"Detroit City" is a song written by

Danny Dill Horace Eldred "Danny" Dill (September 19, 1924 – October 23, 2008) was an American country music singer and songwriter. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1975. Biography Dill, born in Clarksburg, Tennessee, got ...

and

Mel Tillis Lonnie Melvin Tillis (August 8, 1932 – November 19, 2017) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Although he recorded songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the 1970s as part of the outlaw country movement, ...

, made famous by Billy Grammer (as "I Wanna Go Home"),

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer

Bobby Bare Robert Joseph Bare Sr. (born April 7, 1935) is an American country music singer and songwriter, best known for the songs " Marie Laveau", " Detroit City" and " 500 Miles Away from Home". He is the father of Bobby Bare Jr., also a musician. Earl ...

and

Tom Jones Tom Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tom Jones (singer) (born 1940), Welsh singer *Tom Jones (writer) (1928–2023), American librettist and lyricist *''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', a novel by Henry Fielding published in 1 ...

. Bare's version was released in

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

. The song — sometimes known as "I Wanna Go Home" (from the opening line to the refrain) — was Bare's first Top 10 hit on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sa ...

chart that summer, and became a country music standard.

About the song

Prior to Bare's success with "Detroit City," country singer Billy Grammer released his version of the

penned song. His version was known as "I Wanna Go Home" and peaked at #18 on the ''Billboard'' country charts in 1963. The song is the working man's complaint, and "with its melody reminiscent of the '

Sloop John B "Sloop John B" (originally published as "The John B. Sails") is a Bahamian folk song from Nassau. A transcription by Richard Le Gallienne was published in 1916, and a version was included in Carl Sandburg's ''The American Songbag'' in 1927. Since ...

,' describes the alienation felt by many rural southerners in the mid North," wrote country music historian Bill Malone. "Here, are'searnest and plaintive interpretation lends great believability to this mournful song."

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

describes the song as "...not so much the song of a dreamer, but the song of someone who is caught up in a fantasy of the way things used to be. But the listener knows that it just doesn't exist." Bare's version begins in the key of E, until after the repeat of the refrain, he makes a transition to the key of B for the second verse and refrain. He makes a transition back to the key of E as the song fades out. Bare's version also features a spoken recitation following half of the second verse, before singing the refrain before the song's fade. The song's peak in popularity during the summer of 1963 came during a time when Tillis was still experiencing most of his success as a songwriter. He had previously written hits for

Webb Pierce Michael Webb Pierce (August 8, 1921 – February 24, 1991) was an American honky-tonk vocalist, songwriter and guitarist of the 1950s, one of the most popular of the genre, charting more number one hits than any other country artist during the ...

Brenda Lee Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Performing rockabilly, pop and country music, she had 47 US chart hits during the 1960s and is ranked fourth in that decade, surpassed onl ...

Stonewall Jackson Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (January 21, 1824 – May 10, 1863) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, considered one of the best-known Confederate commanders, after Robert E. Lee. He played a prominent role in nearl ...

, and others, but this was one of his earliest major hits as a songwriter outside of those artists. The song won Bobby Bare a Grammy for the Best Country & Western Recording in 1963.

Chart performance

Grammer's "I Wanna Go Home" reached #18 on the ''Billboard''

chart in early 1963. That summer, Bare's re-titled version peaked at #6 on the ''Billboard'' country chart (it spent total of 18 weeks on this chart) and #16 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Billy Grammer

Bobby Bare

Tom Jones

Dean Martin

Other Covers

Jan & Dean Jan and Dean was an American rock duo consisting of William Jan Berry (April 3, 1941 – March 26, 2004) and Dean Ormsby Torrence (born March 10, 1940). In the early 1960s, they were pioneers of the California Sound and vocal surf music styles ...

covered the song for their 1963 album ''Surf City And Other Swingin' Cities''. *

Arthur Alexander Arthur Alexander (May 10, 1940 – June 9, 1993) was an American country soul songwriter and singer. Jason Ankeny, music critic for AllMusic, said Alexander was a "country-soul pioneer" and that, though largely unknown, "his music is the stuff ...

released the song as a single in 1965 backed with " You Don't Care," but it did not perform well and proved to be his last single for

Dot Records Dot Records was an American record label founded by Randy Wood (record producer), Randy Wood and Gene Nobles that was active between 1950 and 1978. The original headquarters of Dot Records were in Gallatin, Tennessee. In 1956, the company moved ...

