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Baker Knight has been called a ‘Songwriter’s songwriter’ by industry greats and fans alike. His songs have been recorded by over 40 recording artists starting in 1958 with Rick Nelson’s classic hit “Lonesome Town.” This was followed by 21 more songs that Baker penned for Rick including “There’ll Never Be Anyone Else But You” and “I Got A Feelin’.”
Besides the hit songs he wrote for Rick Nelson, Baker also wrote 11 songs for Dean Martin with the biggest being “Somewhere There’s A Someone” and “Nobody’s Baby Again.”
I’ve always been interested in how songwriters come up with their titles. For “Somewhere There’s A Someone” Baker said that he was standing outside a restaurant in Hollywood waiting for some friends. There was a convertible car that slowed down due to the traffic and a pretty woman who was driving looked at Baker and smiled. Now you have to understand that Baker was just an ordinary looking man and he knew that. So he thought to himself ‘imagine a pretty woman like that looking at me and smiling.’ The thought he had at that point was ‘Good Lord, Somewhere There’s A Someone for everyone. It sounds like a great title for a song to me (smile).
Elvis Presley’s “The Wonder of You” was a Baker Knight song that was a Two Million Performance Award winner.
Other artists recorded Baker’s songs including Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Mickey Gilley, Hank Williams Jr., Paul McCartney, Bobby Vinton, and Eddy Arnold.
I became aware of Baker when I purchased a CD that he recorded titled “Music Is My Woman.” The CD cover was quite different compared to many of the lackluster ones put out by the industry. And of course the songs were great with the whole mix of ballads, country music, novelty and more.
I met Baker by chance and we became friends as I am always interested in musicians and songwriters and how they view their craft. During one of our conversations he asked me if I would like a copy of his autobiography and I said of course yes as I knew it would be interesting reading. One of Baker’s endearing traits is that he never wanted to offend anyone and that was why he asked me first if I would mind his sending the book to me. This was in the summer of 2005. Lo and behold the book arrived a couple of weeks later and he had autographed the inside cover. Sadly a few months later Baker passed away in October of 2005.
Whenever I hear a Baker Knight song playing in a store I think to myself how lucky we all are that Baker has left us the gift of his music. But more important to me was his giving me a copy of his book. It left a lasting impression on me as I often think to myself what a wonderful thing for someone to do before leaving this earth. Just imagine if our last thought of anyone we know that passed away was that they gave us a small gift before leaving us. I will always treasure that book and remember the kindness of a man I met by simply talking with him about our love of music.
Copyright © Paul Romaine 2010
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Source by Paul Romaine