The song’s origin stems from a joke Preston made to his songwriting partner Bruce Fisher about having a song that has no melody. This inspired the song’s opening refrain: “I got a song, I ain’t got no melody/I’ma gonna sing it to my friends.” The song continues with this paradoxical theme, such as having a dance with no steps and a story with no moral. The lyrics are really contrarian and clever; and it sounds like Preston is having a blast singing them.
“Will It Go Round In Circles” was co-written by Preston and Fisher, who’s a singer-songwriter, musician and producer. It was a single from Preston’s seventh studio album Music Is My Life, released in October of 1972. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks and rose to #10 on Billboard’s Soul singles chart. It also reached the top spot on the charts in Canada. The song went on to sell over a million copies. Preston landed his second #1 on the pop charts with “Nothing from Nothing” in 1974.
The personnel for “Will It Go Round In Circles” was Preston (keyboards, vocals, melodica), Louis Johnson (bass), Manuel Kellough (drums), George Johnson (guitar), Hubert Heard (keyboards) and the horn section: Tom Scott (saxophone), Buck Monari (trumpet), George Bohanon (trombone), Paul Hubinon (trumpet) and Jim Horn (saxophone). The track was produced by Preston and released on A&M Records.
“Will It Go Round In Circles” has been sampled on five songs, per WhoSampled.com. It has been featured on the soundtracks for the films Beautiful Girls (1996) and Hesburgh (2018). It’s also featured on the soundtracks for five television series, including an episode of HBO’s Vinyl (season 1, episode 5, titled “He in Racist Fire,” originally aired March 13, 2016).
When Preston released “Will It Go Round In Circles,” he was a well-established and respected artist with a number of major career achievements already under his belt. A self-taught child prodigy, he was playing organ for legendary gospel queen Mahalia Jackson at the young age of 10. At 11, he performed Fats Domino’s hit “Blueberry Hill” with music icon Nat King Cole on the NBC TV series The Nat King Cole Show. And a 12-year-old Preston played young W.C. Handy in the film St. Louis Blues (1958) with Cole cast as adult Handy.
Preston joined Little Richard’s band as an organist in 1962. He was only 16 at the time. When Little Richard was touring in Hamburg that year, the Beatles were his opening act. Preston developed a close friendship with the four soon-to-be global superstars during the Hamburg dates. This friendship led to Preston contributing his talents to three Beatles albums: The Beatles (better known as The White Album, 1968), Abbey Road (1969) and Let it Be (1970). He also performed with the Beatles on their historic 1969 rooftop concert at Apple Corps headquarters in London.
Moreover, Preston has the distinction of being the only non-Beatle to be credited on a Beatles song. His amazing keyboard work on the Beatles classic “Get Back” earned him a title credit. "Get Back" is credited as The Beatles with Billy Preston. He’s often referred to as “The Fifth Beatle” due to his significant contributions to the three aforementioned Beatles albums. There was even serious talk of possibly bringing Preston onboard as a new member when he was working with them on the Let It Be album. In the subsequent years, Preston worked with former Beatle members on different music projects. He played on solo albums by George Harrison, John Lennon and Ringo Starr. He also performed at Harrison’s “Concert for Bangladesh” in 1971.
Preston also frequently toured with The Rolling Stones and played on the classic Stones albums Sticky Fingers (1971) and Exile on Main Street (1972). And he played on Sly & The Family Stone’s groundbreaking album There’s a Riot Goin’ On (1971). Some of the other major artists who Preston had worked with include Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton and Johnny Cash. Also, Preston co-wrote Joe Cocker’s 1974 classic “You Are So Beautiful.”
Jazz giant Miles Davis’ 1974 album Get Up with It has a track titled “Billy Preston” in Preston’s honor. And during rehearsals for “The Concert for George” in 2002, Ringo Starr called Preston “one of the greatest Hammond players of all time.” In 1979, Preston and singer-songwriter Syreeta Wright landed a huge international hit with their duet “With You I’m Born Again.” Additionally, he wrote and performed the funky theme song for the 1972 blaxploitation film Slaughter starring Jim Brown.
Preston was nominated for nine Grammy Awards and won two. He was inducted into The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame posthumously in 2021 and was honored with its Musical Excellence Award. That same year, White Horse Pictures and Homegrown Pictures announced the making of a Paris Barclay-directed documentary on Preston. The yet-to-be-titled documentary is currently in post-production and has no release date set so far.
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