Elvis Presley’s Songwriter Wrote a No. 1 Song of His Own

The writer of several Elvis Presley songs was a singer in his own right. After a producer told him to write a song with a good hook, he wrote a song as a joke. Subsequently, the song became a No. 1 hit in the United States.

Elvis Presley’s songwriter worked with Bruno Mars and other major artists

Mac Davis was a famous professional songwriter. He wrote a number of songs for Elvis, including “Memories,” “Don’t Cry Daddy,” “In the Ghetto,” and “A Little Less Conversation.” More recently, he also wrote for artists such as Keith Urban, Weezer, Avicii, and Bruno Mars.

During a 2017 interview with SongwriterUniverse, Davis discussed a conversation he had with producer Rick Hall. “He kept bugging me, saying ‘You know, you’ve got to give me a hook, man, you gotta give me a hook son,'” Davis recalled. “‘I can’t get hits with these old, syrupy love ballads you’re bringing in. You give all your hook songs to Elvis, Bobby Goldsboro, and Kenny Rogers, and then you bring me these old love ballads. I need a hook!'”

What happened when Elvis Presley’s songwriter wrote a track called ‘Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me’ as a joke

Hall’s words stuck with Davis. “I came up with, ‘Baby baby don’t get hooked on me … wink wink,” Davis recalled. “Then I went back downstairs and I stopped everything — I was winking to the musicians there. I said to Rick, ‘I think I got you a hook song.’ I sang, ‘Baby baby don’t get hooked on me.'”

Hall had a strong reaction to the song. “And by the time I got through the chorus, he says ‘That’s a smash,'” Davis remembered. “I said to him, ‘You didn’t get the joke … Hooked on me.’ He said, ‘I don’t care what it is … it’s a smash and we’re gonna cut it.’ And that’s the way it came about.”

The way listeners in the United States and the United Kingdom reacted to Mac Davis’ ‘Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me’

“Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me” became Davis’ biggest hit as a solo artist. For three weeks, the song topped the Billboard Hot 100. It stayed on the chart for 18 weeks. The track appeared on the album of the same name. Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me reached No. 11 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 44 weeks.

The Official Charts Company reports “Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me” became a minor hit in the United Kingdom. It reached No. 29 there and stayed on the chart for six weeks. Meanwhile, the album Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me did not chart there.

Davis had an incredible career writing for other singers and “Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me” showed he could write incredible songs for himself.