Hello It's Me

"Hello It's Me" is a song written by American musician Todd Rundgren. It was the first song he wrote, and was recorded by his group Nazz as a slow ballad, released as the B-side of the band's first single, "Open My Eyes", in 1968. A mid-tempo version of "Hello It's Me", recorded for Rundgren's 1972 solo album Something/Anything?, was issued as a single in September 1973, reaching No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

For the album by Lani Hall, see Hello It's Me (album). For other uses, see Hello (disambiguation).
"Hello It’s Me"
UK single label
Single by Nazz
from the album Nazz
A-side"Open My Eyes"
ReleasedJuly 1968 (1968-07)
RecordedApril 1968 (1968-04)
StudioStarfish Sound, Philadelphia/Hazleton, Pennsylvania
GenrePop
Length3:57
LabelSGC
Songwriter(s)Todd Rundgren
Producer(s)
  • Michael Friedman
  • Nazz
Nazz singles chronology
"Open My Eyes"
(1968)		 "Hello It’s Me"
(1968)		 "Not Wrong Long"
(1969)

History

"Hello It's Me" was the first song written by Todd Rundgren.[1] Written in 1967 as a slow ballad about the break up of a relationship,[2] it was released in October 1968 as the B-side of his band Nazz's debut single "Open My Eyes", and included on the debut album Nazz (1968). Although released as a B-side, it was picked up in preference to the A-side by Boston radio station WMEX, where it rose to No. 1, and was subsequently picked up by other stations. It entered the Billboard chart in February 1969, peaking at number 71, and re-entered the charts the following January, this time peaking at number 66.

Rundgren's songs in this early phase of his career were heavily influenced by the work of Laura Nyro, but in a 2005 interview he revealed that the basic structure of the song was adapted from the introduction of a Jimmy Smith recording:

...the main influence for Hello It's Me was an eight bar intro that Jimmy Smith played on a recording of When Johnny Comes Marching Home.  He had this whole sort of block chord thing that he did to set up the intro of the song.  I tried to capture those changes, and those changes became what are the changes underneath Hello It's Me.  I then had to come up with melody and words, but the changes are actually almost lifted literally from something that was, from Jimmy Smith's standpoint, a throwaway.

— Todd Rundgren, puremusic.com [1]

Todd Rundgren solo version
"Hello It’s Me"
1974 France single picture sleeve
Single by Todd Rundgren
from the album Something/Anything?
B-side"Cold Morning Light"
ReleasedSeptember 1973 (1973-09)
Recorded1971
StudioThe Record Plant, New York City
Genre
Length
  • 3:31 (single)
  • 4:42 (album)
LabelBearsville
Songwriter(s)Todd Rundgren
Producer(s)Todd Rundgren
Todd Rundgren singles chronology
"Couldn't I Just Tell You"
(1972)		 "Hello It’s Me"
(1973)		 "A Dream Goes On Forever"
(1974)

Rundgren recorded a more midtempo version of "Hello It's Me" for his 1972 solo album Something/Anything?. An edit of this version was released as a single in September 1973, over a year and a half after Something/Anything? and became Rundgren's only top ten pop hit, reaching No. 5 on the Hot 100. It also reached No. 17 on the Adult Contemporary chart.[9]

Personnel

Chart history

Weekly charts
Chart (1973–74) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[11] 68
Canada RPM Top Singles 17
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary[12] 9
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[13] 5
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary 17
U.S. Cash Box Top 100[14] 2

Year-end charts
Chart (1973) Rank
Canada RPM Top Singles[15] 139
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[16] 82
Chart (1974) Rank
U.S. Cash Box [17] 23

Other versions

References
  1. Bill DeMain, "A Conversation with Todd Rundgren", puremusic.com
  2. Marc Myers (November 26, 2018). "The Bad Breakup that Led to "Hello It's Me"". The Wall Street Journal.
  3. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Todd Rundgren – Great Classics". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
  4. Zimmerman, Lee (4 May 2015). "Todd Rundgren, Emil Nikolaisen, Hans-Peter Lindstrom: Runddans". PopMatters. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
  5. Greenwald, David (3 April 2014). "The top 10 '70s soft-rock seduction ballads (playlist)". OregonLive.com. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
  6. Don Breithaupt; Jeff Breithaupt (29 July 2014). Precious and Few: Pop Music of the Early '70s. St. Martin's Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-1-4668-7649-1. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  7. SPIN Media LLC (February 1993). SPIN. SPIN Media LLC. p. 53. ISSN 0886-3032. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  8. Vibe Media Group (October 1999). "Vibe". Vibe Vixen. Vibe Media Group: 189. ISSN 1070-4701. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  9. Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 208.
  10. Todd Rundgren- "Hello, It's Me" information @fleetwoodmac.net Retrieved 1-15-2011.
  11. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 261. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  12. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1974-01-19. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
  13. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  14. Cash Box Top 100 Singles, December 22, 1973
  15. Canada, Library and Archives (July 13, 2017). "Image : RPM Weekly".
  16. Musicoutfitters.com
  17. "Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 28, 1974". Archived from the original on October 9, 2016. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
  18. Hello It's Me at AllMusic
  19. Stanton Swihart. "Groove Theory". AllMusic. Netaktion LLC.
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