(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
Glen Campbell - "Southern Nights"
Hit Number 1: April 30, 1977
Stay at Number 1: 1 Week
In 1975, Glen Campbell released the song "Country Boy (You Got Your Feet in L.A.)." It's a song about a boy from Tennessee who finds himself becoming increasingly famous in the world of Hollywood, but even though he's living the life in L.A., he can't help but feel like his life isn't being fulfilled because he misses his home back in Tennessee. (It also is an absolute banger, and pretty underrated considering Campbell's catalogue. It made it to #11, and it's an 8) Even though Campbell comes from Arkansas, not Tennessee, it seems as though Campbell truly was talking about himself in that song. He grew up in rural Arkansas, far away from city lights, and some of his favorite memories include him floating down rivers, and fishing. He'd even say that sometimes his head is still there, despite the enormous amount of fame he'd achieved by this point. It sounds just like the story we heard in "Country Boy," but while that story may be similar to what Campbell was experiencing, it all helped lead to an even bigger hit for him.
"Southern Nights" started from an unlikely source. Allan Toussaint is a name connected to other songs that hit #1 in the past, such as way back in 1961 with "Mother-In-Law" and a couple years back in 1975 with "Lady Marmalade." So with that knowledge, it's fair to assume that the guy primarily dealt with soul/R&B music, or at least music that's similar to that. But "Southern Nights" is far from soul. It's a song smothered in some, unsurprisingly, southern twang, and is really more country than anything else. Toussaint said that he wrote "Southern Nights" because of his childhood memories of Louisiana, traveling into the backwoods to visit family, and telling stories under the nighttime skies. So, kind of similar to what I was talking about with Campbell's "Country Boy." They are both songs about feeling nostalgic for growing up in the country, except when Campbell heard Toussaint's song, he knew he had to record that one as well.
There are some differences between Campbell's version and Toussaint's version, with the main one being how Campbell orchestrated it. Campbell made it a little more upbeat, and made it a song better suited for radio/pop music listeners. Toussaint said that he was surprised someone of Glen Campbell's magnitude was even interested in recording this, as Toussaint's version only has two instruments: a Fender Rhodes electric piano, and an ashtray. Toussaint never saw hit potential in the song, he only wanted to record it and share it with everyone else because of what the song meant to him. But somehow, someway, Campbell heard the song, recorded it, and it becomes a #1 hit. All because of nostalgia, if we're being honest. It's crazy what nostalgia can do.
Even though Campbell added a lot more to "Southern Nights," it still is, truly, a very simple song. It's got a catchy guitar riff and some sparse piano rings, but there's nothing here that will wow you. Even the message in the song is simple, albeit a little bit nonsensical at times. (For instance the lines of "Old man/He and his dog that walk the old land" and especially "Wish I could stop this world from fighting.") That makes it seem like maybe there is a little bit more to the message than Toussaint was letting on? We go from enjoying some southern nights to wishing the world would stop fighting. I mean, like, I agree that that would be awesome, but it doesn't seem to fit the whole vibe of southern nights. Once again, maybe I'm thinking too damn hard about the whole thing, which I sometimes tend to do in these reviews.
"Southern Nights" doesn't quite have the staying power that other Glen Campbell hits have, but it's a song that works really well if it finds you in the right place at the right time, and holy cow, it will get stuck in your head. Even though I say the song is simple, the simplicity of it is kind of its charm. Like, relaxing at night in the summer in the south sounds like it would be one of the best things ever. Not much to it, just pure simplicity and nothing to worry about. Those are the kinds of vibes that "Southern Nights" gives off, so all things told, it was, once again, another fine job of song making by Campbell.
GRADE: 7/10
IN POP CULTURE:
Here's a scene from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 where Rocket just destroys Ravagers while "Southern Nights" is playing. The contrast of happy, simple music while this epic fight is going down is pretty comical to me. Here's the video:
Comments