Circles | 5ive Songs

In the 72^nd edition of 5ive Songs (2022), we select five songs that are associated with CIRCLES in some form or fashion.  

Welcome to 5ive Songs, where we keep things short and sweet – no extra calories or needless fluff! There’s a theme/topic, five songs, and a short blurb.  Yes, it’s a playlist, but it’s a miniature playlist that shouldn’t take much time to consume.  In the 72^nd edition of 5ive Songs (2022), we select five songs that are associated with CIRCLES in some form or fashion.  Okay, let’s get into it!

1. Maren Morris, “Circles Around This Town”

💿 Humble Quest • 🏷 Sony Music Entertainment • 📅 2022 

🏆 Grammy-winning country singer/songwriter 🎙 Maren Morris shines on 🎵 “Circles Around This Town”, the first single from her 2022 album, 💿 Humble Quest. On “Circles,” she co-writes with a talented crew: 🎼 ✍ Jimmy Robbins, Julia Michaels, and her husband, Ryan Hurd. Furthermore, ‘it’ producer 🎛 Greg Kurstin works behind the board.

Vocally, Morris sounds strong 💪 on “Circles Around This Town.” Besides being assertive and exhibiting a great tone, she also gives ample personality.  She plays to her country fan base, but pop fans will enjoy this one too. Among my favorite lyrics occurs during the second verse: “So many times, I thought about lеavin’ / Got my ass kicked tryin’ to compete with / Everybody else’s ones that got away.” Thematically, Maren reminisces on her ‘come up’ – how hard it was to get where she is now moving to Nashville.  Even though she’s made it, she acknowledges she’s “Still got the pedal down / Drivin’ circles around this town.” Of course, those awesome lyrics hail from the chorus, which is big and memorable.  Ultimately, “Circles Around This Town” is a terrific song.

Appears in 🔻:

• These 15 Songs are About THIS
• Awesome Songs: January 2022

2. Lil Ronny, “Circle”

🎵 “Throw Dat Ass in a Circle” • 🏷 Dirty Water Production, LLC • 📅 2016

“Throw that ass in a circle / Throw that ass in a circle / Throw that ass in a circle…” Yeah, yeah, yeah – you get the point.  🎙 Lil Ronny keeps things unapologetic and sexed the f#¢k up on his 2016 single, 🎵 “Circle”.  Depending on which version of this infectious yet utterly naughty rap track you partake, the extended version features 🎙 Mykfresh and 🎙 Yung Nation.  Meanwhile, the shorter 🎵 “Throw That Ass in A Circle” is all Lil Ronny. Either way, we’ll focus the majority of attention on the headlining rapper.  Backed by one of the nastiest beats and productions you’ll ever hear, “Circle” is readymade for the club – the strip club, that is! Beyond the repeated titular lyric, Lil Ronny expounds, encouraging her to “Toot it up girl, there you go,” continuing, “The way she shaking that ass / Got me hard like a shell on a turtle.” Da-yum Ronny!

“I like naked women and that’s the naked truth,” he commences his verse, adding, “With all these girls standing ‘round me naked, shit, I’m thinking ‘bout getting naked too.” Later, he spits, “Oh, you mad Bro? If this yo girl then why the fuck she saying hey to me?” Later, he adds some size to the mix: “My dick big and that’s safe to say but girl ion’ know if it’s safe to see / She on the pole doing tricks.” Wow… Ronny’s friends add more explicit sex references in their respective verses.  For Mykfresh, “She lick her lips and do ass tricks hit the splits and do ass tricks / She a bad bitch with ass and tits make the dick disappear like magic.” Whoa! 🎙 B Reed (Yung Nation) drops some clever though filthy rhymes: “Charging hoes with the dick fee / She will feen for the cock no crack / You don’t think the 80’s was back / Now it’s time to fuck up her tracks / Lay that ass flat on the fuckin’ mat.” As for 🎙 Lil Faime (also, of Yung Nation), “She eat my dick like Campbell Soup, yummy,” and “She rock my dick House of Blues.” 🎵 “Circle” is a piece of work, to say the least.  As I listen to it, I take it with a grain of salt.  It’s freaky to the n^th degree, that’s for sure.  Lil Ronny knows what he wants and how he wants it.

@lizzo

TikTok suggested this sound 😏

♬ Throw Dat Ass in a Circle – Lil Ronny MothaF

Appears in 🔻:

• Lil Ronny, “Circle”: After Dark 🕛 🌃 86 (2022)

3. Billy Preston, “Will It Go Round in Circles”

💿 Music is My Life • 🏷 UMG Recordings, Inc. • 🗓 1972

“I’ve got a song / I ain’t got melody,” the late, great 🎙 Billy Preston sings exuberantly in the first verse of 🎵 “Will It Go Round in Circles”. He continues singing, “I’ma gonna sing it to my friends.” Sounds good, Billy! “Will It Go Round in Circles,” which appears on Preston’s 1973 album, 💿 Music is My Life, gave the legendary, 🏆 Grammy-winning musician his first no. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.  Interestingly, his second no. 1 hit, 🎵 “Nothing From Nothing”, arrived a year later.

