Tuesday January 26, 2021 “Kansas City” Wilbert Harrison
We’re in Kansas City today on our rock & roll road trip, one of the very few US cities that I am aware of that spans two states, in this instance Missouri and Kansas.
“Kansas City” written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller was originally recorded by Little Willie Littlefield but today's song of the day is the most familiar and number one version of the song done by Wilbert Harrison. There would be more than three hundred versions of the song recorded by artists as varied as Buck Owens and the Beatles.
Leiber & Stoller are one of the premiere songwriting teams to come out of the Brill Building and would write over seventy hits including many Elvis Presley songs, all of the Coasters songs and iconic tunes like “Love Potion # 9” and “Stand by Me”.
Legendary record producer Phil Spector was a frequent session musician for early Leiber & Stoller songs and played the guitar solo on the Drifters’ hit “On Broadway” while he was learning the basics of production that he would later apply to his wall of sound.
Stay safe and well...and apparently Twelfth Street and Vine don't actually intersect in Kansas City, poetic license no doubt.