Thought-provoking lyrics and a cool trombone solo. Who could ask for more in a song? Click to enlarge.
photo by Harmon Jolley
On Friday evening, November 30, 2007, concert-goers seated in a nearly-full Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium heard two legends of AM Top 40 pop radio – Billy Joe Royal and B.J. Thomas. The concert was hosted by the Chattanooga and Cleveland Professional Firefighters Associations.
Billed as the “Raindrops and Boondocks” concert in homage to the chart-topping songs of each singer, it could also have been named the “Odes by Billy Joes,” since those are also the first two names of Mr. Thomas.
My family and I were in attendance. We parked on Vine Street, and walked to the auditorium. “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” was on the stereo at Chad’s Records, and audible through the open front door as we passed by the store.
As we neared the concert location, we saw a much larger crowd than expected. It was a lot like the days of the Jet-Fli WFLI Spectaculars, which featured multiple artists in a single show. In fact, D.J. Tommy Jett was recognized in the audience.
The passage of time had not taken away the generally older audience's enthusiasm for being at a concert. During each singer’s portion of the show, fans came to the stage to take a photo or shake hands. One fan shouted, “You still got it, babe!!!” to B.J.Thomas. Both vocalists put on a fine show individually, and even combined for a couple of numbers – “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” and “Get Ready.”
Billy Joe Royal and B.J. Thomas sang most of their tunes which had made the charts in the 1960’s and 1970’s, as well as a few later tunes and some Christmas favorites. However, I recalled one song by B.J. Thomas which was not on the play list, but one which had been a musical inspiration to me – “Everybody’s Out of Town.”
B.J. Thomas had just experienced a number one hit prior to the release of “Everybody’s Out of Town.” Debuting in November, 1969, “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head,” the Burt Bacharach/Hal David tune from the movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” had been a huge hit. It spent nineteen weeks on the record charts; four of them at #1.
Then, in April, 1970, “Everybody’s Out of Town,” another Bacharach/David tune sung by B.J. Thomas, was released. Though it got some play locally on WGOW and WFLI, the record didn’t rise very high and topped at #26. Guess who bought a 45 RPM record of it at the Gibson’s Discount Store music department?
It wasn’t the first time that I had bought a record that wasn’t a huge hit. In fact, some of my favorites came from the back of the hit parade. With this song, it was the catchy trombone solo that precedes the vocals that caught my ear. The trombone is heard again during the course of the two minutes and forty-two seconds of the record.
At the time that “Everybody’s” was released, I was finishing up two years of playing snare drum in my junior high band. While it had been fun, I had wanted to take up an instrument that could play a melody.
During the late 1960’s into the next decade, the sounds of brass had been heard on many of the top 40 hits. Groups such as Blood, Sweat, and Tears, Chicago, and the Ides of March had been successful with their jazz-rock sounds. Billy Joe Royal had used horns with success on “Cherry Hill Park.”
As a result of hearing all of those great tunes, I had already been considering a switch to trombone. As I recall, it was the cool sound of the trombone on “Everybody’s Out of Town” that helped me to make the decision.
As a song, “Everybody’s Out of Town” is one of those that requires careful attention to the lyrics. One has to recall the era in which it was recorded. The realization that mankind was harming the natural environment had become clear. Locally, Chattanooga’s air pollution situation ranked it high on the dirtiest cities list reported by Walter Cronkite.
I believe that the lyrics center on a doomsday that could be brought about by modern industrial society. B.J. Thomas sang it like this:
All of the streets are bare
No traffic tie-ups anywhere
Don't have to wait for a seat at the movie
Hey, everybody's out of town
Seems like, I'm the only one around
The record ends on a positive note, though, with a vow to build a better world:
And it looks like we're ready
To give it one more try
This time there'll be no alibi
Though this tune wasn’t included in the concert, the rest of the songs were all very enjoyable and well-performed. Judging by the number of folks who attended the event, I believe that there is interest in hearing some of the artists of yesteryear again, just like the good old days at the auditorium.
If you attended the Friday night concert, are fans of either Billy Joe Royal or B.J. Thomas, or have memories of concerts at the Memorial Auditorium, please send me an e-mail at jolleyh@bellsouth.net.