THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
2,116) The Source — “It’s Me I’m Running From”
Some great songs ended up on the soundtracks of exploitation movies — such as this “great-sounding country [rock] tune . . . with some pretty solid picking at least partially performed by the short-lived San Diego rock band The Source. . . . includ[ing] singer-guitarist Richard Bowen” (slipcue, https://www.slipcue.com/music/country/countrystyles/regional/states-california_01.html) from the ’70 gangster flick A Bullet for Pretty Boy.
Slipcue writes of the soundtrack:
Classic LA exploitation-film knockoff soundtrack music, with a smidge of genuine SoCal country-rock in the mix, alongside factory-made psych-rock and groovy hippie-pop ballads. American International Records was the musical wing of American International Pictures (AIP) the fly-by-night indie movie studio that nurtured the career of exploitation auteur Roger Corman, among others. [The soundtrack’s producer and co-writer of “It’s Me” (along with Guy Hemric) Harley] Hatcher came to the company in the late 1950s, and started a long professional partnership with producer Mike Curb [see #57] ‘way back in 1964. He worked his way through the music industry for decades in every role imaginable . . . working on a mix of low-budget soundtracks and various see-what-sticks singles and whatnot.
https://www.slipcue.com/music/country/countrystyles/regional/states-california_01.html
R.D Francis writes of Hatcher, the Source, and Richard Bowen:
American International Records’ producer Harley Hatcher, with vocalist and chief songwriter Richard Bowen, crafted an artful, progressive rock-fusion of folk and gospel with country and bluegrass elements that strike a chord of Harry Nilsson’s [see #1,168, 1,298, 1,854, 1,941] soundtrack breakthrough with “Everybody’s Talkin’” from Midnight Cowboy (1969). There’s dashes of the Monkees’ [see #1,718] unjustifiably-scoffed, post-Don Kirshner output in the grooves of the Source’s all-too-brief catalog (one album, two singles) . . . . While there’s a pinch of “Jim Morrison,” courtesy of the San Diegan’s best-known single, “Phantom in the Rain,” the Source’s remaining seven-song output is . . . more akin to Michael Nesmith’s matured, countrified solo steps with the First National Band. . . . Harley Hatcher’s introduction to the music business occurred in 1960 while serving in the United States Army[] . . . in Kaiserslautern, Germany. There, he met fellow soldier and record producer Richard Podolor. While gaining national prominence as the producer for three of the late ’60s biggest bands in Three Dog Night, Iron Butterfly and Steppenwolf . . . Podolor invited the then 21 year old to Los Angeles to record four songs, with “The Twirl” b/w “All I Need Is You” becoming Hatcher’s first solo-single, released in 1965. The Podolor union introduced Hatcher to an 18-year-old producer and songwriter named Mike Curb, where he became the chief songwriter for artists on the Sidewalk Productions’ roster produced by Curb. Moving into production in 1964, Hatcher made his bones with Davie Allan & the Arrows (“Apache ’65”), then scoring his first A.I.P soundtrack for the biker film, The Wild Angels (1966). Then . . . Dick Clark tapped Harley Hatcher to write and produce seven songs to the soundtrack of the Clark-produced Killers Three (1968) . . . . It was that B-movie soundtrack work where fans of all things Roger Corman know Hatcher best: for scoring and writing as well as performing songs for A.I.P’s 1967 projects The Glory Stompers and Wild in the Streets . . . Satan’s Sadists (1969), and the . . . music-centric Christsploitation flick, Soul Hustler (1973). . . . Under the tutelage of Harley Hatcher, the concept of utilizing the A-Side of a soundtrack as a mini-album (EP) to promote an A.I.R artist was used . . . . [on Pretty Boy, with a]n unknown band from San Diego, California, the Source . . . chosen for the task. Recording . . . eight songs with Harley Hatcher as producer, six songs were used for the film. It began in 1967 when Warner Bros. had a $70 million box office payday on a $2.5 million investment with the Arthur Penn-directed gangster film, Bonnie and Clyde. . . . quickly instigat[ing] a slew of “(criminal) lovers on the run” duplicates . . . . American International Pictures co-opted the infamy of 1930’s American bank robber and faux-folk hero, Charles “Pretty Boy” Arthur Floyd. The actor chosen for the lead in the . . . film was A.I.P’s go-to actor to appeal to the teen market: Fabian Forte. . . . The San Diegans’ debut single, “Yesterday Is Gone” b/w “Phantom in the Rain,” was issued as a standalone release — and not available in any A.I.P film. Of the remaining six songs from the 1969 recording sessions, Harley Hatcher wrote three . . . [and] Richard Bowen contributed [three]. A second and final single, “It’s Me I’m Running From” b/w “Gone Tomorrow,” directly promoted the film. . . . Another soundtrack contribution by the Source appears in the frames of Joe (1970), an early John G. Avildsen counterculture-revenge drama . . . .
