Gentle on My Mind
"Gentle on My Mind" is a song that was written and originally recorded by John Hartford, and released on his second studio album, Earthwords & Music (1967). Hartford wrote the song after watching Doctor Zhivago in 1966, as he was inspired by the film and his own personal experiences. The lyrics describe the reminiscences of lost love of a man as he travels through the country. An obituary for Hartford indicated that the lyrics are "about a hobo reminiscing about a lost love".[1] The following year, Hartford released the song as a single on RCA Records.
This article is about the song. For other uses, see Gentle on My Mind (disambiguation)."Gentle on My Mind"
"(Good Old Electric) Washing Machine (Circa. 1943)"
May 1967
RCA Nashville studios
3:03
John Hartford
It then caught the attention of Glen Campbell, who recorded his version with a group of session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew. Campbell's recording of "Gentle on My Mind" peaked in the top 30 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart. In 1968, between Campbell's and Hartford's recordings, the song earned four Grammy Awards.
"Gentle on My Mind" was later recorded by several other singers, including Dean Martin, Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams and Elvis Presley. It was also translated into other languages. In 2014, a recording of the song by the Band Perry earned a Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance. Taking into account all recorded versions of the song, it has become the second-most-played song on the radio in the United States according to BMI.
Writing and original recording[edit]
In 1966, John Hartford was living with his wife and son in a trailer in Nashville, Tennessee. One night, the couple saw the film Doctor Zhivago at a local theater. Inspired by the love story depicted in the film between Yuri Zhivago and Lara Antipova,[2] Hartford returned home and wrote "Gentle on my Mind" in between twenty and thirty minutes.[3] The story of the song narrates the reminiscences of a drifter of his lost love, while moving through backroads and hobo encampments.[4] Betty Hartford, who later divorced her husband, noted to him the similarity between herself and the song's female character. She questioned John Hartford about the man's regret for his marriage. Hartford said he likened her to Lara and attributed the man's feelings about being trapped in a relationship to his "artistic license".[5][6]
Hartford defined the finished song as a "word movie" and described his writing process as "thinking in pictures, like paintings using words and sound".[7][8] In a 1980 interview, Hartford commented he was still unsure of the song's meaning and that its message will be interpreted differently by listeners.[9] Twelve years later, Hartford again attributed his inspiration to start writing the song to Doctor Zhivago, and said the content was a result of his personal experience. Hartford said the song "just came real fast, a blaze, a blur".[10] He described the song as a banjo tune without a chorus, and with a variety of words he deemed "hard to sing" because it "violated the principles of songwriting".[11]
At the time, Hartford worked as a disc jockey on the radio station WSIX and for the publishing company Tompall & the Glaser Brothers. Hartford recorded a demo and delivered it to Chuck Glaser, who took the demo to Chet Atkins of RCA Records.[5] According to Harford, after writing "Gentle on My Mind", he did not intend to record the song himself.[12] Hartford sent the demos of "Gentle on My Mind" and a second song to sell them, but instead the label decided to offer Hartford a recording contract.[13] Atkins then suggested to the songwriter to use "Hartford" instead of his surname "Harford" as a professional name. Hartford recorded "Gentle on my Mind" and its flipside "Washing Machine", both of which were produced by Felton Jarvis.[14] The single was released in May 1967.[15] RCA, however, decided not to promote Hartford's recording because they did not consider it to be a country song.[16] Cashbox listed the single under their "Best Bets"; the magazine forecasted in a review that Hartford could get "heaps of spins" with his "poetic folk-country-flavored ballad".[15] "Gentle on My Mind" peaked at number 60 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs.[17][18]
Legacy[edit]
Hartford said the success of "Gentle on My Mind" allowed him to become a full-time songwriter without working as a disc jockey.[14] The song's success also caught the attention of Tom Smothers, who in 1968 invited Hartford to become a part of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on CBS.[7] The same year, Campbell performed "Gentle on My Mind" as the theme song of his own CBS show The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour.[19][49]
In 1970, Claude François recoded the song in French under the title "Si Douce A Mon Souvenir".[50] Fourteen years later, Brazilian singer Roberto Carlos recorded the song in Portuguese as "Caminhoneiro" ("Trucker").[51] In 1985, Puerto Rican salsa singer Frankie Ruiz released a Spanish-language version entitled "El Camionero".[52]
Hartford donated the manuscript of "Gentle on My Mind" to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in 1982.[53] By 1984, the song had played on radio over four million times in the United States, and became the best-selling song of Broadcast Music, Inc.'s (BMI) catalog.[54] In 1987, the estimated number of plays grew to 4.4 million and 400 versions had been recorded. At the time, Hartford refused the use of the song for commercials and parodies.[12] In 1990, BMI listed Campbell's version of "Gentle on My Mind" as the fourth-most-played song in the history of radio in the US.[55] It appeared at number 71 on Country America magazine's 1992 list of the Top 100 Country Songs of All Time,[56] while BMI placed the version at number 16 on its 1999 list of Top 100 Songs of the Century.[57] By 2001, with six million plays, the song became the second-most-played on the radio in the US, behind the Beatles' "Yesterday".[58]
In 2008, the 1967 recording of "Gentle on My Mind" by Glen Campbell on Capitol Records was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[59] In 2014, the Band Perry recorded a version of the song for the documentary Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me; the cover won the category for Best Country Duo/Group Performance at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards in 2015,[60] and peaked at number 29 on Billboard's Country Airplay and at number 35 on the Hot Country Songs.[61][62] In August 2017, following Campbell's death, sales of his hit singles increased by 6,000%.[63] The digital downloads figure for "Gentle on My Mind" registered 3,000 and increased the track's total sales at the time to 251,000.[64]