This week we’re focusing on hits from the early 1970s and our first classic early ’70s song of the day is “Indiana Wants Me” by R. Dean Taylor. This single was released in August of 1970 and shot to #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the competing Cash Box Top 100.
“Indiana Wants Me” was written by Mr. Taylor and released on Rare Earth Records. That label was a subsidiary of Motown Records, making Mr. Taylor one of the rare white artists to have a hit for Motown. (The group Rare Earth, also on Rare Earth Records, was another.) Mr. Taylor, a Canadian, started working for Motown in 1964 as a songwriter and recording artist, working with the team of Holland-Dozier-Holland to little avail. He later became a part of the Motown writing/production team known as the Clan, responsible for hits like the Supremes’ “Love Child” and “I’m Livin’ in Shame.”
This single is notable for its use of a police siren in the intro and middle sections. Motown removed the sirens from some copies supplied to radio stations after a few drivers thought they were real and pulled off to the side of the road. (Did they also think the voice on the bullhorn was real, saying “This is the police, give yourself up, you are surrounded?”)
Mr. Taylor’s recording of “Indiana Wants Me” was his only hit here in the U.S., although he had a few other successes in Canada (“Gotta See Jane”) and the UK (“There’s a Ghost in My House”). His career fizzled out after that; he passed away in 2022, age 82, of COVID complications.
