Today’s classic song of the day is “Hello It’s Me” by Todd Rundgren. This precious piece of melodic power pop was released as a single in August of 1973 and it hit #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was Todd’s only Top Ten hit.
“Hello It’s Me” goes beyond typical power pop to include a bevy of extended chords, as was Mr. Rundgren’s want at the time. The first verse dithers between Gm7 and Am7 before moving on to an FMaj7 – EbMaj7 – Dm7 – Cm7 – BbMaj7 – AbMaj7/Bb – Bb progression, which is pretty cool sounding.
There’s another descending chord pattern at the end of chorus that goes Gm7 – FMaj7 – EbMaj7 – Dm7 – C7sus4 – C7. (Mr. Rundgren really liked his descending seventh-chord patterns.) That leads back to the opening Gm7 chord of the following verse. It’s a pleasant-sounding progression that tricks you into not realizing that the song doesn’t really settle into any single tonal center.
“Hello It’s Me” was recorded for Rundgren’s Something/Anything?, album, which was released in February of 1972. I didn’t really pay much attention to the album (other than this song and “I Saw the Light,” the two big radio singles) until my freshman year in college in 1976. My friend Brian Siemers and his brother Eric had this one in heavy rotation on their collective turntable and I couldn’t help but get into it then. It’s a remarkable double album, with the first three sides recorded by Todd all by his lonesome and the fourth side recorded pretty much live in the studio with a band and background singers.
“Hello It’s Me” was on that live-in-the-studio fourth side, as you can tell from the multiple aborted intros and intentionally sloppy extended out chorus. The song wasn’t original to this album, however. It was actually the very first song Todd ever wrote, or so he says, way back in 1967. He recorded it with his first group, Nazz, on their self-titled 1968 debut album, as kind of a slow ballad. It definitely benefits from picking up the tempo here, it’s just a perfect piece of pop perfection with the kind of melody that was second nature to Mr. Rundgren.
Believe it or not, that’s the Brecker Brothers (Randy and Michael) on trumpet and sax, and Vicki Sue Robinson (who later had her own solo hit with “Turn the Beat Around”) as one of the backing singers. The song is all Todd, however, and it’s the better for it. The man certainly knew how to write a catchy tune!
