Detroit City (song)
{{Short description|Song written by Danny Dill and Mel Tillis}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Detroit City
| cover =
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Bobby Bare
| album = "Detroit City" and Other Hits by Bobby Bare
| B-side = Heart of Ice
| released = May 1963 (U.S.)
| recorded = April 18, 1963
Nashville, Tennessee
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = Countrypolitan{{cite book|first=Dave|last=Marsh|title=The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5t5DYDniSHEC|date=1989|publisher=Plume|isbn=0-452-26305-0|page=235}}
| length = {{Duration|m=2|s=47}}
| label = RCA Victor
| writer = Danny Dill and Mel Tillis
| producer = Chet Atkins
| prev_title = Shame on Me
| prev_year = 1962
| next_title = 500 Miles Away from Home
| next_year = 1963
}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Detroit City
| cover =
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Tom Jones
| album = Green, Green Grass of Home
| B-side = If I Had You
| released = February 1967
| recorded =
| studio =
| venue =
| genre =
| length =
| label = Decca
| writer = Danny Dill and Mel Tillis
| producer = Peter Sullivan
| prev_title = Green, Green Grass of Home
| prev_year = 1966
| next_title = Funny Familiar Forgotten Feelings
| next_year = 1967
}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Detroit City
| cover =
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Arthur Alexander
| album =
| A-side = You Don't Care
| released = April 1965
| recorded =
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = Soul
| length = 2:40
| label = Dot Records
| writer = Danny Dill and Mel Tillis
| producer = Noel Ball
Norman Petty
| prev_title =
| prev_year =
| next_title =
| next_year =
}}
{{Infobox song
| name = I Wanna Go Home
| cover =
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Billy Grammer
| album =
| B-side = The Bottom of the Glass
| released = 1962
| recorded =
| studio =
| venue =
| genre =
| length =
| label = Decca
| writer = Danny Dill and Mel Tillis
| producer =
| prev_title = I'd Like to Know Why
| prev_year = 1961
| next_title = I'll Leave The Porch Lights A-Burning
| next_year = 1963
}}
"Detroit City" is a song written by Danny Dill and Mel Tillis, made famous by Billy Grammer (as "I Wanna Go Home"),{{cite web|url=http://www.grammerguitar.net/discs.html |title=Discography |publisher=The Grammer Guitar |access-date=2014-03-25}} country music singer Bobby Bare and Tom Jones. Bare's version was released in 1963 and was featured on his album "Detroit City" and Other Hits by Bobby Bare. The song — sometimes known as "I Wanna Go Home" (from the opening line to the refrain) — was Bare's first Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart that summer, and became a country music standard.
About the song
Prior to Bobby Bare's success with "Detroit City," country singer Billy Grammer released his version of the Danny Dill-Mel Tillis penned song.{{cite web|url=http://repertoire.bmi.com/title.asp?blnWriter=True&blnPublisher=True&blnArtist=True&page=1&keyid=297541&ShowNbr=0&ShowSeqNbr=0&querytype=WorkID|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120715000704/http://repertoire.bmi.com/title.asp?blnWriter=True&blnPublisher=True&blnArtist=True&page=1&keyid=297541&ShowNbr=0&ShowSeqNbr=0&querytype=WorkID|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-07-15|title=BMI repertoire search|publisher=BMI|access-date=2010-12-04}} His version was known as "I Wanna Go Home" and peaked at #18 on the Billboard country charts in 1963.[http://musicvf.com/song.php?id=86944 Billy Grammer's "I Wanna Go Home" Chart Position] Retrieved June 17, 2012.
The song is the working man's complaint, and "with its melody reminiscent of the 'Sloop John B,' describes the alienation felt by many rural southerners in the mid North," wrote country music historian Bill Malone. "Here, [Bare's] earnest and plaintive interpretation lends great believability to this mournful song."Malone, Bill, "Classic Country Music: A Smithsonian Collection" ((booklet included with Classic Country Music: A Smithsonian Collection 4-disc set). Smithsonian Institution, 1990). Bob Dylan describes the song as "...not so much the song of a dreamer, but the song of someone who is caught up in a fantasy of the way things used to be. But the listener knows that it just doesn't exist."{{cite book |last1=Dylan |first1=Bob |author-link= Bob Dylan|title=The Philosophy of Modern Song |date=2022 |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4516-4870-6 |page=5}} Bare's version begins in the key of E, until after the repeat of the refrain, he makes a transition to the key of B for the second verse and refrain. He makes a transition back to the key of E as the song fades out. Bare's version also features a spoken recitation following half of the second verse, before singing the refrain before the song's fade.
The song's peak in popularity during the summer of 1963 came during a time when Tillis was still experiencing most of his success as a songwriter. He had previously written hits for Webb Pierce, Brenda Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and others, but this was one of his earliest major hits as a songwriter outside of those artists.
