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Darlin' Be Home Soon
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Wikipedia article
"'Darlin' Be Home Soon'" (or "'Darling Be Home Soon'") is a song written by John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful for the soundtrack of the 1966 Francis Ford Coppola film 'You're a Big Boy Now'. It appeared on the Lovin' Spoonful's 1967 soundtrack album 'You're a Big Boy Now'.
Sebastian performed his composition at Woodstock; it was the fourth song out of the five he performed at the 1969 music festival in White Lake, New York.
Writing and recording
Coppola commissioned Sebastian to write music for the film, and for one scene wanted a song with a similar mood and tempo to "Monday, Monday" by the Mamas and the Papas. Sebastian said that he wrote the song as "pleas for a partner to spend a few minutes talking before leaving.... [but] you never knew if the other person was actually there listening or was already gone". Coppola approved the song, and it was recorded by the band but with session musician Billy LaVorgna rather than Joe Butler on drums. The arrangement was by Artie Schroeck. After the recording was completed and the musicians left, the producer, Erik Jacobsen, discovered that an engineer had mistakenly erased Sebastian's vocal track, so he had to re-record it the next day. Sebastian said: "What you hear on the record is me, a half hour after learning that my original vocal track had been erased. You can even hear my voice quiver a little at the end. That was me thinking about the vocal we lost and wanting to kill someone." It has been described as "...one of the most heartfelt songs about being away from a loved one, written from the point of view of a musician on the road writing a letter."
'Billboard' described the song as a "medium-paced rock ballad given that 'extra special' Lovin' Spoonful treatment" and should be a "smash" on the 'Billboard' Hot 100.
Personnel
* John Sebastian vocals, acoustic guitar* Zal Yanovsky electric guitar
* Steve Boone bass
* Billy LaVorgna drums
* Artie Schroeck piano, arranger
* Erik Jacobsen producer
Chart performance
"Darlin' Be Home Soon" was released as a single, reaching #15 on the US pop charts.
Other recordings of the song
*1967 Bobby Darin, whose version reached #93 on the US charts.https://www.billboard.com/artist/bobby-darin/chart-history/asi/ 'Billboard' Hot 100 chart, Bobby Darin
*1969 Joe Cocker, on his album "Joe Cocker!"
*1972 The Association on their album "Waterbeds in Trinidad!". #104 US Billboard, #90 US Cashbox."Bubbling Under the Hot 100", 'Billboard', June 3, 1972, p. 37
*1972 Slade British band did a live version on their album "Slade Alive".
*1993 The Barra MacNeils on their album 'Closer to Paradise', #23 Canadian charts, and 'Let Loose' (1996, #65 UK as a single, and on the album 'Rollercoaster').https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-barra-mcneils-emc "Barra MacNeils", The Canadian Encyclopedia
References
Category:Songs written by John Sebastian
Category:Bobby Darin songs
Category:1966 songs
Category:1967 singles
Category:The Lovin' Spoonful songs
Category:Song recordings produced by Erik Jacobsen
Category:Kama Sutra Records singles
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