THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
Baby, baby, am I hooked on “Hello L.A., Bye Bye Birmingham”, which should have an exhibit at the songwriting hall of fame. Written by Mac Davis and Delaney (“Delaney & Bonnie”) Bramlett, many artists have recorded (Chris Richardson, https://www.zeroto180.org/hello-l-a-bye-bye-birmingham-the-other-johnny-marr/) this “terrific song about a cross-country ramble” (Gillian G. Gaar, https://rockandrollglobe.com/pop/these-boots-keep-a-walkin/) and yet it never became a hit. Larry writes that “[t]he popularity of the song doesn’t surprise me, since it has the kind of funky framework that works well at just about any speed, as well as a fantastic lyric about a cat that bags his home turf and goes on the road to seek success as a songwriter.” (https://funky16corners.com/?p=4271) The song is uniquely pliable — letting diverse artists make it their own.
Jason Ankeny gives us Davis’ story:
At his commercial peak in the mid-’70s, Mac Davis was one of America’s most popular entertainers, a countrypolitan-styled singer and actor who found considerable success in both fields. First making his name in the music business as a label manager and a songwriter, he went on to become a star on the strength of his warm, smooth voice, engaging personality, and confident but self-effacing demeanor. . . . Born Scott Davis in . . . Lubbock, Texas, he began performing in local rock groups while still in his teens. After moving to Georgia, Davis first broke into the music business in 1962, when he was hired by the Chicago-based record label Vee-Jay as their Atlanta-based regional manager. After joining the Liberty label three years later, he moved to Los Angeles in 1967 to head the company’s publishing arm, Metric Music; in addition to running Metric’s day-to-day operations, he also began composing his own songs, with Glen Campbell, Bobby Goldsboro, Lou Rawls, and Kenny Rogers & the First Edition among the artists recording his work. In 1968, Elvis Presley [see #80, 879] recorded Davis’ “A Little Less Conversation,” and soon the King was requesting more of his work. After notching a Top 40 hit with Davis’ “Memories,” Presley reached the Top Five in 1969 with the songwriter’s “In the Ghetto[]” . . . Davis also arranged the music for Presley’s first television special before signing his own recording contract in 1970. That year, he released his first chart single, “Whoever Finds This, I Love You,” from his debut album, Song Painter [which also contains today’s song]. In 1972, Davis scored a number one pop hit with “Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me,” which also reached the country Top 20. His crossover success continued throughout the decade, with singles like 1974’s “Stop and Smell the Roses,” 1975’s “Burnin’ Thing,” and the following year’s “Forever Lovers” scoring with listeners in both camps. Between 1974 and 1976, Davis hosted a musical variety show for NBC television, followed by a string of specials; in 1979, he also starred in the film North Dallas Forty with Nick Nolte. Davis’ success continued in the early ’80s; “It’s Hard to Be Humble[]” . . . was the first of four consecutive Top Ten country hits that culminated with his biggest country single up to that point, “Hooked on Music,” the next year. . . . A co-starring role . . . in 1983’s disastrous The Sting II . . . seriously slowed the momentum of his film career . . . . In 1985, he had recorded his last Top Ten hit, “I Never Made Love (‘Til I Made Love with You).”
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mac-davis-mn0000185669#biography
William Ruhlmann does the same for Delaney Bramlett:
Although his popularity was often eclipsed by the artists he mentored, Delaney Bramlett was an accomplished guitarist and singer/songwriter whose style influenced the likes of Eric Clapton [see #769], J.J. Cale, and Duane Allman. A native of Pontotoc, MS, he served time in the U.S. Navy before moving to Los Angeles in 1959. He soon became a member of the Shindogs, the resident band on the TV show Shindig. . . . allow[ing] Bramlett to rub shoulders with other notable musicians, and in 1967 he met Bonnie Lynn O’Farrell, a member of Ike & Tina Turner’s [see #212, 329, 837, ] backup group the Ikettes. The two were married within five days; they also formed a duo named Delaney & Bonnie. Delaney & Bonnie cut an album for Stax Records in Memphis, backed by Booker T. & the MG’s, but the record was not released at first. They then expanded the group (welcoming such musicians as Leon Russell into the fold) and adopted the modified name Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. This new lineup recorded Accept No Substitute in 1969, and although its sales were lukewarm, the album still endeared Delaney Bramlett’s music to a number of rock icons. Eric Clapton took particular interest and invited Delaney & Bonnie & Friends to tour alongside Blind Faith in mid-1969; he then left his band and joined Bramlett’s loose collective, along with such notables as George Harrison and Dave Mason. This resulted in the release of On Tour with Eric Clapton . . . . Delaney & Bonnie made several more albums before divorcing . . . . Delaney Bramlett then released his debut solo effort, Something’s Coming, in 1972, followed by Mobius Strip (1973), Giving Birth to a Song (1975), and Delaney Bramlett and Friends — Class Reunion (1977).
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/delaney-bramlett-mn0000235121#biography
1,858) Mac Davis — “Hello L.A., Bye Bye Birmingham”
Davis included the song, as a “terrific boogie” (Stephen Thomas Erlewine, https://www.allmusic.com/album/song-painter-mw0001880271), on his first LP — Song Painter.
1,859) Alex Harvey — “Hello L.A., Bye Bye Birmingham”
Harvey (see #440, 684) included his version — possibly the best recording of the song — on his ’69 solo LP Roman Wall Blues.
