Hometown Girls (song)

Last updated
"Hometown Girls"
Benny Mardones Hometown Girls 1980 single cover.jpg
Single by Benny Mardones
from the album Never Run, Never Hide
B-side "Crazy Boy"
Released1980
Length3:13
Label Polydor
Songwriter(s) Benny Mardones
David Leigh Byron
Producer(s) Barry Mraz
Benny Mardones singles chronology
"Into the Night"
(1980)
"Hometown Girls"
(1980)
"Sheila C."
(1981)

"Hometown Girls" is a song by American singer-songwriter Benny Mardones, which was released in 1980 as the second and final single from his second studio album Never Run, Never Hide . The song was written by Mardones and David Leigh Byron, and produced by Barry Mraz. As the follow-up to Mardones' US Top 20 hit "Into the Night", "Hometown Girls" failed to enter the Billboard Hot 100 but reached No. 3 on the Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart. [1]

Contents

Promotion

In October 1980, Mardones performed the song, along with "Into the Night", on the Toni Tennille Show . [2]

Critical reception

On its release, Billboard described the song as a "rocker that showcases Mardones' full-bodied vocal". They added that the "guitar, drums and bass give the song its rock base". [3] Cash Box listed the single as one of their "feature picks" during October 1980. They described it as an "electric pop-rocker, with [an] overdrive rhythm and catchy, ultra-melodic hook". They praised Mardones' vocals "that won't give an inch" and the "layered harmonies [that] ring with the guitars", adding: "Songs like this give Top 40 a good name". [4]

In a review of Never Run, Never Hide, Eric Siegel of The Baltimore Sun considered "Hometown Girls" "an up-tempo pop rocker that stands as the album's best effort", with Mardones "every inch an exuberant innocent as he sings [the chorus]". Siegel also felt the song was the best example of Mardones "retain[ing] some of the pop flavorings and ingenuousness" of his 1978 debut album Thank God for Girls . [5]

Track listing

7" single
  1. "Hometown Girls" - 3:13
  2. "Crazy Boy" - 4:20
7" single (promo)
  1. "Hometown Girls" - 3:13
  2. "Hometown Girls" - 3:13

Personnel

Production

Charts

Chart (1980)Peak
position
US Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 3
US Record World Singles 101-150 [6] 116

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References

  1. "Bubbling Under the Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Billboard . November 1, 1980. p. 31.
  2. "TV Guide". 1980.
  3. "Billboard's Top Single Picks" (PDF). Billboard . October 4, 1980. p. 110.
  4. "Reviews: Singles". Cash Box . October 4, 1980. p. 13.
  5. Siegel, Eric (May 11, 1980). "Mardones improves; Nighthawks are better live". The Baltimore Sun. p. D7.
  6. "Singles 101-150". Record World . Vol. 37, no. 1736. November 1, 1980. p. 24. ISSN   0034-1622.