"Gentle on My Mind" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by John Hartford | ||||
from the album Earthwords & Music | ||||
B-side | "(Good Old Electric) Washing Machine (Circa. 1943)" | |||
Released | May 1967 | |||
Studio | RCA Studio A, Nashville, Tennessee | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 3:03 | |||
Label | RCA | |||
Songwriter(s) | John Hartford | |||
Producer(s) | Felton Jarvis | |||
John Hartford singles chronology | ||||
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"Gentle on My Mind" is a song that was written and originally recorded by John Hartford, and released on his second studio album, Earthwords & Music (1967). Hartford wrote the song after watching Doctor Zhivago in 1966, as he was inspired by the film and his own personal experiences. The lyrics describe the reminiscences of lost love of a man as he travels through the country. An obituary for Hartford indicated that the lyrics are "about a hobo reminiscing about a lost love". [1] The following year, Hartford released the song as a single on RCA Records.
It then caught the attention of Glen Campbell, who recorded his version with a group of session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew, of which he had been a part. Campbell's recording of "Gentle on My Mind" peaked in the top 30 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart. In 1968, between Campbell's and Hartford's recordings, the song earned four Grammy Awards.
"Gentle on My Mind" was later recorded by several other singers, including Dean Martin, Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams and Elvis Presley. It was also translated into other languages. In 2014, a recording of the song by the Band Perry earned a Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance. Taking into account all recorded versions of the song, it has become the second-most-played song on the radio in the United States according to BMI.
In 1966, John Hartford was living with his wife and son in a trailer in Nashville, Tennessee. One night, the couple saw the film Doctor Zhivago at a local theater. Inspired by the love story depicted in the film between Yuri Zhivago and Lara Antipova, [2] Hartford returned home and wrote "Gentle on my Mind" in between twenty and thirty minutes. [3] The story of the song narrates the reminiscences of a drifter of his lost love, while moving through backroads and hobo encampments. [4] Betty Hartford, who later divorced her husband, noted to him the similarity between herself and the song's female character. She questioned John Hartford about the man's regret for his marriage. Hartford said he likened her to Lara and attributed the man's feelings about being trapped in a relationship to his "artistic license". [5] [6]
Hartford defined the finished song as a "word movie" and described his writing process as "thinking in pictures, like paintings using words and sound". [7] [8] In a 1980 interview, Hartford commented he was still unsure of the song's meaning and that its message will be interpreted differently by listeners. [9] Twelve years later, Hartford again attributed his inspiration to start writing the song to Doctor Zhivago, and said the content was a result of his personal experience. Hartford said the song "just came real fast, a blaze, a blur". [10] He described the song as a banjo tune without a chorus, and with a variety of words he deemed "hard to sing" because it "violated the principles of songwriting". [11]
At the time, Hartford worked as a disc jockey on the radio station WSIX and for the publishing company Tompall & the Glaser Brothers. Hartford recorded a demo and delivered it to Chuck Glaser, who took the demo to Chet Atkins of RCA Records. [5] According to Harford, after writing "Gentle on My Mind", he did not intend to record the song himself. [12] Hartford sent the demos of "Gentle on My Mind" and a second song to sell them, but instead the label decided to offer Hartford a recording contract. [13] Atkins then suggested to the songwriter to use "Hartford" instead of his surname "Harford" as a professional name. Hartford recorded "Gentle on my Mind" and its flipside "Washing Machine", both of which were produced by Felton Jarvis. [14] The single was released in May 1967. [15] RCA, however, decided not to promote Hartford's recording because they did not consider it to be a country song. [16] Cashbox listed the single under their "Best Bets"; the magazine forecasted in a review that Hartford could get "heaps of spins" with his "poetic folk-country-flavored ballad". [15] "Gentle on My Mind" peaked at number 60 on Billboard 's Hot Country Songs. [17] [18]
Hartford's recording of "Gentle on my Mind" attracted Glen Campbell's attention after he heard it on the radio and bought the single. [19] He felt the song is "an essay on life" and was "knocked out" by the scenery it describes. [20] At the time, Campbell worked as a studio musician with The Wrecking Crew; he rearranged the song and with the band, he recorded a demo at Capitol Studios. [21] Campbell left the demo tape at the studio for producer Al De Lory, who made slight production arrangements that Capitol Records accepted as a master for the single. [22] Campbell's recording of "Gentle on My Mind" was released with "Just Another Man" on the B-side in June 1967. [23] Upon its release, Billboard predicted the single would reach the Billboard Hot 100 chart. [24] It peaked at number 30 on the magazine's Hot Country Songs, [25] and at number 62 on the Hot 100. [26] The success of the song, which was originally intended for the country music market, helped Campbell cross over to the pop market. [27] [28]
After Campbell's success with "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Gentle on My Mind" was re-released in 1968. [29] [30] The new release of the single sold more copies than the original release, [4] peaking at number 44 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles, [31] at number 39 on the Billboard Hot 100, and at number 8 on the Easy Listening chart. [32] On the RPM charts in Canada, it peaked at number 20 on the country chart and at number 60 on the RPM 100. [33] [34] That year, "Gentle on My Mind" won the categories for Best Country & Western Song, Best Folk Performance for Hartford's recording; and Best Country & Western Solo Vocal Performance, Male as well as Best Country & Western Recording for Campbell's version at the 10th Annual Grammy Awards. [35]