The song won Bobby Bare a Grammy for the Best Country & Western Recording at the 6th Annual Grammy Awards in 1963.{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/bobby-bare-p1519/charts-awards/grammy-awards|title=Bobby Bare's Grammy history|publisher=Grammy Award|access-date=2010-12-04}}
Chart performance
Billy Grammer's "I Wanna Go Home" reached #18 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in early 1963. That summer, Bobby Bare's re-titled version peaked at #6 on the Billboard country chart (it spent total of 18 weeks on this chart) and #16 on the Billboard Hot 100.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/bobby-bare-p1519/charts-awards/billboard-singles|title=Bobby Bare's Billboard chart history|magazine=billboard|access-date=2010-12-04}}
=Billy Grammer=
| class="wikitable" |
| Chart (1963)
! Peak |
|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles
| style="text-align:center;"| 18 |
=Bobby Bare=
=Tom Jones=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Chart (1967)
! Peak |
|---|
| U.K. Singles Chart
| style="text-align:center;"| 8 |
| Austrian Top 40
| style="text-align:center;"| 14 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100{{cite book |title= Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012 |last=Whitburn |first=Joel |authorlink=Joel Whitburn |year=2013 |publisher=Record Research |page=446}}
| style="text-align:center;"| 27 |
| German Singles Chart
| style="text-align:center;"| 35 |
| Canadian Singles Chart{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.100229.pdf| title=RPM Top 100 Singles - April 29, 1967}}
| style="text-align:center;"| 16 |
=Dean Martin=
| class="wikitable" |
| Chart (1970)
! Peak |
|---|
| U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under-Hot 100
| style="text-align:center;"| 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary
| style="text-align:center;"| 36 |
| Canadian RPM Top Singles {{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.3712.pdf| title=RPM Top 100 Singles - November 7, 1970}}
| style="text-align:center;"| 93 |
=Other Covers=
- Jan & Dean covered the song for their 1963 album Surf City And Other Swingin' Cities.
- Dean Martin covered the song on his 1970 album My Woman, My Woman, My Wife.
- Arthur Alexander released the song as a single in 1965 backed with "You Don't Care," but it did not perform well and proved to be his last single for Dot Records.{{cite book|title=Get a shot of rhythm and blues: the Arthur Alexander story|author=Younger, Richard|pages=[https://archive.org/details/getshotofrhythmb00youn/page/104 104–105]|year=2000|publisher=University of Alabama Press|isbn=9780817310233|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/getshotofrhythmb00youn/page/104}} Nonetheless, historian Nat Hentoff described Alexander's rendition as "deeply compelling," stating that it "[eclipsed] the original version by Bobby Bare."{{cite book|title=American Music Is|author=Hentoff, Nat|author-link=Nat Hentoff|page=211|year=2009|publisher=Da Capo Press|isbn= 9780786728541}} Alexander biographer described it as "a stirring rendition." Music USA: A Rough Guide also praised Alexander's version.{{cite book|title=Music USA: A Rough Guide|author=Unterberger, Richie|author-link=Richie Unterberger|display-authors=et al|page=[https://archive.org/details/musicusaroughgui0000unte/page/114 114]|year=1999|publisher=Rough Guides|isbn=9781858284217|url=https://archive.org/details/musicusaroughgui0000unte/page/114}} No Depression magazine states that Alexander's version "mourns a rural-to-urban migration that black Americans could relate to every bit as much as poor Southern whites."{{cite book|title=No Depression Issues 13-16|page=106|year=1998|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gTFLAAAAYAAJ&q=%22detroit+city%22+%22arthur+alexander%22|access-date=2016-12-18}}
- Jerry Lee Lewis released a version on his 1965 album Country Songs for City Folks.[http://www.allmusic.com/album/country-songs-for-city-folks-mw0000838224 Jerry Lee Lewis, Country Songs for City Folks] Retrieved June 17, 2012.
- The Jordanaires released a cover on their 1966 album The Big Country Hits.
- Charley Pride released his cover of the song as the b-side of his 1966 hit "Just Between You and Me".{{cite web |title=Country Charley Pride -- "Just Between You and Me" (1967, Single) |url=https://www.discogs.com/Country-Charley-Pride-Just-Between-You-And-Me/release/14885161 |website=Discogs |date=1966 |access-date=24 December 2020}} Both songs were later included on the 1967 album Pride of Country Music.{{cite web |title=The Pride of Country Music: Charley Pride: Songs, Reviews, Credits |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-pride-of-country-music-mw0000898297 |website=Allmusic |access-date=24 December 2020}}
- In 1967, the song was also covered by Tom Jones, who had a UK Top 10 hit with it.{{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/search/singles/Detroit%20City|title=Official Charts Company|publisher=Official Charts Company|access-date=2010-12-04}} The Jones version features Bare's spoken Recitation as well. Jones also included the song on his 1967 album Green, Green Grass of Home.
- Solomon Burke covered the song in 1967 as well for his album King Solomon. His version reached #10 in the Canadian RPM Soul charts on January 27, 1968.{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.100162.pdf| title=RPM Top 30 Soul - January 27, 1968}}
- Dolly Parton covered the song on her 1980 album 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs.{{cite web|title=www.allmusic.com|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/9-to-5-and-odd-jobs-mw0000113172|website=allmusic.com|accessdate=May 23, 2022}}
- The song has also been covered by soul singer Joe Tex on his 1965 album The New Boss.
- The song was covered by Yugoslav beat band Tomi Sovilj i Njegove Siluete on their 1967 EP Stoj, Džoni (Stop, Johnny).
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Arthur Alexander}}
{{Bobby Bare}}
{{Tom Jones}}
{{Mel Tillis}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Detroit City}}
Category:Appalachian culture in Michigan
Category:Songs written by Danny Dill
Category:Songs written by Mel Tillis
Category:Jerry Lee Lewis songs
Category:Tom Jones (singer) songs
Category:Decca Records singles
Category:Arthur Alexander songs
Category:Song recordings produced by Peter Sullivan (record producer)