It is refreshing to hear an artist who “came to fame” based on his love, and innate talent, of singing. He was also a very gracious man: Sledge gave all the writing credit to his two bandmates Calvin Lewis and Andrew Wright (The Esquires, a band formed in Sheffield, Alabama fronted by Percy Sledge) even though he wrote the vast majority of the song himself. Percy:

Worst decision I ever made. But I am not at all bitter. I figure if God wanted me to do what I did, and say what I did to tell those guys they could have the song, then I’ll leave it that away and I would never change it.

As is often the case, the story of how the song came to be differs with whom is telling the story.

In Sledge’s version of the story, he co-wrote the song with his bandmates Calvin Lewis and Andrew Wright, but let them have sole composer credits, since they gave him the opportunity to sing his heart out. Whether Sledge was acting out of the goodness of his heart or had nothing to do with writing the song is a matter of debate, but the writing credit had huge implications, resulting in a windfall for Lewis and Wright, who get the royalties every time it is played. Since the song went on to be covered by many artists, they get paid for those as well. If it was a goodwill gesture by Sledge, it cost him millions of dollars.

According to co-writer Andrew Wright:

We were set to play a Friday night dance, and we were practicing … I was messing around on the organ when this riff came up out of nowhere. There was no one in the club but us. I told Calvin to go home and write some words.

The next night, they rehearsed the emerging song with Sledge, changed it around, and soon afterwards auditioned the song for local businessman and radio DJ Quin Ivy. He liked the song but suggested that some of the words be changed to give a more positive message. Wright continued:

We kept some of the phrases, worked on it for several weeks, and spent quite a bit of time in the studio.

Percy had a slightly different version on how the song was created. Sledge was an orderly at Colbert County (Alabama) Hospital in the daytime and sang with a local band, The Esquires Combo, at night. As Sledge tells it, one night while performing with The Esquires Combo, he was upset about a woman -- a broken relationship -- so upset that he couldn’t concentrate on the music he was supposed to sing. Percy says that when he originally sang this, he had in mind Lizz King, his girlfriend of three years who left him for a modeling job in Los Angeles. “I didn’t have any money to go after her, so there was nothing I could do to try and get her back.” He was so overcome with emotion as the group started their set in a Sheffield, Alabama club, that he turned to his bass player Calvin Lewis and organ player Andrew Wright and asked them if they could play a slow blues backing -- any key, their choice -- to which he could sing. After a quick conference (one source indicated that the “conference” consisted of glances and shrugs), the band started to play and Sledge vented in song for about six minutes.

In Sledge’s story, Quin Ivy was at the show and approached the band about polishing the song and recording it. Sledge says he worked on the lyrics with Lewis and Wright, and recorded it at Norala Sound with Ivy producing.

Quin Ivy’s sound studio was also a record store, and Ivy says that he met Sledge when the singer walked into the store one day and they were introduced by a mutual friend. Sledge and The Esquires tried recording the song at FAME, but it didn’t work, so the engineer there, Dan Penn, sent them over to Norala to record with Ivy, complete with their big B-3 organ for Wright to play. This recording was a success, and the song got proper distribution when Ivy played it for FAME’s owner Rick Hall, who contacted Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Records (who knew there was talent in Alabama and told Hall to call him if he found any), who signed Sledge and released the song, which became a massive hit.

The sidemen for the recording included Spooner Oldham, Farfisa organ (although the final recording at Norala Records may have featured a Hammond B3); Marlin Greene, guitar; Albert “Junior” Lowe, double bass and Roger Hawkins, drums. Andrew Wright and Calvin Lewis did not play on the record. Spooner Oldham and Roger Hawkins were founding members of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, affectionately called the Swampers, and have appeared on more than 500 recordings, including 75 gold and platinum hits.

It was in cotton fields as an agriculture worker that Sledge began humming and singing a melody that would circle in his head for many years, eventually getting fleshed out into a song called “When a Man Loves a Woman.” The tune was the highlight of Sledge’s stage show with his early band the Esquire Combos, though they only only gigged on weekends since Sledge worked full time as an orderly at an Alabama hospital.