Beyond the intriguing opening verse, Billy Preston serves up two more sweet verses. Lyrically, “Will It Go Round in Circles” is incredibly simple. In the second, he asserts, “I’ve got a story / Ain’t got no moral / Let the bad guy win every once in a while.” In the third, “I’ve got a dance / I ain’t got no steps, no / I’m gonna let the music move me around.” Of course, the centerpiece of “Will It Go Round in Circles” is the chorus, which is incredibly catchy:

“Will it go round in circles

Will it fly high like a bird up in the sky.”

Beyond the fun lyrics, the music is funky as albeit – keys (including organ), horns, a prominent bass line, and a lite groove.  Billy Preston was an incredible musician, something that shines from the start of “Will It Go Round in Circles.” What else is there to say? 🎵 “Will It Go Round in Circles” is a surefire vibe – it speaks for itself without extensive analysis.  Billy Preston was a fantastic musician, and his legacy is enduring, with “Will It Go Round in Circles” leading the charge.

Appears in 🔻:

• Billy Preston, “Will It Go Round in Circles”: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 116 (2022)

4. Megan Thee Stallion, “Circles”

💿 Good News • 🏷 1501 Certified Ent. LLC / 300 Entertainment • 📅 2020

🎙 Megan Thee Stallion enlists 🎛 Rick Star Did It and 🎛 Cool N Dre to work the boards on 🎵 “Circles.” “Circles” is a highlight from her 2020 debut album, 💿 Good News. Sampling fuels the fire, this time, enlisting a 🎙 Jazmine Sullivan gem (🎵 “Holding You Down (Goin’ in Circles)” from 💿 Love Me Back) fueling the fire.

After totally obliterating 🎙 Tory Lanez, the 🏆 Grammy winner mostly focuses on being a ‘bad bitch.’ Still, she references adversity (“Bullet wounds, backstabs, mama died, still sad”) and throws some shade (“Niggas love usin’ Instagram like a journal”).  Most importantly, Thee Stallion informs us “We ain’t goin’ back and forth with the lil boys.” 🚫🎓! It’s worth noting, Tory Lanez is short and very thin.

5. The Friends of Distinction, “Going in Circles”

💿 Grazin’ • 🏷 Sony Music Entertainment • 🗓 1969 

“I’m an ever-rollin’ wheel, without a destination real / I’m an ever-spinning top, whirling around till I drop.” Soul collective 🎙 The Friends of Distinction (🎙 Floyd Butler, 🎙 Jessica Cleaves, 🎙 Harry Elston, and 🎙 Barbara Love), who were active in the late 1960s and disbanded in the 1970s, scored a hit with 🎵 “Going in Circles”. “Going in Circles” appeared in the collective’s 1969 album, 💿 Grazin’. The single peaked at no. 15 on the pop charts, earning gold certification from the RIAA.  Notably, numerous musicians have covered the gem penned by 🎼 ✍ Jerry Peters and 🎼 ✍ Anita Poree including 🎙 Isaac Hayes (💿 Black Moses, 1971), 🎙 The Gap Band (💿 Gap Band VII, 1985), and 🎙 Luther Vandross (💿 Songs, 1994).

As the excerpted lyrics suggest, The Friends are in a vicious circle.  In the second verse, the collective asserts, “I’m a faceless clock, with timeless hopes that never stop.” The effect of love is written all over this one, best summarized by the chorus: “You got me going in circles (oh round and round I go).” The poetic lyrics are high-flying vocals are utterly sublime.  Adding to the sheer excellence of  “Going in Circles” is the lush production work (🎛 John Florez), which was idiomatic of late 1960s-70s soul sound.  The orchestration is absolutely incredible. The Friends of Distinction may have been a short-lived soul collective, but the Los Angeles quartet ‘got it done’ releasing a couple of hits including 🎵 “Going in Circles”.  Sure, it’s a fifty-plus year-old song that sounds nothing like the music of the 2020s. Honestly, that’s a beautiful, truly refreshing thing. 

Appears in 🔻:

• The Friends of Distinction, “Going in Circles”: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 113 (2022) 

Circles: 5ive Songs No. 72 (2022) [📷: 300 Entertainment, 1501 Certified Ent. LLC, Atlantic, Brent Faulkner, Clovis Cheminot, Dirty Water Production, LLC, The Musical Hype, OpenClipart-Vectors, Pixabay, Sony Music Entertainment,  UMG Recordings, Inc.]