Today’s classic song of the day is that catchy little ode to cannibalism, 1970’s “Timothy” by the Buoys. Yes, the song is about three guys (Timothy, Joe, and the unnamed singer) trapped in a mine cave-in; to survive, the singer and Joe made a meal of their former pal Tim. Definitely not your normal “moon, June, spoon” top forty love song—although it’s possible spoons were involved.
“Timothy” was written by Rupert Holmes, who also wrote and performed “Him” and the ultimate late-70s earworm (and tribute to infidelity), “Escape (The Piña Colada Song).” Holmes and a colleague had discovered the band the Buoys and got them signed to a one-record deal with Scepter Records, but the label refused to commit any publicity dollars. Their solution was to write a song that would likely get banned, thus generating their own publicity.
That’s exactly what happened. While the single didn’t get promoted initially, listeners picked up on it and starting requesting it from their local radio stations. (This is something that actually happened back then.) When one radio station would get squeamish and refuse to play the track, another station would pick it up and play the heck out of it. The thing just kept steamrollering, eventually peaking at #17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #13 on the Cash Box Top 100.
While “Timothy” was a major hit, the band (which Scepter re-signed) was unable to duplicate that single’s unique success. The Buoys broke up shortly after releasing their singular self-named album in 1971.
By the way, Scepter Records tried to peddle the fiction that Timothy was actually a mule, so as to soften some of the criticism aimed at the single. Rupert Holmes had nothing of that, however, reminding all who would listen that he intended the song to be offensive—but with a bouncy beat and melody everybody could sing along to.
