Mac Davis earns one of the 1970s most head scratching 1 hits with Baby Don t Get Hooked on Me
On September 23 1972 Baby Dont Get Hooked On Me by singer-songwriter Mac Davis reached the top of the American pop charts.In a year that not only saw Congress pass the Equal Rights Amendment but also saw Helen Reddy score a 1 hit with her feminist anthem I Am Woman Baby Dont Get Hooked On Me stands in rather stark contrast as one of the more blithely chauvinistic pop hits of all time.Early in his career Scott Mac Davis was best known within the music industry as a professional songwriter who scored a quartet of late-career hits for Elvis PresleyA Little Less Conversation (1968) Memories (1969) In The Ghetto (1969) and Dont Cry Daddy (1969)and another for Bobby GoldsboroWatching Scotty Grow (1971).With Baby Dont Get Hooked On Me Davis would score his first hit as a performer.Baby Dont Get Hooked On Me was sung from the perspective of a young man reluctant to allow a romantic fling to turn into a committed relationship despite a certain undeniable fondness for his paramour.
Youre a hot-blooded woman-child he sings and its warm where youre touchin me.But after dispensing with such pleasantries the protagonist proceeds to explain Baby baby dont get hooked on meCause Ill just use you and Ill set you free.Despite lyrics likely to be deemed chauvinistic by 21st-century standards Baby Dont Get Hooked On Me found ready acceptance in 1972 and launched Mac Davis on a decade-long run in the pop-cultural spotlight.And in contrast to the apparent callousness of Baby Dont Get Hooked On Me Mac Davis proved during that run to be one of the most charming and likable characters in the pop-cultural landscape not only hosting his own short-lived TV variety show but also making numerous appearances as an actor on television and in movies.And if the song that made him a star hasnt aged all that well his signature tune I Believe In Music and his humorously self-deprecating country hit Its Hard To Be Humble certainly have.
