"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