Blue Magic, Sideshow | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 138th edition of Throwback Vibez (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Sideshow” by Philly soul collective, Blue Magic.   

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 138^th edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Sideshow” performed by Blue Magic.

“Hurry, hurry, step right up / See the saddest show in town for only 50 cents.” Back in 1974, that was a bargain.  Philly soul collective Blue Magic, comprising Ted Mills, Vernon Sawyer, Wendell Sawyer, Keith Beaton, and Richard Pratt, struck gold that year. Their timeless song, “Sideshow” commences their self-titled LP. Vinnie Barrett and Bobby Eli penned the four-minute-plus gem. Norman Harris produced it. A success on the pop charts, “Sideshow” peaked at no. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100.  It reached no. 1 on the R&B songs chart.

True to the Philly soul sound, “Sideshow” features a lush, warm, and sophisticated orchestral sound. The ‘circus sideshow sound effects’ (a sample of Entrance of the Gladiators by Czech composer, Julius Fučik) within the intro (excerpted above) are a big selling point, setting the tone. Ted Mills sounds delightful performing the falsetto lead vocals. Impressively, his falsetto remains ripe when ad-libbing and riffing.  He masterfully brings the tuneful melodies to life.  The lyrics are brokenhearted through and through.  In the first verse, he reiterates, “It’ll only cost you fifty cents to see / What life has done to those like you and me.” Oh, snap! He adds in the second verse, “See the man with the broken heart / You’ll see that he is sad,” and, “See the girl who has lost / The only love she ever had / There’s got to be no sadder show to see.” The third verse echoes the sentiment of the first two. The chorus is memorable – the section to beat: “So let the sideshow begin / Hurry, hurry, step right on in / Can’t afford to pass it by / Guaranteed to make you cry.” Despite how sad and brokenhearted “Sideshow” is, musically, it is one of the true gems of soul music. With Mills’ awesome lead vocals and brilliant background vocals, Blue Magic put their foot into this one.

Blue Magic // Blue Magic // Atco / Atlantic // 1974

Blue Magic, Sideshow: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 138 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Atco / Atlantic; OpenClipart-Vectors, Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Speedy McVroom from Pixabay]