In 1965 the group played a gig at a University of Mississippi frat house. Record producer and businessman Quin Ivy was in the audience that night, and he was blown away by the power of “When a Man Loves a Woman.” “If you ever think about cutting a record, come on by,” Ivy said. “I love that melody.” Sledge took him up on the offer and tracked the song with a killer backing band that included organist Spooner Oldham. The tape got the attention of Atlantic Records producer/executive Jerry Wexler, who released it as Sledge’s debut single in April of 1966.

The song was initially recorded by Percy Sledge at Rick Hall’s FAME Studios at Muscle Shoals, before being re-recorded at the nearby Norala Studios. Jerry Wexler asked that the song be re-recorded because the horns were out of tune. According to David Hood, who became the bass player in the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section:

Wexler thought the horns on the original version were out of tune -- and they were -- and he wanted them to change the horns. They went back in the studio and changed the horns, got different horn players to play on it. But then the tapes got mixed up and Atlantic put out their original version. So that’s the hit.

In 1966, “When A Man Loves A Woman” reached number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B singles charts, a top ten hit in the UK reaching number four on its initial release and ultimately peaking at number two in 1987 on the UK Singles Chart. It is listed 53rd in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and Percy was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. Here is his acceptance speech:

Sledge continued to score hits through the 1960s like “Warm and Tender Love,” “It Tears Me Up” and a cover of Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender,” but none had the impact of “When a Man Loves a Woman.”

All of my songs are the answer to that song, it’s the granddaddy to all of my songs. The boss of all of my songs. I have great respect for that song. Always will.

He stayed on the road for decades, releasing the occasional new album. He died in April 2015 of liver cancer at his home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Paul Sexton, writer at udiscovermusic, concludes:

His death at the age of 74, in 2015, robbed us of an Alabama soul man who recorded a host of other great material in a career of 50 years-plus.

Hits: 47

“San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)” was written by John Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas. Phillips reported writing the song in about 20 minutes and played guitar on the recording. Gary L. Coleman played orchestra bells and chimes, the bass line was supplied by Joe Osborn, and Hal Blaine played drums. These three were part of the famous group of session musicians known as The Wrecking Crew.

The song was written to promote the Monterey International Pop Music Festival held in June of 1967. “Monterey”, as it came to be known, was much smaller in attendance due to the size of the venue but was second only in popular music history to Woodstock due to the artists who performed. The festival is remembered for the first major American appearances by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Who and Ravi Shankar, the first large-scale public performance of Janis Joplin and the introduction of Otis Redding to a mass American audience. Other artists there were Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Eric Burdon and the Animals, and The Mamas & the Papas.

And of course Scott McKenzie performed his song.

Local authorities in Monterey were starting to get cold feet over the prospect of their town being overrun by hippies. To smooth things over, Phillips wrote this song.

The song is credited with bringing thousands of young people to San Francisco, California, during the late 1960s. In San Francisco, the Haight/Ashbury scene had been growing since late 1965, with a small – and delicate – ecology of groups, ballrooms, community shops and papers, idealists and activists: hippies. While much of the activity focused on psychedelic drugs, there were also ideas about sustainability, ecology and autonomy – a vision of a new world and a new type of person that might well have been unrealistic and compromised, but that nevertheless offered up a powerful ideal.

Haight/Ashbury went overground in news terms with the January 1967 Human Be-In and from then on became both a mecca and a refuge for rebellious American teens. It was the new gold rush, but with drugs, music and freedom the goal.

But there was a serious side to the complaints. By the actual Summer of Love, the Haight/Ashbury district had become almost unmanageable thanks to the number of homeless, drug-dazed teens. Activists such as the Diggers – who were involved in the practical problems of dealing with so many runaways – noted that the lyrics were irresponsible at best if not fraudulent: “gentle people with flowers in their hair” was not the reality.

By the week ending July 1, 1967, “San Francisco” reached the number four spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, where it remained for four consecutive weeks. Meanwhile, the song rose to number one in the UK Singles Chart, and most of Europe. The single is purported to have sold over seven million copies worldwide. In Central Europe, young people adopted “San Francisco” as an anthem for freedom, and it was widely played during Czechoslovakia’s 1968 Prague Spring uprising. It was also played occasionally in concert by Led Zeppelin as part of the improvised section in the middle of “Dazed and Confused”.

Scott McKenzie died on August 18, 2012, at the age of 73, in Los Angeles. He had suffered from Guillain–Barré syndrome from 2010 until his death.