By May 1968, an estimated fifty singers had recorded "Gentle on my Mind", while Campbell's recording had sold 600,000 copies. [36] The song was recorded by such singers as Tammy Wynette (1968), Frank Sinatra (1968), Patti Page (1968), Waylon Jennings (1968), Dean Martin (1969), Aretha Franklin (1969), and Elvis Presley (1969). [37] Page's version reached number 7 on Billboard's Easy Listening Chart and number 66 on the Hot 100. [38] [39] Franklin's version was released as the B-side to her single "I Can't See Myself Leaving You"; [40] her version peaked at number 76 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number 50 on the Billboard Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart. [41] [42] Dean Martin's version reached number 2 on the UK Singles chart, [43] number 3 on the Irish Singles chart, [44] and number 9 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart. [45] Hartford's producer on the original recording of "Gentle on My Mind", Felton Jarvis, co-produced Presley's album From Elvis in Memphis (1969) with Chips Moman. [46] The recording of Hartford's song was the last number of Presley's January 14, 1969, session. Following its second take, Presley experienced laryngitis and had to temporarily halt the recording. [47]
According to the AFM contract sheet. [48]
Hartford said the success of "Gentle on My Mind" allowed him to become a full-time songwriter without working as a disc jockey. [14] The song's success also caught the attention of Tom Smothers, who in 1968 invited Hartford to become a part of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on CBS. [7] The same year, Campbell performed "Gentle on My Mind" as the theme song of his own CBS show The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour . [19] [49]
In 1970, Claude François recorded the song in French under the title "Si Douce A Mon Souvenir". [50] Fourteen years later, Brazilian singer Roberto Carlos wrote the song "Caminhoneiro" ("Trucker") in Portuguese using the melody of "Gentle on My Mind." [51] In 1985, Puerto Rican salsa singer Frankie Ruiz released a Spanish-language version of "Caminhoneiro" entitled "El Camionero". [52]
Hartford donated the manuscript of "Gentle on My Mind" to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in 1982. [53] By 1984, the song had played on radio over four million times in the United States, and became the best-selling song of Broadcast Music, Inc.'s (BMI) catalog. [54] In 1987, the estimated number of plays grew to 4.4 million and 400 versions had been recorded. At the time, Hartford refused the use of the song for commercials and parodies. [12]
In 1990, BMI listed Campbell's version of "Gentle on My Mind" as the fourth-most-played song in the history of radio in the US. [55] It appeared at number 71 on Country America magazine's 1992 list of the Top 100 Country Songs of All Time, [56] while BMI placed the version at number 16 on its 1999 list of Top 100 Songs of the Century. [57] By 2001, with six million plays, the song became the second-most-played on the radio in the US, behind the Beatles' "Yesterday". [58]
In 2008, the 1967 recording of "Gentle on My Mind" by Glen Campbell on Capitol Records was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. [59] In 2014, the Band Perry recorded a version of the song for the documentary Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me ; the cover won the category for Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards in 2015, [60] and peaked at number 29 on Billboard's Country Airplay and at number 35 on the Hot Country Songs. [61] [62] In August 2017, following Campbell's death, sales of his hit singles increased by 6,000%. [63] The digital downloads figure for "Gentle on My Mind" registered 3,000 and increased the track's total sales at the time to 251,000. [64]
Year | Organization | Award | Artist | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1968 | 10th Annual Grammy Awards | Best Country & Western Song | John Hartford | Won | [35] |
Best Folk Performance | Won | ||||
Best Country & Western Solo Vocal Performance, Male | Glen Campbell | Won | |||
Best Country & Western Recording | Won | ||||
2008 | The Recording Academy | Grammy Hall of Fame | Glen Campbell | Inducted | [59] |
2015 | 57th Annual Grammy Awards | Best Country Duo/Group Performance | the Band Perry | Won | [60] |
Chart (1967) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [65] | 60 |
Chart (1967) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Kent Music Report [66] | 88 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [67] | 62 |
US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [68] | 30 |
Chart (1968) | Peak position |
---|---|
Canada Top Singles ( RPM ) [69] | 60 |
Canada Country Tracks ( RPM ) [70] | 20 |
US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [68] | 44 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [67] | 39 |
US Adult Contemporary ( Billboard ) [71] then called Easy Listening | 8 |
Year | Artist | Chart | Peak position |
---|---|---|---|
1968 | Patti Page | US Billboard Hot 100 [72] | 66 |
US Adult Contemporary ( Billboard ) [73] then called Easy Listening | 7 | ||
1969 | Aretha Franklin | ||
US Billboard Hot 100 [74] | 76 | ||
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs ( Billboard ) [75] then called Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles | 50 | ||
Dean Martin | |||
US Adult Contemporary ( Billboard ) [76] then called Easy Listening | 9 | ||
UK Singles (OCC) [77] | 2 | ||
2014 | |||
The Band Perry | |||
US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [78] | 35 | ||
US Country Airplay ( Billboard ) [79] | 29 |
Glen Travis Campbell was an American country singer, guitarist, songwriter, and actor. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television from 1969 until 1972. He released 64 albums in a career that spanned five decades, selling over 45 million records worldwide, including twelve gold albums, four platinum albums, and one double-platinum album.
