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Down in the Boondocks (song)
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Wikipedia article
"'Down in the Boondocks'" is a song written by Joe South, and recorded by American artist Billy Joe Royal as his debut single. It was a hit in 1965, reaching No. 9 on the 'Billboard' Hot 100 chart. In the UK, it hit No. 38 on the 'Record Retailer' chart.'British Hit Singles & Albums'. Guinness World Records, 17th ed 2004. In Canada, it reached No. 1 on the 'RPM' chart, on August 9, 1965. The song is the title track of Royal's second album, 'Down in the Boondocks'.
Content
The song is sung from the perspective of a self-proclaimed "boy from down in the boondocks." He sings of a girl who lives nearby, for whom he feels love and steals away with occasionally. The people who live or are born in the boondocks are suggested to be a lower class than those in the city. The girl's father is the singer's boss, which, along with the social division, prevents him from proclaiming his love and connecting with her, despite their shared feelings (which is the basis for the line "but I don't dare knock on her door/for her daddy is my boss man"). The singer proclaims that "one fine day, I'll find a way, to move from this old shack", presumably to be able to join the higher class members of society and finally be able to date the girl openly. Essentially the same theme appeared some twenty months earlier in the lyrics of Joey Powers' "Midnight Mary".
Original version
In the summer of 1965, "Down in the Boondocks" launched the top 40 career of Billy Joe Royal, who had recorded the song a year earlier. The song's writer, Joe South was a longtime friend and professional associate of Royal: South had played guitar for Royal since the singer had begun performing in local venues at age 14, and from 1961 South had produced Royal's recordings of demos and low-budget singles.'Atlanta Constitution' 26 December 2010 "Royal Returns to the Strand: it'll be the final show of Valdosta-born singer's official touring career: Marietta site special in his decades of stardom" by Bob Townsend p.E3 It has been reported that Royal's recording of "Down in the Boondocks" was intended to serve as a demo to pitch the song to Gene Pitney, the song being evocative of Pitney's trademark hit sound with an especial resemblance to Pitney's 1963 hit "Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa":'Regina Leader-Post' 24 January 1965 "Woody on Wax" by Bob Wood p.15'The Tennessean' 27 May 1984 "Ex-Pop Singer Billy Joe Royal Longs for Country Music" by Robert K. Oermann p.22'The Tennessean' 25 January 1986 "Royal Shoots for the Stars with 'Rocket' by Thomas Goldsmith pp.1D,4D reportedly Bill Lowery, South's music publisher and Royal's manager, was so impressed with Royal's own recording of "Down in the Boondocks" as to pursue a major label release for it. Royal himself would deny any intent to pitch the song to Pitney - (Billy Joe Royal quote:)"We would've never [been able to get] a song to him...Our plan was [for Royal] to try to sing like Gene Pitney...We were so young, we thought: 'Well they'll think it's Gene Pitney, and by the time they know it's [not, it'll already be] a hit".'Jackson Sun' 9 November 2006 "Tell It Like It Is: Caravan of Stars event is a reunion of sorts, according to Billy Jo Royal" by Brian Goins p.8 (Section 'Get Out!'
"Down in the Boondocks" was recorded in a four hour session at the Gearhart Building, the converted schoolhouse in Buckhead which housed Bill Lowery's business headquarters, the school's auditorium serving as a recording studio: (Billy Joe Royal quote:)"We cut it on a three-track machine - the most primitive thing in the world. How it sounded like a record I don't know": "We put a microphone down a septic tank and ran that through the recording for the echo.".'Greenville News' 8 September 1990 "The Royal Treatment" p.1B'Napa Valley Register' 14 October 1990 "Troubador Billy Joe Royal Hits Four Decades" by Joe Edwards p.2A Session musicians included Reggie Young on electric guitar, Bill Hullett on acoustic guitar, Sam Levine on horns, Clayton Ivey on piano, Bob Wray on six string bass, Greg Morrow on drums, and Freddy Weller on rhythm guitar/background vocals. The session also yielded the original torch song "I Knew You When", plus - to serve as potential B-sides covers of the hits "Oh, What a Night" (the Dells) and "Steal Away" (Jimmy Hughes).
Royal considered "I Knew You When" - reminiscent of the Righteous Brothers' recent smash hits - as more likely than "Down in the Boondocks" to be picked up by a major label ("I Knew You When" would in fact be optioned by Vee Jay Records to be recorded by Wade Flemons with an August 1964 single release). However Bill Lowery saw the hit potential of "Down in the Boondocks", personally visiting Los Angeles to pitch the track to major labels: after Warner Bros. and Capitol Records passed, Columbia Records released "Down in the Boondocks"'Hamilton Journal News' 20 August 1972 "Billy Joe Royal Plans Comeback" by Randy McNutt p.12 - backed by "Oh, What a Night" - in the spring of 1965.
"Down in the Boondocks" "broke out" at WCPO in Cincinnati, where Royal had been living for two years when South had phoned Royal inviting him back to Atlanta to record "Down in the Boondocks": (Billy Joe Royal quote:)"It became number one overnight in Cincinnati, because Id been doing sock hops with local disc jockeys. Then it became a hit in Savannah - where Royal had spent two years headlining the iconic local club the Bamboo Ranch - "then, it went crazy everywhere else."'Atlanta Constitution' 18 July 1983 "Royal Show: Billy Joe holds court" by Russ DeVault p.24 "Down in the Boondocks" rose to number 9 on the 'Billboard' Hot 100 dated 28 August 1965. Reaching number one on the Canadian hit parade published by 'RPM' magazine,'RPM' vol 3 #24 (9 August 1965) p. 5 "Down in the Boondocks" also reached number 10 on the singles chart for Australia. Despite Royal making a three-day promotional visit to London in September 1965, "Down in the Boondocks" failed to become a major UK Singles Chart hit, stalling at number 38.
Notable remakes
"Down in the Boondocks" became a top 30 hit on the C&W chart in 'Billboard' in 1969-70 via a remake by Freddy Weller who had been a sideman on the Billy Joe Royal recording. After reaching the Top 5 C&W with versions of two other Joe South compositions: "Games People Play" and "These Are Not My People", Weller was only afforded moderate chart success with his version of "Down in the Boondocks" which peaked at number 25 C&W, a concurrent version of the song by Penny DeHaven which reached number 37 C&W shadowing Weller's version throughout its chart tenure.
"Down in the Boondocks" has also been recorded by the Spokesmen (album 'Dawn of Correction', 1965), Del Reeves ('Doodle-Oo-Doo-Doo', 1965), Gary Lewis & the Playboys (album 'She's Just My Style', 1966), the Three Degrees (single, 1969), Peggy Sue (album 'All American Husband', 1970), Lynn Anderson (album 'I'm Alright', 1970), Liz Anderson ('Husband Hunting', 1970), Lawanda Lindsey & Kenny Vernon (album 'Pickin' Wild Mountain Berries', 1970), New Riders of the Purple Sage (album 'New Riders of the Purple Sage', 1971), Kenny Loggins (album 'Nightwatch', 1978), Ry Cooder (album 'Borderline', 1980), and Johnny Rodriguez (album 'Foolin' With Fire', 1984).
References
Category:1965 songs
Category:1965 debut singles
Category:1969 singles
Category:Billy Joe Royal songs
Category:Songs written by Joe South
Category:RPM Top Singles number-one singles
Category:Columbia Records singles
Category:Songs about poverty
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