Their song "Runnin' from the Devil" inspired the Van Halen song "Runnin' With the Devil".
The group disbanded again in 1970. After again reforming with a line-up including Bonner, Satchell, Middlebrooks, Jones, Webster, trumpeter Bruce Napier, trombonist Marvin Pierce, and keyboardist Walter "Junie" Morrison, the Players had a minor hit on the Detroit-based Westbound label in 1971 with "Pain" which reached the Billboard R&B Top 40. Detroit vocalist Dale Allen shared co-lead vocals on some of the early Westbound material, although not credited on the albums "Pain" and "Pleasure".
The band’s first big hit was "Funky Worm", which hit #1 on the Billboard R&B Charts and made the pop Top 15 in May 1973. The band signed with Mercury Records in 1974. By this time, their lineup had changed again, with keyboardist Billy Beck instead of Morrison and Jimmy "Diamond" Williams on drums instead of Webster. On later album releases, they added second guitarist/vocalist Clarence 'Chet' Willis and conga player Robert "Rumba" Jones to the lineup. Bonner sang lead vocals on most of the band's hits.
The band had seven Top 40 hits between 1973 and 1976, including "Fire" (#1 on both the R&B and pop charts for two weeks and one week respectively in February 1975) and "Love Rollercoaster" (#1 on both the R&B and pop charts for 1 week in January 1976). The group's last big hit was "Who'd She Coo" a #1 R&B hit in August 1976.
The band became widely known not only for their sound, which has been sampled and copied by countless R&B and hip-hop artists since, but for their sexually provocative album covers, including the cover of 1974's Ecstasy, which featured a man and a woman in a pose of arousal wearing chains and leather, and 1975's Honey, which featured a nude woman holding an overflowing jar of honey and dropping some into her mouth with a ladle.
There is an urban legend that has it that a scream on "Love Rollercoaster" that came during the break after the second verse was the sound of someone being murdered in the studio while the track was being recorded. It is widely believed to be the scream of a female model (the nude woman Ester Cordet featured on the image for the Honey album) after being stabbed with a knife by the band's manager. She was complaining that the honey and fibre glass she was sitting on reacted when mixed causing permanent damage to her legs during the image photography, ending her modelling career. She then approached the manager seeking compensation during the recording of "Love Rollercoaster" only to be stabbed and attacked.
The Ohio Players then left the scream in as a sick tribute.[1] The band did not discredit this rumor at the time, because, as one band member put it later, "that makes you sell more records." This is just an urban legend however, as are any other disturbing explanations, including a person murdered outside the recording studio (although recording studios are soundproof and the scream would not have been heard), a band member murdering his girlfriend or a cleaning woman in the recording studio, or a real scream taken from a 911 call or a Psychiatric ward.
Clarence Satchell died in January 1996 after he had a brain aneurysm. Ralph Middlebrooks died in November 1997.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers were one of the bands heavily influenced by the Ohio Players, covering "Love Rollercoaster" for the film Beavis and Butt-head Do America. In the UK, there was a chain of music and DVD stores named after one of their hit songs, "Fopp". "Fopp" was also covered by Soundgarden for an EP called Fopp.
Time Slips Away
Ohio Players Lyrics
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from you and me (umm, hmm)/ my oh my oh my oh my tears
are down/girl your love for me goes on and on/Like
the time that seems to fly/ Girl my love for you will
never die/ Oh my, time slips away/Away from you and
me (umm, hmm)/ My oh my oh my oh my oh my
(oh my oh my)/ Time, time,
time, just seems to fly/ Time,
time, even while you are sleeping/ It slips away,
time is sure creeping time it slips away/ Oh my oh
my oh my oh my oh my oh my/ Oh my time slips away
(ohh)/My oh my oh my oh my oh my/My love for you will
never die/ my oh my oh my oh my oh my/Time slips away,
slips away/ Hey now I need time and listen slipping
away/Now baby you and I got loving that's here to stay/Now
baby time, time, time, is slipping,
slipping away/Now baby I've got love and uh you got
loving/ We got time together baby time,
time/ Slips away time, time, time, time, time/ Slips away, it slips away
"Time Slips Away" by Ohio Players is a lament about the regrets that come from wasted time. The lyrics express the pain and heartbreak that comes from realizing that four years of life have been wasted and can never be retrieved. The singer expresses remorse for the time that was spent losing himself in things that could take away the pain rather than living life to the fullest. The metaphor of time slipping through the cracks emphasizes the feeling of helplessness that comes with a sense of wasted time.
As the song progresses, the singer recognizes that it's never too late to turn things around. He acknowledges that we've all been lost before and been knocked down, but we can let go of our regrets and find the strength to set things straight. The final lines of the song are a call to live life to the fullest, to be who we need to be, and to let our hearts be free. It's a message of hope that despite the regrets and wasted time, we can still make the most of the time we have left.
Overall, "Time Slips Away" is a powerful and emotional reflection on the importance of living life to the fullest and the pain that comes with realizing that time has been wasted. But it's also a message of hope that it's never too late to turn things around and make the most of the time we have left.
Line by Line Meaning
Four year of my life that I'm never getting back and it hurts so much to realize.
I spent four years of my life in a way that cannot be undone, and it is painful to come to terms with this fact.
The days, the years I can't never live again.
I cannot relive or redo the times that have passed and that is difficult to accept.
Painstaking, heart broken, and filled with regret.
I feel agony, grief, and remorse over the time that has been lost and the mistakes that were made.
Yea it's like the time is slipping through the cracks.
The passage of time seems to be slipping away ungraspably, as if it is flowing through an unfillable gap.
But now, now I wish that I could take it back but it's never coming back.
Although I wish I could undo my actions and regain the time that has passed, it is not possible to do so.
And I thought I knew a better way.
I believed that I knew a better path to take in life, but I was mistaken.
I'd lose myself in anything that could take away the pain.
In an attempt to alleviate the pain I felt over lost time and regret, I would immerse myself in anything that could numb that pain.
Years spent running and I never knew the cost.
I spent many years going through life without realizing the true cost of my choices and actions.
But shattered mirrors and broken hearts finally showed me what I'd lose.
The aftermath of my mistakes, including broken relationships and lost opportunities, helped me to understand what I had sacrificed and lost.
We've all been lost before we've all been knocked to the ground.
Everyone has experienced feeling lost or defeated at some point in their lives.
Let go of our regrets and find the strength to turn it around.
In order to move forward, we must release our regrets and summon the courage to change direction.
I know it might seem far too late but we're just about to break these chains that have always held us back.
Although it may seem like it's too late to make a change, we are on the verge of breaking free from the limiting circumstances that have held us back.
We've made our own mistakes but now it's time to set it straight.
We have the ability to correct the mistakes we have made and set ourselves on a better path.
And live our lives. Be who we need to be and let our hearts be free. Now we live our lives. Be who we need to be and let our hearts be free.
We should live our lives authentically and let our hearts guide us, free from the burdens of regret and missed opportunities.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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