Hits: 42

On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the New World. Though most of the States don’t actually take the day off, most do recognize it as a day of official recognition. It is recognised that the recognition and history of Columbus is controversial, and a discussion may be in order. But this isn’t intended to be the best place for that.

For some States, Columbus Day can be a fairly big ordeal. In others, they don’t even give the kids a day off and the State offices remain open. It’s on the list of Federal Holidays but not everyone gets to take the day off!

Because of the whimsical nature of the way the holiday is celebrated, we thought we’d bring you something different. There aren’t actually a whole lot of songs that have to do with Columbus Day, but we have one that you may not be familiar with and may enjoy learning about.

You can listen, and I’ll tell you about the artist and song!

The full name of this song is a mouthful. It is The Story of Reuben Clamzo and His Strange Daughter in the Key of A. The artist’s name is Arlo Guthrie, and you may know him from his Alice’s Restaurant. This song was first released in 1978 on the Rehashed 4:20 Sampler album.

You may also know his father, Woody Guthrie -- one of the most distinguished figures in American Folk music. If you aren’t aware that you know him, he’s the author of the famous song This Land is Your Land.

One of the things that makes that song remarkable is that Woody chose to place the song into the public trust, by releasing it into the public domain and relinquishing all of his ownership rights. It has since gone on to be covered by many people and has historically been quite popular.

Arlo Guthrie was born on July 10, 1947. He was actually born in New York, but has mostly made Massachusetts his home for most of his adult life. His song Massachusetts is officially recognized as the State Folk Song.

Arlo is best known for writing about his life and observations, often in the form of some protest, though with a touch of satire and humor. You can tell that he was heavily influenced by his father and his father’s friends.

If you’re familiar with the Alice’s Restaurant song, you should know that that’s more-or-less truthful, including his bout with the law and their attempt to draft him for Vietnam. What you may not know is that the little catchy chorus was actually a radio jingle/commercial for a restaurant that was, in fact, known as Alice’s Restaurant.

Either way, this song is a mix of absurdity and humor. It’s whimsical, just like the varied ways the States of the Union celebrate the holiday. It’s a fun little diddy that you’re quite unlikely to know and this is an excellent day to share it with you.

If you’re interested in learning more about Arlo, you can click the above link to the Wikipedia article. He has a lot more than just Alice’s Restaurant. He has other many other gems, ranging from songs about drug laws to experiencing the American Midwest. On top of that, you can also see him in concert, as he’s still performing.

We here at MFU would like to thank you for your patronage and hope you have a safe and happy Columbus Day. Please, do feel free to leave your comments!

If you’re interested in what we do, see the About This Project page. If you’d like to contribute, you can Register and then we will set your permissions to that of “contributor.”  If you’d like to contribute without registering, you can use our Easy Share link and submit your material for review! If you’d like email notifications to know when we publish new articles (every day, around 16:30 Eastern), just enter a working email address in the “Subscribe” section in the top right!

Hits: 36

This song is considered one of the best songs of the 1960s by Pitchfork Media, NME and Time magazines. Rolling Stone described it as a “Rosetta stone for studio pioneers such as the Beatles and Brian Wilson,” a notion supported by AllMusic who writes, “No less an authority than Brian Wilson has declared ‘Be My Baby’ the greatest pop record ever made — no arguments here.” Brian wilson said of the song:

This is a special one for me. What a great sound, the Wall of Sound. Boy, first heard this on the car radio and I had to pull off the road, I couldn’t believe it. The choruses blew me away; the strings are the melody of love. It has the promise to make the world better. I was in my car with my girlfriend and we were driving around… When all of a sudden this guy Wink Martindale — a disc jockey — he goes, “All right! Here we go with ‘Be My Baby’ by the Ronettes.” It started playing … All of a sudden it got into this part—”be my, be my baby”—and I said “What is — what?! Whoa whoa!” I pulled over to the side of the street of the curb and went, “…My God! …Wait a minute! …No way!” I was flipping out. I really did flip out. Balls-out totally freaked out when I heard. … In a way it wasn’t like having your mind blown, it was like having your mind revamped. It’s like, once you’ve heard that record, you’re a fan forever.

