Poor Side of Town

"Poor Side of Town" is a song by Johnny Rivers that reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and the RPM Canadian Chart in November 1966. The song marked a turning point in Rivers' career that saw him move away from his earlier rock and roll style toward pop ballads.

Song
Johnny Rivers would recall of "Poor Side of Town": "I don’t know what inspired it…It was not from any personal experience, because I was living in Beverly Hills." Although he'd describe it as "an easy song to write", Rivers would say the song: "took…about five months to write…I kept writing little bits and pieces of it." With the parent album of "Poor Side of Town": Changes, Rivers shifted from southern rock to an orchestral pop sound with a string-&-brass arrangement by Marty Paich who had orchestrated the recent Top 5 hits by the Mamas & the Papas, the LA Phil musicians who had played on the Mamas & Papas tracks also playing on Changes.

The single edit of "Poor Side of Town" reduces the coda of the album track, which following the repeated lyric line: "Oh with you by my side" continues, finishing up the verse, and following the repeated guitar riff, repeats the sung introduction of the scatting, before the song fades out.

Cover versions

 * The 5th Dimension recorded the song for the 1967 album, Up, Up and Away.
 * Al Wilson released a version of the song as a single from his 1968 album, Searching for the Dolphins. It reached No.75 in the U.S. in 1969.
 * Beverly Bremers released a version of the song on her 1972 album, I'll Make You Music.
 * Joe Stampley released a version of the song as a single from the 1983 album, Backslidin'.
 * Lynn Anderson recorded a version of the song on her 1980 album Even Cowgirls Get The Blues
 * Nick Lowe released a version of the song on his 2001 album, The Convincer.
 * Mark Oliver Everett (better known as Eels) recorded an acoustic version of the song backed by a mini orchestra on his 2006 live album, Eels with Strings: Live at Town Hall.
 * The Heart Beats' version appears on The Complete '60s Masters released in 2023.

Personnel

 * Lead vocals and guitar by Johnny Rivers.
 * Piano by Larry Knechtel
 * Bass by Joe Osborn
 * Drums by Hal Blaine
 * Background vocals by The Blossoms: Darlene Love, Fanita James, and Jean King.
 * Written by Johnny Rivers and Lou Adler.
 * Produced by Lou Adler.