From: Melanie Howard
Subject: HE CALLED ME BABY

Bob,

I’d love to weigh in on HE CALLED ME BABY as my late, husband, Harlan Howard wrote the song.  Patsy did cut it in the early 60’s as a mournful ballad. It has also been cut by Waylon, Charlie Rich, and even Harlan Howard himself just to mention a few. You’ll have to look for the guy version under SHE CALLED ME BABY.  I find the pages on Harlan Howard in allmusic.com to be fascinating.

Candi Staton’s original record did not have horns on it.  Rick Hall added them after the record was released to the betterment of the record, I think. Candi’s version still stands the test of time and I think that is saying something 40 plus years later.

Harlan wrote the song as a simple country song with a simple country tune. In the mid 60’s Harlan was offered several record deals to record his own songs.  He wasn’t foolish and knew he should give his best songs to those who could sing much better than he.  He recorded a few concept albums but his heart wasn’t in to being a performer.  He was shy and hated the spotlight. He had a breakout hit in Texas on SHE CALLED ME BABY and was forced to hire a publicist and a promoter and was on his way to Texas. After the gig, he returned to Nashville fired the publicist and promoter and refused to leave again.  Seems he didn’t write any songs for two weeks surrounding his one gig and he knew that performing was not for him if it took his focus off his first love and that was as a wordsmith.  He loved the fact that he could write songs that would get the real singers out on the road and he could stay home surrounded by the comforts of his new works in progress.

I love the One EskimO version of KANDI. I’ll love it even better, if we get paid on it.  I think Harlan would love it too.  He got a big kick out of hearing different interpretations of his songs as long as credit was given to him as the creator. He loved Candi’s version of HE CALLED ME BABY.  Heck he even liked Nazareth’s version of BUSTED another classic tune written by Harlan Howard.

Thanks Bob for talking about songs and music.  I enjoy reading your emails.

Melanie Smith-Howard

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From: Seymour Stein
Subject: He Called Me Baby!

Dear Bob,

Discovering that Candi Staton’s "He Called Me Baby" is a song rooted in country should not come as a surprise.  Country and Western and Rhythm and Blues are much closer than people realize.  When you consider the roots both lie in the South, it’s really no surprise.  King Records where I got my education was in Cincinnati, on the Kentucky border and very much influenced by both genres.  Syd Nathan would often take songs recorded by his country acts and record them by R&B acts.  Two that come to mind are "Blood Shot Eyes" by Hank Penny also massively successful in R&B by Wynonie Harris and  "Signed, Sealed and Delivered" a number one country smash for Cowboy Copas, was later done successfully by James Brown.  

Paul Ackerman, the legendary music editor of Billboard and Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame inductee gave Jerry Wexler the country song "Just Out Of Reach"  which was Solomon Burke’s debut after he left Apollo Records to join Atlantic.  The original country and western version was on the Four Star label.  I forget the group.

Perhaps, the greatest of all examples was Ray Charles classic album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music and brought the artist to the mainstream.  The hit single, "I Can’t Stop Loving You" was written by Don Gibson for Kitty Wells and was a hit in both fields.  Other songs of note on the album were "Born To Lose" and two Floyd Tillman tunes "It Makes No Difference Now" and "I Love You So Much It Hurts" as well as three Hank William’s classics "Hey Goodlookin’"  "You Win Again," and "Half As Much."  

Pop A&R men like Mitch Miller at Columbia and Hugo Winterhalter were also quick to spot country classics and record them by pop acts in the days just before the beginning of Rock & Roll.  Miller had great success with "Cold Cold Heart" by Tony Bennett. "You Belong To Me" by Joe Stafford.  "Half As Much" by Rosemary Clooney and later in the early days of rock with Guy Mitchell’s "Singin’ The Blues" and "Heartaches By The Number" originally introduced in country by Marty Robbins and Ray Price respectively.  Winterhalter produced Eddie Fisher with Eddy Arnold’s massive country hit "Anytime"  and also Slim Willet’s "Don’t Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes" a number one for Perry Como.

Perhaps the best example of pop goes country is Patti Page’s "Tennessee Waltz" written by Pee Wee King and Redd Stewart produced by either her manager Jack Rael or Mercury exec Art Talmadge, I can’t recall.  First a hit in country in versions by Cowboy Copas and Pee Wee King.  Patti Pages’, one of the first "multi-track" recordings spent over three months at the top of the pop charts.

Listened to Candi Staton’s  "He Called Me Baby" and like it a lot.  If you’re not familiar with Little Esther Phillips version of "Release Me," I think you’ll enjoy it.  Originally a country hit both for Kitty Wells and Ray Price.  Any of these three versions far superior to Englebert Humperdinck in 1967.  All this just goes to prove is a great song is a great song; back in the 50’s and 60’s and still true today.  

Best Regards,
Seymour