The Ronettes were Veronica (Ronnie) Bennett, her sister Estelle Bennett and their cousin Nedra Talley, however Ronnie was the only member to sing on this record. Backing vocals were added by Sonny Bono, Cher, (The Blossoms) Darlene Love, Fanita James, Gracia Nitzsche, and Bobby Sheen, Ellie Greenwich (who, along with Jeff Barry, wrote this song). Greenwich and Barry, one time a married couple, wrote many popular hits of the 1960’s.

“Be My Baby,” released as The Ronettes’ first single, peaked at no. 2 on the Hot 100 in October 1963 — but its influence was much more enduring than even its record sales and radio play.

Assembled at Gold Star Studios on July 5, 1963 were some of the famous Wrecking Crew session musicians -- Don Randi (piano), Hal Blaine (drums -- the opening is one of his signature riffs), Frank Capp (also drums -- Spector used two drummers at the session), Al de Lory (keyboards), Bill Pitman (guitar), Ray Pohlman (bass), Tommy Tedesco (guitar) and a young Leon Russell on keyboards. Hal Blaine on his opening drum beat:

That famous drum intro was an accident. I was supposed to play the snare on the second beat as well as the fourth, but I dropped a stick. Being the faker I was in those days, I left the mistake in and it became: “Bum-ba-bum-BOOM!” And soon everyone wanted that beat.

Produced by Phil Spector, who later married Ronnie Bennett, with his elaborately layered recording in what is now considered a quintessential example of his Wall of Sound production formula. The Wall Of Sound is famous for his idea of the studio as its own distinct instrument. To attain this signature sound, Spector gathered large groups of musicians (playing some instruments not generally used for ensemble playing, such as electric and acoustic guitars) playing orchestrated parts — often doubling and tripling many instruments playing in unison for a fuller sound —  and the prodigious use of echo. This was used on many recognised hits he produced during the 1960’s by the Ronettes and the Crystals; later he worked with artists including Ike and Tina Turner, John Lennon, and the Ramones with similar acclaim. He produced the Beatles’ album Let It Be (1970), and Concert for Bangladesh (1971) by former Beatle George Harrison.

Many have tried to emulate Spector’s methods, and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys (a fellow adherent of mono recording) considered Spector his main competition as a studio artist. In the 1960s, Wilson thought of Spector as

…the single most influential producer. He’s timeless. He makes a milestone whenever he goes into the studio.

Wilson’s fascination with Spector’s work has persisted for decades, with many different references to Spector and his work scattered around Wilson’s songs with the Beach Boys and even his solo career. Spector’s Wall Of Sound inspiration and influence on Brian can be heard throughout the records of The Beach Boys.

Per the song’s now-mythic origin story, Spector made the orchestra rehearse the song 42 times before he started recording, and Ronnie spent three days getting the vocals right. At times she would practice in the ladies’ room so the musicians could get their work done.

While I was in there, I came up with all those “Oh oh ohs”, inspired by my old Frankie Lymon records. It took three days to record my vocals, take after take. The recording captures the full spectrum of my emotions: everything from nervousness to excitement.

Here is a 12 minute glimpse of what it was like to be in the studio during the recording of this classic tune. Spector was most definitely “in charge”, fully aware of the sound he wanted and what it took to attain it.

“Be My Baby” has been covered numerous times and is invoked in Eddie Money’s 1986 song “Take Me Home Tonight”, on which Ronnie Spector sang and replies to “Just like Ronnie sang…” with her classic refrain and vocalizations.

Record producer Richie Zito brought Money the song “Take Me Home Tonight”, and Money would recall: “I didn’t care for the demo [but] it did have a good catch line. When I heard [a snippet of] ‘Be My Baby’ in it I said: ‘Why can’t we get Ronnie Spector to sing it?’ [and was told] ‘That’s impossible.'” Money invited his friend Martha Davis, lead vocalist of the Motels, to sing the lines from “Be My Baby” on “Take Me Home Tonight”: Davis encouraged him to try to recruit Spector herself and Money was eventually able to speak on the phone to Spector at her home in northern California: Money -- “I could hear clinking and clanking in the background…She said: ‘I’m doing the dishes, and I gotta change the kids’ bedding. I’m not really in the business anymore, Eddie. Phil Spector and all that, it was a nightmare’…I said ‘Ronnie, I got this song that’s truly amazing and it’s a tribute to you. It would be so great if you…did it with me.'”

