, 2016 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160602084720/http://australian-charts.com/forum.asp?todo=viewthread&id=35092 . June 2, 2016 .
10. Web site: Top 100 Year End Charts: 1976 . . June 5, 2016 .
11. Web site: Image : RPM Weekly – Library and Archives Canada . Bac-lac.gc.ca . July 17, 2013 . October 11, 2016.
12. Web site: Top 100 Hits of 1977/Top 100 Songs of 1977 . Musicoutfitters.com . October 11, 2016.