Six degrees of The Three Degrees

Oh boy, The Three Degrees. Three beautiful ladies, combining for one super sexy sound. Those were actually very confusing days for The Unbelievables, but very fondly remembered.
For starters, like many musical acts over the years, the roster of TTD was in a near constant state of flux. As a result, there are actually no fewer than 15 women who held the mantle of Degree at one time or another. Of course, your question is was there ever any, um, dalliance between any members of The Unbelievables and The Three Degrees? Ahhhhh yup. Lots and lots of not only dallying but dillying as well, with ALL of The Unbelievables and ALL 15 of The Three Degrees. In addition to the dillying and dallying, there was also a great deal of swapping and sharing going on. There are thousands of possible different combinations of U's and D's and we did them all, most more than once. Before we met, there may have been six degrees of separation between us and The Three Degrees, but before long there were zero degrees of clothing between us. Mind you, the ladies always comported themselves with nothing but class and style. Still, there was many a night at the Unbelieva-base when the traffic pattern in the hallway during the late evening hours looked a lot like this...

Only with people, not cartoon characters

 Yes indeed, we loved those ladies. But we're not alone; Quentin Tarantino paid tribute in his "Kill Bill" opus when the titular Bill declared that "When Will I See You Again" was his favorite soul song of the '70s. I don't know why he felt the need to date-stamp the tune, as it's as great today as it ever was.

Oh, What Webs They Weaved

Ah, yes ... The Three Degrees.

It's come to our attention many of you out there might not know of The Three Degrees. Sad ... but easily correctable. Here's a quick primer which will no doubt jar your memory ...
 









Now, as Jeff mentioned, all three of us contributed to their eventual expertise in crime-fighting. But a major part of their acumen came from their natural talents: Beauty and deception. While you can tell the gals were obvious lookers, this fact was instrumental in sidling up to the bad guys. Cooing up to some guy with an arsenal of weapons, destruction and mayhem will get you far, you know, and that's exactly what The Three Degrees did. Often.

They were good at it. Really good.

But, when the chips were down and their natural charms couldn't sway ne'er-do-wells, that's when they busted out the moves.

Gee Baby I'm Sorry usually got the guys cooled off (or heated up as was sometimes the case). Cuffed, cornered or otherwise in a predicament, When Will I See You Again was the order of the day that brought the softness out in bad guys, opening a door for the girls to surprise them when they let their guard down. (And they usually let their guard down at some point. Men are so predictable.) And Giving Up Giving In? A sort of last resort song crooned in the event things looked grim. It caught baddies unaware every time. What a bunch of lunkheads.

Probably the biggest prop in The Three Degrees formidable bag of tricks, however, was TSOP* (The Sound of Philadelphia). Bust out that tune and criminals thought a dance party had just broken out. Talk about getting caught with your pants down! 

The song's secret? Virtually zero lyrics. Nothing but smooth disco goodness until the very end. I don't care who you are - you can't help but begin toe tapping to TSOP, followed naturally by exaggerated disco dance floor moves. Once caught up in the sound and rhythm, the girls simply stifled their opponents with handy duct tape or scarves or belts.  << BOOM! >> Utter devastation. 

That's when the "Doot doot doo-doo-doo doo, doot doo ... Let's get it on!" (the only lyrics of in the song) came into play. By that time, boondoggled and surprised they were thus fooled, the criminal element could do nothing but hang their heads in shame with the realization they'd been duped, all the while forced to listen to the girls taunt them with "Let's get it on!"

But ... duped by some fine foxy female fortitude.

There's nothing quite like getting the wool pulled over your eyes by women of power.

And The Three Degrees were definitely that. 

*The version of TSOP provided here is the extended 12" version of the song which includes "People all over the world" lyrics. The Three Degrees did not use this particular version when apprehending brigands and hooligans. It has been provided solely for your dining and dancing pleasure. You're welcome.