Johnny Rivers found some success in his career taking on covers of popular songs, but found himself at the top of the charts in 1966 when he shifted away from his usual sound for a pop ballad.
The singer started to make a name for himself doing live rock recordings at the Los Angeles nightclub Whisky a Go Go. After hopping from record label to record label, Rivers found some success in the early 1960s with covers like “Memphis,” “Mountain of Love,” and “The Seventh Son.”
It wasn’t until 1966 that Rivers finally found his biggest breakthrough at the age of 23. “Poor Side of Town” was a deviation from the sound that many knew Rivers for, as it was a pop ballad. He was even warned that going in a different direction from rock and roll might end his career.
“Al Bennett and those guys were goin’, man. Don’t start comin’ out with ballads. You’re gonna kill your career. You got a good thing goin’ with this funky trio rock sound; stay with that,” he said, according to SoundFacts.
Rivers went against their suggestions anyway and released “Poor Side of Town,” which he co-wrote with Lou Adler and was arranged by Marty Paich. The song ended up being the biggest success of his career, landing at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a week in November.
“I had this tune I’d been working on, and I kept playing it for Lou. It took me about 6 months to finish. We cut it with Larry Knechtel, Joe Osborn and Hal Blaine. I did my vocal performances live with the band. I sat and played my guitar and sang. There weren’t any overdubs. So we said it could use some singers and maybe some strings. That’s the time we got together with (arranger) Marty Paich,” said Rivers.
The song’s lyrics tell the story of a wealthy woman who leaves her lover for a wealthier lifestyle. She later returns, with the “poor side of town” being both a literal and figurative place. When it came to the track’s inspiration, Rivers wasn’t actually inspired by a particular thing and was “an easy song to write”
“That one just came out – I don’t know what inspired it. It was one of those things, an easy song to write. It was not from any personal experience, because I was living in Beverly Hills [laughs]. People just relate to it,” he explained to Forbes.
“Poor Side of Town” ended up being Rivers’ only No.1 hit of his career, and he still released popular tracks in the following years. The song has since been covered by Bruce Springsteen, The 5th Dimensions, and Al Wilson.
Related: In 1967, a Carole King-Penned Ballad Sparked Tension Within the Byrds Before Becoming a Beloved Hit
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