“Bright Lights, Big City”
Sonny James
Written by Jimmy Reed
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
July 24, 1971
We’re nearing the end of the number one streak that we picked up midstream, with “Bright Lights, Big City” serving as the fifteenth of sixteen consecutive chart toppers from Sonny James.
The chart performance is as impressive as James’ commitment to the material, but just like this hit’s one week at the top suggests he’s starting to lose steam commercially, the record itself shows James losing the plot artistically.
He has clear reverence for Jimmy Reed’s foundational blues record that was so important for the development of rock and roll. He just can’t pull it off convincingly. James has gone outside his wheelhouse before and delivered effective covers of R&B classics, but this one is too far out of his reach.
It’s painful to say, as I have enjoyed quite a bit of James’ run at the top, but this cover isn’t a throwback to Jimmy Reed and the golden age of rock and roll. It’s a throwback to the Pat Boone covers that lost their relevance once white audiences fully embraced black artists.
“Bright Lights, Big City” gets a C.
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I think it’s a pretty good performance but his vocal is lacking a bit of the energy for the song itself. I would give it a “B”.
I agree with Tom P – Sonny’s performance4 of this song lacks oomph but is still a pretty good performance, plus it generated some income for Jimmy Reed, who badly needed it at the time.
This is definitely pretty flat. The weakest of the hits featured here thus far. A “C” is actually a bit generous.
Bonus Beats:
Bill Cosby recorded a version of “Bright Lights, Big City” in 1967. I’m not gonna link it.
But here’s a 1968 Jimi Hendrix rarity where Hendrix does an acoustic cover of “Bright Lights, Big City”:
https://youtu.be/fZ9C0mhOvDQ
Here’s the version that Neil Young recorded for his 1983 album Everybody’s Rockin’:
https://youtu.be/iXnRadLG7PQ
And here’s the version Jerry Lee Lewis recorded, which features Neil Young as well as Ivan Neville (Aaron’s son), for his 2014 album Rock and Roll Time:
https://youtu.be/8kb272MaTAU
Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis recorded a version for their 2008 collaborative album Two Men with the Blues. Here’s that:
https://youtu.be/mWUDiqJ0wS0
I love the jangly, loose production here, but I agree that Sonny James doesn’t sing this with the energy it needs. There’s some disjointedness between production and vocal here.
Even minus the right amount of vocal energy, I admire the performance.
I am too big a fan to provide meaningful criticism.