“Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me” from singer/songwriter Mac Davis is today’s classic song of the day. Released as a single in July of 1972, this one went all the way to #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Easy Listening charts.
Mac Davis had made his bones as a songwriter, writing tunes like “In the Ghetto,” “Don’t Cry Daddy,” and “A Little Less Conversation” for Elvis Presley, “Watching Scotty Grow” for Bobby Goldsboro, “Something’s Burning” for Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, and “I Believe in Music” for Gallery. He wrote “Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me” for his first solo album, after his record company implored him to write a song with a hook. Mac apparently took the demand literally.
Mr. Davis had a long career as a performer and did a little acting along the way, too, appearing in films like North Dallas Forty and The Sting II. He even had his own variety show on NBC, The Mac Davis Show, which ran from 1974 to 1976. He passed away in 2020, age 78, following heart surgery.
Which brings us to today’s daily bonus video of the day, Mac Davis performing “Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me” on the February 16, 1973, episode of The Midnight Special. I think he’s singing live to a prerecorded backing track.