“Be My Baby” reached #2 on the U.S. Billboard Pop Singles Chart and #4 on the UK’s Record Retailer. It also peaked at number four on the R&B chart. The single sold more than two million copies in 1963. Ronnie Spector relates that the song was introduced by Dick Clark on American Bandstand as the “Record of the Century.” Barbara Cane, vice president and general manager of writer-publisher relations for the songwriters’ agency BMI, estimated that the song has been played in 3.9 million feature presentations on radio and television since 1963. “That means it’s been played for the equivalent of 17 years back to back.”

In 2004, the song was ranked 22 by Rolling Stone in its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 1999, it was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame, and in 2006, the Library of Congress honored the Ronettes’ version by adding it to the United States National Recording Registry. In 2017, Billboard named the song #1 on their list of the “100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time”.

Hits: 75

The Dixie Cups were using the name The Mel-tones when they recorded this. They were a trio from New Orleans, the sisters Barbara and Rosa Hawkins and cousin Marie Johnson. Their manager had brought them to New York to sing for the famous songwriting team of Leiber and Stoller. Mike Stoller changed their name, since Mel Tormé called his backing singers the Mel-tones. Since the girls were from the south, he figured “dixie” was appropriate, and he also had fond memories of eating dixie cup ice cream.

Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich wrote this song for Phil Spector to produce. Jeff and Ellie were a popular songwriting team who wrote several hit songs in the sixties and had been married the year before they wrote this. Barry wrote the lyrics with marriage on his mind, then Greenwich worked out the chord progression on a piano in their New York City apartment.

The song was intended (appropriately) for Darlene Love, and she recorded the first version, with Spector producing as intended. Darlene, with her powerful voice, was a highly sought-after vocalist and managed to work with many of the legends of 1950s and 1960s rock and soul, including Sam Cooke, Dionne Warwick, Bill Medley, the Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones and Sonny and Cher.

Spector wasn’t happy with this recording, so he tried it with The Ronettes, who a year earlier had their biggest hit with “Be My Baby”, also written by Barry and Greenwich. These renditions were never released, as Barry and Greenwich made a deal with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who had recently formed Red Bird Records with industry heavyweight George Goldner.

With Leiber and Stoller producing, The Dixie Cups recorded the song, which was the first release on Red Bird Records. Phil Spector was furious with Barry and Greenwich for beating him to the market with the song and took it as an act of betrayal, although he did get a songwriting credit, which was something he demanded when working with songwriters. He didn’t hold the grudge: Spector teamed up with Barry and Greenwich again for the 1966 Ike and Tina Turner track “River Deep -- Mountain High.”

This being a song about a wedding, there had to be some bells, especially for the line, “Bells will ring, the sun will shine.” Leiber and Stoller hadn’t planned for this, but they got lucky: a set of chimes was left in the studio from a previous session. Mike Stoller tried to play them, but he wasn’t very good at it. They got another lucky break when their friend Artie Butler, who played percussion, came by. He competently struck the chimes, which come in at the second chorus and remain relatively subtle.

In 1972, Bette Midler released a version produced by Barry Manilow on her first album. Another popular cover is by The Beach Boys, who included it on their 1976 album “15 Big Ones”.

The Dixie Cups “Chapel Of Love” was ranked #279 on Rolling Stone’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, being the group’s only song on the list. Billboard named the song #33 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time.

Hits: 59

Dylan has often stated that this song took

ten years to live and two years to write

Rolling Stone ranked “Tangled Up in Blue” as #68 on their list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The Telegraph (a UK newspaper since 1855) has described the song as

The most dazzling lyric ever written, an abstract narrative of relationships told in an amorphous blend of first and third person, rolling past, present and future together, spilling out in tripping cadences and audacious internal rhymes, ripe with sharply turned images and observations and filled with a painfully desperate longing.

“Tangled Up in Blue” is one of five songs on the “Blood on the Tracks” album that Dylan initially recorded in New York City in September 1974 and then re-recorded in Minneapolis in December that year; the later recording became the album track and single.

