Songwriter Turned Performer

Ok, so it was kind of a conceited and chauvinistic tune, but it made it to #1 and propelled an obscure songwriter into stardom.

The song was “Baby, Don’t Get Hooked On Me” and the singer was Mac Davis. It was on this date in 1972 that the song topped the charts, sending this country boy from Lubbock, Texas into the winners circle as a performer in his own right.

Not that success was foreign to Mr. Davis. It’s just that the songs he wrote became hits for someone else. If you recall Elvis Presley’s hits “A Little Less Conversation”, “In The Ghetto” , “Memories” and “Don’t Cry Daddy”, you have Mac Davis to thank. How about the sappy “Watching Scotty Grow”? That Mac Davis tune was a huge hit for Bobby Goldsboro.

After starting out with Nancy Sinatra’s band, where he performed on stage with her many times, a career in songwriting—and eventually performing took over.

In a year where the Equal Rights Amendment was in the headlines—and Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman” typified the emerging independence of women, here was a song about a guy who doesn’t want a relationship to lead into any kind of commitment! If you don’t remember the song…well….here it is:




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UauHDIlhvTk

Mac Davis became one of the most successful performers in the 70’s and 80’s, following this #1 hit with songs like: “One Hell Of A Woman”, “Stop And Smell The Roses” and the amusing “It’s Hard To Be Humble”.

Davis was also an actor, starring in several movies, including opposite Nick Nolte in “North Dallas Forty”. He also had his own musical variety show from 1974-1976 on NBC.

Hell, he even appeared as himself on “The Muppet Show”. You know you’ve arrived when on-camera with Miss Piggy.

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