An old blogger buddy included the song Only In America in his K-Chuck Radio post, Just wipe the vocals off, and we’ll take care of things.
One example of his: the backing tracks of California Dreamin’ by Barry McGuire and by The Mamas and The Papas are virtually identical. I had heard the McGuire version some years ago.
The Only In America story is somewhat more complicated. The great Brill Building songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil initially wrote the piece. As Songfacts noted:
“The song was written at a time before integration, and the lyrics were originally about racism. It had the following chorus:
Only in America, land of opportunity
Can they save a seat in the back of the bus just for me
Only in America, where they preach the Golden Rule
Will they start to march when my kids go to school”
To the best of my knowledge from the different tellings, this version was never recorded.
New lyrics
“The [new, additional] songwriters [producers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller] changed [the lyrics] to be a satiric message of patriotism. The Drifters recorded the song with these new ‘patriotic’ lyrics but refused to release it because they did not believe that message.”
Only in America Can a guy from anywhere
Go to sleep a pauper and wake up a millionaire
Only in America Can a kid without a cent
Get a break and maybe grow up to be President
A 2008 article in the Long Beach Post offers a different explanation for why the Drifters didn’t release the tamer version.
“The song, with its gentle Latin rolling beat and percussion thump, could have been the next chart hit for the Drifters if Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler hadn’t pulled the recording. Wexler said that, in the light of race relations of that time, it would be unfeeling, unfair, and unfitting to have a black group release a song about America being the land of opportunity and suggest that an African-American could become its president.”
The song was recorded a few months later by Jay and the Americans, who Leiber and Stoller produced. It became a moderate hit, reaching #25 pop on the Billboard charts. I remember the Americans’ version then, and as a kid, I found it not credible.
In any case, The Drifters’ version appeared for the first time in the 1972 UK LP “Saturday Night At The Club.” The cut was conducted by Garry Sherman and recorded on April 12, 1963.
Lead singer
I’ve read in several sources that Rudy Lewis was the lead singer on The Drifters’ version. One of the YouTube videos of Only In America lists the group at the session as Billy Davis, Charlie Thomas, Eugene Pearson, Johnny Terry, and Lewis.
Marv Goldberg’s Later Drifters notes: “At their April 12 [1963] session, they recorded Only In America (led by Rudy), Rat Race (Rudy) [#71 pop], If You Don’t Come Back (Johnny Moore), and I’ll Take You Home (Johnny Moore).”
From a 2016 From The Vaults post: “Lewis is probably the most underrated of all the Drifters’ lead singers. He had the bad fortune to come in after Ben E. King redefined the group’s sound and never got the recognition that King did.” And King had had a series of solo hits.
Nevertheless, Lewis, who sang with the legendary gospel arranger Clara Ward, was the primary lead from 1961 to 1963 and had hits such as Some Kind Of Wonderful (#6 RB, #32 pop in 1961), Up On The Roof (#4 RB, #5 pop in 1963) and On Broadway (#7 RB, #9 pop in 1963). He died in 1964, at least in part from drug use, an early member of the 27 Club. He is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Here’s Jay & the Americans with Charlie Thomas’ Drifters performing Only in America live, obviously many years later.
