Sometimes a song is just a song, and maybe a hit
This week in 1977: Angry farmers rolled into Washington D.C. aboard trucks and tractors to protest economic conditions pushing growers to near bankruptcy; the U.S. State Department proposed emergency admission of 10,000 more Vietnamese refugees fleeing their nation in small boats; London based Amnesty International was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize; and a singer from Ferriday, La., had his 48th hit record.
A lot of hit songs have been written strictly because that’s what the writers did for a living—they wrote songs. Some of those songs didn’t come from any thought or idea or inspiration— they were simply written because the writers wrote songs.
According to Bob McDill, Jerry Lee Lewis’ 1976 hit “The Closest Thing To You” was one of those tunes.
McDill commented, “That was one of those songs that I just wrote. No idea— no title—I was making a living writing songs so you get up every morning and you know you’re gonna write songs that day but a lot of those days you have no idea what you’re gonna write. So you’re always on the lookout for ideas and some of those songs are just hard work songs—just ditties that you somehow put together. And that song was one of those.”
Jerry Lee Lewis’ Mercury Record single “The Closest Thing To You” came on the country music charts Dec. 18, 1976, and peaked at No. 27.
It was his 48th charted song and was on the charts for 11 weeks.
Doug Davis & The Good Ole Boys will perform today at Opportunities Inc. Adult Center at 10 a.m.
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