According to novelist Ron Rosenbaum, Bob Dylan once told him that he’d written “Tangled up in Blue”, after spending a weekend immersed in Joni Mitchell’s 1971 album Blue. “Tangled Up in Blue” is one of the clearest examples of Dylan’s attempts to write “multi-dimensional” songs which defied a fixed notion of time and space. Dylan was influenced by his recent study of painting and the Cubist school of artists, who sought to incorporate multiple perspectives within a single plane of view. As Neil McCormick (a British music journalist, author and broadcaster) remarked in 2003:

A truly extraordinary epic of the personal, an unreliable narrative carved out of shifting memories like a five-and-a-half-minute musical Proust.

In a 1978 interview Dylan explained this style of songwriting:

What’s different about it is that there’s a code in the lyrics, and there’s also no sense of time. There’s no respect for it. You’ve got yesterday, today and tomorrow all in the same room, and there’s very little you can’t imagine not happening.

The lyrics are at times opaque, but the song seems to be (like most of the songs on the album) the tale of a love that has, for the time being, ended, although not by choice; the last verse begins:

So now I’m goin’ back again,
I got to get to her somehow…

and ends

We always did feel the same,
We just saw it from a different point of view,
Tangled up in blue.

Dylan continually re-worked the lyrics even after the album was released; the version on his live album Real Live (and throughout the ’84 Europe tour) has radically different lyrics. In the first studio version (NYC sessions, September ’74) and often in live performances he has sung some of the verses from a third-person perspective (usually “he was laying in bed,” but sometimes even “she was laying in bed”), as opposed to the first-person point of view in the Blood on the Tracks version, and would mix the two. Dylan has said that the version recorded on the 1984 Real Live album is the best. I’m not sure this is that version, but still a great live version.

Hits: 36

“Gentle on My Mind” was written and recorded by John Hartford, which won four 1968 Grammy Awards. Hartford won the award for Best Folk Performance and Best Country & Western Song (Songwriter). The other two awards, Best Country & Western Solo Vocal Performance, Male and Best Country & Western Recording, went to Glen Campbell for his version of Hartford’s song.

John Cowan Hartford was an American folk, country, and bluegrass composer and musician known for his mastery of the fiddle and banjo, as well as for his witty lyrics, unique vocal style, and extensive knowledge of Mississippi River lore.

Hartford reported that he was inspired to write the song after seeing the film Doctor Zhivago when his own memories took over, and that it took about thirty minutes to write down. Hartford said of the writing:

I went to see the movie Doctor Zhivago the night I wrote it. Everyone’s made a whole lot out of that. I know it gave me a feeling that caused me to start writing, but as far as saying it came from that, I don’t know. It just came from experience. While I was writing it, if I had any idea that was going to be a hit, it probably would have come out differently and it wouldn’t have been a hit. That just came real fast, a blaze, a blur.

Campbell heard Hartford’s original version on the radio and decided at once that he wanted to record it. At the time, Campbell was under contract with Capitol Records as a solo artist but had little success in establishing a name for himself. Campbell gathered some of his fellow Wrecking Crew session players to come into the Capitol studio to record a demo version that he could pitch to his producer Al De Lory. Between phrases and stanzas, Campbell would yell instructions to the players. He then left the rough recording for his producer to listen to. De Lory fell in love, not only with the song, but with the recording itself. Without telling Campbell, he took the tape back into the studio and removed the unwanted verbiage from between the phrases. He then released the demo recording, which became a hit for Campbell.

There is some question as to Hartford’s inspiration. This song, whose authorship is attributed to John Hartford, is both harmonically and melodically nearly identical to a substantial portion of Brazilian composer Dorival Caymmi’s 1954 version of his song “O Mar” (which also exists in a 1940 version that is orchestrated and more harmonically complex).

That 1940 Brazilian song has a structure of the same basic melody (with some slight rhythmic variation.) This poses the question as to whether John Hartford was familiar with Dorival Caymmi’s 1954 version of Caymmi’s own composition “O Mar” and may have subconsciously taken its D-Section melody & harmonies and based his own composition (“Gentle On My Mind”) on the earlier Brazilian song.

“Gentle On My Mind” was ranked number 16 on BMI’s Top 100 Songs of the Century. Altogether it has been recorded by over 300 famous artists, Campbell’s version remains the best known in the United States.

Hits: 50