1967 Jimmie Rodgers – Child Of Clay
After years of recording at least a dozen top forty singles for Roulette Records, Jimmie Rodgers signed with Dot Records in 1962. He continued recording the light pop/folk and country music style songs he liked with the new label.
Unfortunately, he did not reach the top forty on the Hot 100 for over six years, from 1960 to 1966.
Jimmie was at Carnegie Hall to perform as a warm-up act for Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass in 1966. He began talking with a young woman who was visibly crying and learned that she was upset because she had just broken up with her boyfriend. She said, “It’s over,” and Jimmie went back to his room and immediately wrote a song with that title.
It’s Over reached #37 on the Hot 100 and #5 on the Adult Contemporary chart and the single helped revitalize his career.
Perhaps as a result of that success, Jimmie signed a new recording contract with A&M Records and issued a new album in 1967. The title song from the album was Child Of Clay, a mild protest song. The single reached #31 on the Hot 100 and #21 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
A bizarre encounter with an off-duty cop in the Los Angeles area later in 1967 left Jimmie with a debilitating head injury that was never completely explained. He struggled through a long recovery and accepted a payment to settle a lawsuit against the Los Angeles City Council.
Jimmie contracted COVID, developed kidney disease, and died in 2021.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmie_Rodgers_(pop_singer)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_Over_(Jimmie_Rodgers_song)
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