https://rdfranciswriter.medium.com/richard-bowen-the-source-and-circle-sound-studios-0297b26a09a6
Top Forty Most Viewed Posts
- Paul McCartney — “Heather” (unreleased) (March 5, 2022)
- Buffalo Springfield — “Flying on the Ground Is Wrong” (July 3, 2026)
- Harumi — “What a Day for Me” (June 3, 2022)
- Bob Dylan and the Band — “Kickin’ My Dog Around” (unreleased) (April 1, 2024)
- Maurice Gibb — “Give Me a Glass of Wine” (unreleased) (May 29, 2022)
- George Harrison — “I Don’t Want to Do It” (unreleased) (June 25, 2023)
- The Action — “In My Dream” (unreleased) (March 24, 2022)
- The Millennium — “The Island” (March 28, 2022)
- The Kinks a.k.a. The Toll-Puddle Martyrs — “Nellie Bligh” (April 1, 2026)
- Do You Want to Know a Secret? — Beloved Songs Actually Written by Lennon and/or McCartney #1: John Lennon — “Bad to Me” (unreleased), Paul McCartney — “Goodbye” (unreleased), John Lennon — “I’m the Greatest” (unreleased) (July 18, 2022)
- The Ides of March — “You Wouldn’t Listen” (January 6, 2024)
- Herman’s Hermits — “Dream on”/”I Gotta Dream On” (October 19, 2022)
- The Rolling Stones — “My Obsession” (September 12, 2022)
- Paul McCartney — “Love in the Open Air”, John Lennon — “Child of Nature” (unreleased), The Idle Race — “Days of Broken Arrow” (August 7, 2021)
- Barry Ryan Remembrance Special Edition: “Eloise”, “Why Do You Cry My Love”, The Hunt” (November 28, 2021)
- Focal Point — “Miss Sinclair” (unreleased), Factory — “Path Through the Forest”, The Honeybus — “I Can’t Let Maggie Go” (July 28, 2021)
- I Get My Kicks on Route 666 Special Edition: Charles Manson — “Cease to Exist”, The Beach Boys — “Never Learn”, David Bixby — “666” (December 12, 2022)
- The Remo Four/George Harrison — “In the First Place” (unreleased) (December 22, 2024)
- Paul & Barry Ryan — “Pictures of Today” (December 16, 2022)
- Maurice’s Gibb-lets Special Edition: Maurice Gibb — “The Loner” (unreleased), Maurice Gibb — “Tough and Understand Love” (unreleased), Tin Tin — “She Said Ride” (February 13, 2022)
- Genesis — “I Am Very Wrong” (March 19, 2023)
- The Bee Gees — “I.O.I.O.” (September 27, 2022)
- The Spiders — “Day Tripper (April 1, 2022)
- Maurice Gibb — “Railroad” (June 14, 2023)
- Public Nuisance — “Strawberry Man” (unreleased) (July 31, 2024)
- The Kinks — “Shangri-La” (May 15, 2022)
- The Beatles — “If You’ve Got Trouble” (unreleased) (June 30, 2024)
- The Bee Gees — “If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else” (January 1, 2024)
- The Humblebums — “Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway” (June 2, 2023)
- Where’s that Confounded Bridge? Special Edition: Keith Relf — “Shapes of My Mind”, Françoise Hardy — “Empty Sunday” (July 13, 2022)
- The Rolling Stones — “Downtown Suzie” (unreleased) (November 17, 2024)
- Kinks Kopykats (Bet You Didn’t Know This Was Written by Ray Davies) Special Edition #1 — “This Strange Effect” (unreleased) (October 11, 2022)
- Barry Gibb — “This Time” (April 6, 2022)
- The Bee Gees — “You’ll Never See My Face Again” (September 24, 2023)
- The Majority — “All Our Christmases” (December 25, 2024)
- The Rolling Stones — “Get Yourself Together”/”I Can See It” (unreleased) (March 29, 2022)
- The Aerovons — “World of You”, Jotta Herre — “Penina”, Lee Mallory — “That’s the Way It’s Gonna Be” (August 3, 2021)
- Petticoat and Vine — “Riding a Carousel” (October 21, 2024)
- The Bee Gees — “I Don’t Know Why I Bother with Myself” (June 14, 2022)
- The Rolling Stones/Gene Pitney — “Andrew’s Blues” (unreleased) (March 13, 2022)
Pay to Play! The Off the Charts Spotify Playlist! + Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock Merchandise
Please consider helping to support my website/blog by contributing $6 a month for access to the Off the Charts Spotify Playlist. Using a term familiar to denizens of Capitol Hill, you pay to play! (“relating to or denoting an unethical or illicit arrangement in which payment is made by those who want certain privileges or advantages in such arenas as business, politics, sports, and entertainment” — dictionary.com).
The playlist includes all the “greatest songs of the 1960’s that no one has ever heard” that are available on Spotify — now over 1,600 songs. The playlist will expand each time I feature an available song.
All new subscribers will receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock magnet. New subscribers who sign up for a year will also receive a Brace for the Obscure 60s Rock t-shirt or baseball cap. See pictures on the Pay to Play page.
When subscribing, please send me an e-mail (GMFtma1@gmail.com) or a comment on this site letting me know an e-mail address/phone number/Facebook address, etc. to which I can send instructions on accessing the playlist and a physical address to which I can sent a magnet/t-shirt/baseball cap. If choosing a t-shirt, please let me know the gender and size you prefer.
Just click on the first blue block for a month to month subscription or the second blue block for a yearly subscription.