. Nonetheless, historian

Nat Hentoff Nathan Irving Hentoff (June 10, 1925 – January 7, 2017) was an American historian, novelist, jazz and country music critic, and syndicated columnist for United Media. Hentoff was a columnist for ''The Village Voice'' from 1958 to 2009. Fo ...

described Alexander's rendition as "deeply compelling," stating that it " clipsedthe original version by Bobby Bare." Alexander biographer described it as "a stirring rendition." '' Music USA: A Rough Guide'' also praised Alexander's version. '' No Depression'' magazine states that Alexander's version "mourns a rural-to-urban migration that black Americans could relate to every bit as much as poor Southern whites." *

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as " rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis mad ...

released a version on his 1965 album ''Country Songs for City Folks''. *

The Jordanaires The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. Over the years, they recorded both sacred and secular music for recording companies such as Capitol Records, RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Decca Records, Vocal ...

released a cover on their 1966 album ''The Big Country Hits''. *

Charley Pride Charley Frank Pride (March 18, 1934 – December 12, 2020) was an American singer, guitarist, and professional baseball player. His greatest musical success came in the early to mid-1970s, when he was the best-selling performer for RCA Rec ...

released his cover of the song as the b-side of his 1966 hit " Just Between You and Me". Both songs were later included on the 1967 album '' Pride of Country Music''. *In 1967, the song was also covered by

, who had a UK Top 10 hit with it. The Jones version features Bare's spoken Recitation as well. Jones also included the song on his 1967 album ''

Green, Green Grass of Home "Green, Green Grass of Home", written by Claude "Curly" Putman Jr., and first recorded by singer Johnny Darrell in 1965, is a country song made popular by Porter Wagoner the same year, when it reached No. 4 on the Country chart. It was also r ...

''. *

Solomon Burke Solomon Vincent McDonald Burke (born James Solomon McDonald, March 21, 1936 or 1940 – October 10, 2010) was an American singer who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues as one of the founding fathers of soul music in the 1960s. He has been ...

covered the song in 1967 as well. His version reached #10 in the Canadian RPM Soul charts, January 27, 1968. *

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album ...

covered the song on her 1980 album ''

9 to 5 and Odd Jobs ''9 to 5 and Odd Jobs'' is the twenty-third solo studio album by American entertainer Dolly Parton. It was released on November 17, 1980, by RCA Records. A concept album about working, the album was centered on Parton's hit "9 to 5", which ser ...

''. *The song has also been covered by soul singer

Joe Tex Yusuf Hazziez (born Joseph Arrington Jr.; August 8, 1935 – August 13, 1982), known professionally as Joe Tex, was an American singer and musician who gained success in the 1960s and 1970s with his brand of Southern soul, which mixed the styl ...

. *The song was covered by Yugoslav beat band

Tomi Sovilj i Njegove Siluete Tomi Sovilj i Njegove Siluete ( sr-Cyrl, Томи Совиљ и Његове Силуете; trans. ''Tommy Sovilj and His Silhouettes'') were a Yugoslav beat group formed in Belgrade in 1964. They were one of the pioneers of the Yugoslav rock ...

on their 1967 EP ''Stoj, Džoni'' (''Stop, Johnny'').

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Detroit City 1963 singles 1967 singles Appalachian culture in Michigan Songs written by Danny Dill Songs written by Mel Tillis Bobby Bare songs Jan and Dean songs Billy Grammer songs Jerry Lee Lewis songs Tom Jones (singer) songs Dean Martin songs Songs about Detroit 1963 songs Decca Records singles RCA Records singles Arthur Alexander songs Dot Records singles Song recordings produced by Peter Sullivan (record producer)