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Slo-Mo Speed Dating: “Float On” by The Floaters

By Marcello Carlin


“Aquarius…And my name is Ralph…Now I like a woman who loves her freedom…And I like a woman who can hold her own…”

It sounds like Studio 54’s in-house video dating agency. It teeters dangerously on the tightrope of tackiness, but its modes persist into contemporary R&B, even though its dual camp and experimental factors enable it to fly far beyond those particular boundaries.

“Libra…And my name is Charles…Now I like a woman that’s quite…A woman who carries herself like…Miss Universe…”

The Floaters were lucky to get their one moment. A Detroit soul group formed by James Mitchell, formerly of The Emeralds of “Feel The Need In Me” (again, in Britain they had to be called the “Detroit Emeralds”) and featuring his brother Paul as well as Larry Cunningham, Charles Clark and Ralph Mitchell (no relation), their full-length album version of “Float On” lasts for over eleven minutes, and “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone” it is not – although what it could be is a belated sequel to the sensual quietude of the Four Tops’ great 1970 hit “Still Waters” (as with the latter, the album version of “Float On” is essentially divided into two parts, instrumental then vocal). A New York DJ picked up on the track, and the heavily-edited single was an unexpectedly huge transatlantic hit; but note the gender divide making itself apparent – where Donna Summer is satisfied and in full control, the Floaters parade themselves so shamelessly they might as well have bells hanging around their necks.

"Leo…And my name is Paul…You see I like…all…women of the world…”

Over a quite compelling slow-motion psychedelic soul backdrop – like Barry White hijacking a Thom Bell session but with the eerie whine of a Korg string synthesiser replacing strings – each Floater (with the exception of the group’s leader and the song’s co-writer James Mitchell, from whom we do not hear at all) takes it in turn to give their star sign, name and ovular preferences before swooping into dreamy soul tenors or falsettos, maintaining the is-it-still-’67 mood (“Come with me baby to Love Land”). You are daring their faces to remain straight…and then the camp bucket tips over a little too steeply…

"CAYN-CER! AND MA NAME IS LA-RRRR-Y!! HA! AN’ I LIKE A WOMAN THAT LURVES EVERY-THANG AND EVERY-BAWDY!!”

Even so, you continue to tag along for the ride with the swirling Zawinul electric piano and distant Paul Horn flutes as they echo “Float, float, float on” before the whole thing dissolves quite marvellously into atonal atomisation – the last 30 seconds or so of the record sound like early Penderecki. “Float On” is camper than the Ayrshire coast during Glasgow Fair Fortnight, and it should rightly lie beyond the pale of irretrievable naffness; and yet there is a rather admirable tug on its sleeve towards the melting paradises of early Stylistics and Love Unlimited which makes me warm to the record, virtually in spite of itself.

Date Record Made Number Two: 17 September 1977
Number Of Weeks At Number Two: 2
Records At Number One: “I Just Want To Be Your Everything” by Andy Gibb and “Best Of My Love” by The Emotions
UK Chart Position: 1

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