Paul Revere & the Raiders – "Hungry" (1966)

If I break some rules along the way

Girl, you gotta understand

[NOTE: Paul Revere & the Raiders followed up "Kicks" (which made it all the way to #4 on the Billboard "Hot 100" chart in 1966) with "Hungry" (which peaked at #6).  Both songs – which were written by the legendary husband-wife songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil – were on the setlist when the group performed in my hometown in 1967.  Here is a slightly edited version of the post I wrote about that concert in 2010.]

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Paul Revere and the Raiders were the biggest band to appear in concert in my home town (Joplin, Missouri) when I was growing up.  I went to the concert – which took place in either the late spring or summer of 1967 – when I was 15, and just about to enter high school.

Paul Revere and the Raiders in Joplin

Between late 1965 and mid-1969, Paul Revere and the Raiders had a dozen hit singles – including four that made it to #6 or better on the Billboard "Hot 100" charts – and three gold albums.  

Their four biggest hit singles – including "Kicks," "Hungry," and "Good Thing" – were released in 1966 or early 1967, so they were pretty much at the peak of their national popularity when I saw them at Joplin's Memorial Hall. 

Which leads me to ask this question: Why in the world did one of the most successful top-40 bands in the country decide to play a concert in Joplin?  I have no answer for that one – I don't even have a remotely plausible theory.

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To make the Joplin visit even more remarkable, it turns out that the photo for the Raiders' next album cover was taken on the porch of a house in Joplin.

Here's the album cover:

Why was the album cover photo taken there?  According to a 2010 Joplin Globe interview with Paul Revere (real name: Paul Revere Dick), Columbia Records decided in 1967 that it was time for the band to get a new album out toot sweet.

Because their tour was going to last for some time, the record company flew a photographer from California to Joplin to shoot the cover of the album, which was titled "Revolution."  The photographer drove around town, looking for visual inspiration, and stumbled upon what Revere said he described to the band members as "a beautiful old colonial mansion."

The photographer must have flunked American history.  He may have flunked architecture history as well -- the house he chose looks a little bit like an antebellum Southern plantation but doesn't look remotely colonial.

Here's what that house looks like today:

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Paul Revere and the Raiders were a terribly entertaining bunch.

In this video of the band lip-synching to "Steppin' Out" on a Canadian TV show, there is no attempt to pretend that they are actually performing the song live.  (Look closely and you'll see that the boys are playing toy musical instruments.)

Click here to see the band performing at a "Penguin for Mayor" rally on the old "Batman" TV show.

Click here to see a really odd TV performance of "Kicks."

And last but not least, click here to watch the group performing "Hungry" – the newest member of the 2 OR 3 LINES "GOLDEN DECADE" HIT SINGLES HALL OF FAME.

Click here to buy "Hungry" from Amazon.