"Ode to Billie Joe" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry released by Capitol Records in July 1967, and later used as the title-track of her debut album. Five weeks after its release, the song topped Billboard's Pop singles chart. It also appeared in the top 10 of the Adult Contemporary and Hot R&B singles charts, and in the top 20 of the Hot Country Songs list.
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From Elvis in Memphis is the ninth studio album by American rock and roll singer Elvis Presley. It was released by RCA Records on June 2, 1969. It was recorded at American Sound Studio in Memphis in January and February 1969 under the direction of producer Chips Moman and backed by its house band, informally known as the Memphis Boys. Following the success of Presley's TV special Elvis and its soundtrack, the album marked Presley's return to non-soundtrack albums after the completion of his film contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).
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Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell is a studio album by American singer-songwriters Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell. It was released on September 16, 1968, by Capitol Records.
"By the Time I Get to Phoenix" is a song written by Jimmy Webb. Originally recorded by Johnny Rivers in 1965, it was reinterpreted by American country music singer Glen Campbell on his album of the same name. Released on Capitol Records in 1967, Campbell's version topped RPM's Canada Country Tracks, reached number two on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart, and won two awards at the 10th Annual Grammys. Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) named it the third most performed song from 1940 to 1990. The song was ranked number 20 on BMI's Top 100 Songs of the Century. Frank Sinatra called it "the greatest torch song ever written." It was No. 450 on Rolling Stone magazine's Top 500 Songs of All Time.
"You Better Sit Down Kids" is a major hit single by American singer/actress Cher in 1967 from her fourth studio album With Love, Chér, released in November 1967 by Imperial Records. The song was written by her then-husband Sonny Bono. Sung from a father's perspective, the lyrics tell the story of a divorce as explained to the couple's children. The song is featured on the compilation albums Cher's Golden Greats (1968), Superpack Vol. 1 (1972) and Gold (2005).
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D-I-V-O-R-C-E is a studio album by American country artist Tammy Wynette. It was released in July 1968 via Epic Records and contained 11 tracks. Several recordings were cover tunes, including songs by Merle Haggard and The Beatles. Several new selections were also part of the collection, including the title track. Released as a single, the title track became Wynette's fourth number one song on the North American country charts in 1968. The album itself would also top the American country LP's chart in 1968. D-I-V-O-R-C-E received positive reviews from critics following its release.
"Mary in the Morning" is a song written by American songwriter and record producer Michael Rashkow and singer Johnny Cymbal.
"Hey Little One", a song written by Dorsey Burnette and Barry De Vorzon, was initially recorded by Dorsey, released on May 2, 1960 on the Era label as the double A-side "Hey Little One"/"Big Rock Candy Mountain". "Hey Little One" reached number 48 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Musicians on the recording include veteran session drummer Earl Palmer.
"The Last Time I Saw Her" is a song written and recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot and released in 1968. It was also recorded by American country music artist Glen Campbell, whose version was released in June 1971 as the second single from his album of the same name, The Last Time I Saw Her. Campbell’s version peaked at number 21 on both the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada. Lightfoot had recorded the song for his 1968 album Did She Mention My Name?. Other artists who have recorded the song include Harry Belafonte, John Arpin, Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, and Keola & Kapono Beamer. In 1974, a Finnish version, "Sun Piirtees Vielä Nään", was recorded by Tapio Heinonen for his album Lämmöllä.
"You've Still Got a Place in My Heart" is a song written and originally recorded by American country music artist Leon Payne in 1950.
"Sunday Mornin'" is a song written by Margo Guryan. It was recorded as "Sunday Morning" and appeared on her 1968 album Take a Picture as well as on the B-side to her single "Spanky and Our Gang."
"(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" is a song co-written by soul singer Otis Redding and guitarist Steve Cropper. Redding recorded it twice in 1967, including just three days before his death in a plane crash on December 10, 1967. It was released on Stax Records' Volt label in 1968, becoming the first posthumous #1 single in the US. It reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart.
In 1967 Mr. Campbell recorded a minor hit from Earthwords and Music about a hobo reminiscing about a lost love. Titled Gentle on My Mind, it became a Top 40 single
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