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Poor Side of Town

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"Poor Side of Town"
Single by Johnny Rivers
from the album Changes
B-side"A Man Can Cry"
ReleasedAugust 1966[1]
Genre
Length
  • 3:48 (album version)
  • 3:03 (single version)
LabelImperial
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Lou Adler
Johnny Rivers singles chronology
"(I Washed My Hands in) Muddy Water"
(1966) 		"Poor Side of Town"
(1966) 		"Baby I Need Your Loving"
(1967)

"Poor Side of Town" is a song by Johnny Rivers that reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and the RPM Canadian Chart in November 1966.[2] The song marked a turning point in Rivers' career that saw him move away from his earlier rock and roll style toward pop ballads.

Song

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Johnny Rivers would recall of "Poor Side of Town": "I don’t know what inspired it…It was not from any personal experience, because I was living in Beverly Hills." Although he'd describe it as "an easy song to write", [3] Rivers would say the song: "took…about five months to write…I kept writing little bits and pieces of it."[4] With the parent album of "Poor Side of Town": Changes, Rivers shifted from southern rock to an orchestral pop sound with a string-&-brass arrangement by Marty Paich who had orchestrated the recent Top 5 hits by the Mamas & the Papas, the LA Phil musicians who had played on the Mamas & Papas tracks also playing on Changes.[4]

The single edit of "Poor Side of Town" reduces the coda of the album track, which following the repeated lyric line: "Oh with you by my side" continues, finishing up the verse, and following the repeated guitar riff, repeats the sung introduction of the scatting, before the song fades out.

Charts

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Chart (1966) Peak
position
Canada RPM[5] 1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 1

Cover versions

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Personnel

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References

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  1. ^ Rivers, Johnny. "Poor Side Of Town". 45cat.com. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  2. ^ "RPM Top 100 Singles - November 21, 1966" (PDF).
  3. ^ "Rocker Johnny Rivers on His Hits, 'Secret' Appearance on Letterman". Forbes.
  4. ^ a b Morning Call 13 November 2015 "Johnny Rivers Music Has Taken Him Slow Dancin' Through the Decades" by John Moser pp. Go1, Go2
  5. ^ "RPM Top 100 Singles - November 21, 1966" (PDF).
  6. ^ "RPM Top 100 Singles - February 3, 1969" (PDF).
  7. ^ Beverly Bremers, I'll Make You Music Retrieved August 13, 2016.
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