The first track is by a Washington/Baltimore group Skip McHoney and the Casuals on DC International Records. Here Skip pleads with his lady to understand why he has to go. Ultimately it is her nasty attitudes and her funny moods that drive Skip away. It is also a result of one of my favorite lyrics, "You don't want a man, you want a robot." The track is driven by a smooth bassline, lush string sweeteners and backing vocals by the Casuals. This track apparently caused some problems between the band members (who broke up shortly afterwards), because up until this point they were simply called the Casuals and did not want an individual name out front, but the label chose to list the artist as Skip McHoney and the Casuals on the 45.
The second track is by George Kerr, a former member of the Escorts and the Serenaders, on All Platinum. Opposite to the first track, here George is pleading with his lady to stay after he makes some unfortunate comments to another set of ladies. The track starts slow with a spoken conversation, but merges into the meat of the song with a drum and piano build-up. The track grows in power and emotion as George runs through a stream of consciousness lyrical approach after realizing the implications of not having his lady sets in. I haven't seen a lot of George Kerr solo releases, but he is responsible for penning tracks for the Escorts, the Moments and Linda Jones among many others.
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In case anyone is interested, I picked up a comp CD from All Platinum called "On The Real Side" with another version of 3 minutes 2 - Hey Girl. It has a slightly different vocal track and sacrifices the deep bass to highlight the guitar work. The liner notes by John Ridley are as follows, "3 Minutes 2 - Hey Girl" was only recorded as a session afterthought for personal enjoyment, but this delicate rap and song struck a chord with Sylvia Robinson and she had it released. Her instincts proved correct as it reached no. 15 in the R&B charts in the summer of 1970."
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