William Ruhlmann tells us of the sensational Harvey that:
Alex Harvey was a British journeyman rocker who enjoyed a brief period of widespread popularity in the mid-’70s after decades of struggle. Growing up in Scotland, he turned to music in his late teens and was in a skiffle band by 1955. By 1959, it had evolved into the Alex Harvey Big Soul Band[, which he] took the group to Hamburg, West Germany in the early ’60s . . . . [They] made their London debut in February 1964 . . . . In 1965, Harvey dissolved the Big Soul Band and later returned to Glasgow. But he was back in London in 1967, assembling Giant Moth, a psychedelic group that existed only for a short time. He then accepted a job working in the pit band of the musical Hair . . . . In 1969, he released Roman Wall Blues, his first solo effort in five years. Up to this point, none of his musical efforts had attracted much attention. But in the early ’70s, he recruited the Scottish band Tear Gas . . . christening the resulting quintet the Sensational Alex Harvey Band. Their first two albums . . . didn’t sell, but in the fall of 1974 The Impossible Dream became Harvey’s first chart record in the U.K. . . . Tomorrow Belongs to Me followed in the spring of 1975, hitting the Top Ten along with the Top Ten singles placing of Harvey’s flamboyant cover of the Tom Jones [see #330, 380, 1,691] hit “Delilah.” With that, Next belatedly made the charts, and in September Sensational Alex Harvey Band Live came out and reached the Top 20 (also making the Top 100 in the U.S), as “Gamblin’ Bar Room Blues” became a Top 40 single. This commercial success continued into 1976, with Penthouse Tapes entering the LP charts in April and becoming a Top 20 hit, “Boston Tea Party” making the singles charts in June and making a Top 20 showing, and SAHB Stories following in July and just missing the Top Ten.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/alex-harvey-mn0000617929/biography
1,860) Nancy Sinatra
The glorious Nancy Sinatra “sound[s] coolly confident as she sets out on the road to fame and fortune”. (Gillian G. Gaar, https://rockandrollglobe.com/pop/these-boots-keep-a-walkin/) Her version “feel[s] like [a] remnant[] of Hollywood’s weirdest era, and . . . help[s] make for a convincing portrait of Nancy Sinatra as an idiosyncratic artist happily working within the confines of L.A.’s lushest studios.” (Stephen Thomas Erlewine, https://www.allmusic.com/album/start-walkin-1965-1976-mw0003442919)
1,861) John Randolph Marr
John Randolph Marr’s version “has a swamp-funk feel with strong horn sections and a harpsichord intro!” (Franko, https://whatfrankislisteningto.negstar.com/roots-rock/john-randolph-marr-john-randolph-marr-warner-brothers-1970/) “”[H]e takes things a slightly slower pace, the drums and bass are killing it, and Marr had cool, whiskey-tinged voice (I hear a bit of David Clayton Thomas in there).” (Larry, https://funky16corners.com/?p=4271) “Such an obvious A-side . . . and yet Warner Brothers felt it unworthy of even the flip side of the only single issued from [Marr’s only] album.” (Chris Richardson, https://www.zeroto180.org/hello-l-a-bye-bye-birmingham-the-other-johnny-marr/)
Oh, and it was co-produced by Harry Nilsson (see #1,168, 1,298, 1,854) and Gary Osborne. Osborne reminisces:
I met Harry Nilsson in London in 1969 when I was working at his record company RCA. Harry produced the backing tracks for “1941” and “Pity The Man” but although Randy Marr had a terrific voice Harry found it impossible to get vocals out of him in the studio. I happened to be visiting LA at the time and Harry asked me to have a go at producing Randy’s vocals on those two tracks. Nilsson liked the result … and asked me to produce and mix the whole of the rest of the Album with him as Executive Producer. I was only 20 at the time and quite inexperienced … which probably shows, nevertheless it was a very happy 4 or 5 months. My fee for the album was $1000 so I went home to England and waited for Nilsson’s manager, Denny Bond, to send me the cheque… He never did! A dozen or so years later on a drunken night in London I mentioned to Harry in passing that I had never been paid. He wrote me a cheque there and then. At the time I was writing with Elton John [see #175, 1,598] and had just had a million seller called “Little Jeannie” so, not being short of money, I just pinned the cheque to the wall in my Kitchen where it stayed until it eventually expired … now Harry too has expired. So although you may not be mad about the album, at least I can claim that, having never been paid for my work, it was truly “a labor of love”.
https://playitagainmax.blogspot.com/2007/01/john-randolph-marr-john-randolph-marr.html
The rest of the album . . . is an odd mix of country soul and chamber pop” (Larry, https://funky16corners.com/?p=4271), “mellow pop sike sounds with loads of strings and horns. A hidden treasure of the 70’s.” (Marios, https://therockasteria.blogspot.com/2024/01/john-randolph-marr-john-randolph-marr.html) SleepObsessed says of the LP:
[T]his album does indeed sound a bit like a Harry Nilssen record. But one can also hear touches of Ray Charles, Randy Newman and CCR in the mix. The music is heavily orchestrated. Horns and strings dominate over the more rocking aspects of the music. The tone of the record is one of celebration and jubilation. Its really happy! It almost reminds me of a circus or tent revival down in the bayou swamps with John Marr as the delirious ringmaster.
https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/john_randolph_marr/john_randolph_marr/
Here is Lee Montgomery:
Here is Kim Vassey:
Here is Juicy Lucy:
Here is Blue Cheer:
Here is Gainsborough Gallery:
Here is the First Edition:
Here is Bobby Whitlock:
Here is Eve:
Here are Max Merritt & the Meteors:
Here is Artie Christopher:
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