Song of the Day 6/24: The O’Jays, “Backstabbers”

The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary forces is marching 25,000 soldiers on Moscow, and Vladimir Putin has responded in classic fascist fashion, describing it not just as treason but that old propaganda standby, a stab in the back.

The O’Jays, formed in 1958, had their first Top 40 hit when “Backstabbers” reached No. 3 in 1972. It was also one of the first big hits for Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff’s Philadelphia International label.

“Backstabbers” was the work of the label’s staff writers Gene McFadden and John Whitehead, who consciously patterned it on “Smiling Faces Sometimes,” the 1971 hit Norman Whitfield wrote and produced for the Undisputed Truth. Eddie Levert even quotes it as the tune winds down. As McFadden and Whitehead, the songwriting duo had a hit of their own in 1979 with “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now.”