"San Francisco Is a Lonely Town" is a song written in 1969 by the Nashville songwriter Ben Peters. Two versions of the song charted in 1969 – one by Ben Peters himself (#46 country, Peters' only charting hit),[1] and the single by Joe Simon, which reached #79 on the US pop charts, #29 on the R&B charts.[2]
Review
The novelist and songwriter Alice Randall reviewed Linda Martell's album Color Me Country in 2010, and wrote:
The second cut, the Ben Peters–penned "San Francisco Is a Lonely Town," is a variation on the Harlan Howard masterpiece "Streets of Baltimore." Here a young couple sets off on a Greyhound for San Francisco, only to discover the distractions of the big city dilute love. Peters, who wrote a signature song for country legend Charley Pride ("Kiss an Angel Good Morning"), captures the spunk and sorrow of the adventure—but more interestingly, Martell's performance captures a bit of San Francisco few have seen—the kids who arrived not in beat-up Volkswagens but on the bus; the kids who weren't white, who were brown; the kids who came not from Eastern cities, but from Southern towns. Linda Martell portrays just such a girl-woman convincingly.[3]
Other versions
Other versions of the song released in 1969 and after, were by:
- Roberta Sherwood (single)[4]
- Mel Carter (single)[5]
- Eddy Arnold on his album The Warmth of Eddy,[6]
- Fred Hughes on his album Baby Boy,[7]
- Charlie Rich on his album The Fabulous Charlie Rich,[8] The Charlie Rich version was remixed by the French group Nouvelle Vague on the 2007 remix album Late Night Tales: Nouvelle Vague.[9]
- O. C. Smith on his album O.C. Smith at Home.[10]
- Linda Martell, the African-American country artist, recorded the song on her 1970 album Color Me Country.[11]
- Vikki Carr put the tune on her 1971 album The Ways to Love a Man.[12]
- Glen Campbell recorded it on his 1976 album Bloodline,[13]
- Jimmy "Orion" Ellis on his 1979 album Sunrise.[14]
- Nick Nixon, whose version reached #86 on the country charts in 1979.[15]
References
- ↑ Joel Whitburn Presents Across the Charts: The 1960s, Joel Whitburn, 2008, p. 296
- ↑ Allmusic, charting singles from the 1969 Joe Simon album The Chokin' Kind
- ↑ Alice Randall review of Color Me Country Archived 2 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ "www.discogs.com". discogs.com. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
- ↑ Amazon.com listing for published version of song
- ↑ Allmusic entry for The Warmth of Eddie
- ↑ Discogs listing for Baby Boy
- ↑ Allmusic entry for The Fabulous Charlie Rich
- ↑ Track information for Late Night Tales: Nouvelle Vague
- ↑ Allmusic entry for O. C. Smith at Home
- ↑ Alice Randall review of Color Me Country Archived 2 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Track listing for Ways to Love a Man
- ↑ Allmusic entry for Bloodline
- ↑ Allmusic entry for Sunrise
- ↑ Music VF listing for the Nixon version