THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

466-The Moments & The Whatnauts-Girls.

1975-Number 3 single.

Best Bit-At 2.03. Anything with a pulse.

The Moments, and The Whatnauts were two separate male vocal groups who were both signed to the same record label, and joined forces for this one off single. The record label was ‘Stang,’ which was a subsidiary of ‘All Platinum Records,’ which had been founded in 1967 by the legendary Sylvia Robinson, (1935-2011) (see also best songs 597-523-290-87 and 17) and her husband Joe Robinson (-2000.) The Whatnauts were an American ‘R&B,’ and ‘Soul’ group who were formed in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, in 1969, consisting of five founding members, they remained active until 1983. Their discography includes three studio Albums released between 1970-1972, and 13 singles released between 1970-1983. They never charted within the Billboard Hot 100 singles top 40, although three of their single did reach the lower end of the Hot 100, with ‘I’ll Erase Away Your Pain,’ peaking the highest at Number 71 in 1971. The Whatnauts did have five top 40 hits on the ‘Billboard Hot R&B’ chart, with their debut single ‘Message from a Black Man’ peaking the highest at Number 19 in 1970. In the UK, their only chart hit was ‘Girls’ with The Moments, which made Number 3 in 1975. The music of The Whatnauts has been sampled by many artists, including Kanye West on his track ‘Late, (2005) Nas on his track ‘You Can’t Stop Us Now,’ (2008) and ‘How Ya Doin’? by Little Mix (2012.)

The Moments were formed in Washington, D.C. United States, in 1965, none of the three original members of that group appeared on ‘Girls.’ The Moments signed with ‘Stang’ records in 1968, and immediately found chart success. Further personnel changes occurred, with the three group members who sang on ‘Girls’ being Al Goodman, (1943-2010) Harry Ray, (1946-1992) and Billy Brown, these three would leave ‘Stang’ records in 1978 due to a contractual dispute, and sign with ‘Polydor’ records. Due to ‘Stang’ owning the rights to their name, they could no longer use the stage name ‘The Moments,’ and so became known as ‘Ray, Goodman & Brown.’ In total there have been 13 official different members of ‘The Moments,’ or ‘Ray, Goodman & Brown,’ with Billy Brown, and two others still performing shows as ‘Ray, Goodman & Brown’ at the time of writing.

The discography of the group as ‘The Moments’ includes nine studio Albums released between 1969-1978, and 34 singles released between 1968-1981, there are also four official compilation Albums, and two live Albums available. In America on the Billboard Hot 100 they had three top 40 singles, with ‘Love on a Two-Way Street,’ from 1970 peaking the highest at Number 3, they also had 23 top 40 hits on the Billboard ‘Hot R&B’ top 40. In the UK, they had three top 40 hits, with ‘Girls,’ with the Whatnauts, peaking the highest at Number 3 in 1975. The discography of the group as ‘Ray, Goodman & Brown’ includes seven studio Albums released between 1979-1988, and two official compilation Albums, issued in 1996, and 2002, they also released 15 singles between 1979-1988. In America on the Billboard Hot 100, their only top 40 single was their debut release ‘Special Lady,’ which reached Number 5 in 1979, they had a further seven entries on the Billboard ‘Hot R&B’ top 40, while none of their tracks have ever made the UK top 40 singles chart.

Billy Brown was born William Arthur Brown, on June 30th, 1944, in Swainsboro, Georgia, United States. Prior to joining The Moments, he had been a member of a vocal group called ‘The Broadways,’ who released four singles between 1966-1967, then in 1968, he was asked by Sylvia Robinson to join The Moments, and he became their lead singer. After the break up of Ray, Goodman & Brown, he has continued to perform live. In September 2016, he was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award by ‘The National R&B Music Society,’ in Philadelphia, PA.

‘Girls,’ or ‘Girls’ (Part 1) as it is also known, as the ‘B’ side (Part 2) was the songs instrumental, was the only joint effort released by The Moments & The Whatnauts, it was co-written by Harry Ray, Al Goodman, and V. Dodson, with the production credited to Harry Ray, and Al Goodman. In my opinion both groups would be called sexist in this day and age, but back in the mid 1970’s no one (as far as I know) thought twice about the songs lyrics, which today would be highly controversial and severely frowned upon by ‘Women’s lib.’

‘Girls, I like ’em fat, I like ’em tall, some skinny, some small, I got to get to know them all. I’d like to be on an island with five or six of them fine ones, even one that ain’t good lookin,’ they’re the ones that do the best cookin.”