Hotcakes (Carly Simon)
Encyclopedia
Hotcakes is singer-songwriter
Carly Simon
's fourth studio album
, released in 1974.
Hotcakes became one of Simon's biggest selling albums. It featured the hits "Mockingbird", a duet with her then-husband James Taylor
(a cover
of a 1963 hit for Inez and Charlie Foxx
), and "Haven't Got Time For The Pain", as well as many other songs that reflected Simon's upbeat beat mood during her pregnancy with her first child. On the album cover, Simon sits in a gleamingly white kitchen, robustly pregnant, smiling brightly and wearing a somewhat bohemian white linen dress.
The album went gold immediately and it stayed on the charts for eight months. Yet it was overshadowed commercially by two other major albums released by Simon's own label, Elektra/Asylum, in the same month as Hotcakes, Joni Mitchell
's Court and Spark
and Bob Dylan
's Planet Waves
. These took the number two and number one spots, respectively, on the Billboard album chart while Hotcakes peaked at number three.
Singles - Billboard (North America)
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Carly Simon
Carly Simon
Carly Elisabeth Simon is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records, and has since been the recipient of two Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for her work...
's fourth studio album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, released in 1974.
Hotcakes became one of Simon's biggest selling albums. It featured the hits "Mockingbird", a duet with her then-husband James Taylor
James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....
(a cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of a 1963 hit for Inez and Charlie Foxx
Inez and Charlie Foxx
Charlie Foxx and his sister Inez Foxx were an African-American rhythm and blues and soul duo from Greensboro, North Carolina. Inez sang lead vocal, while Charlie sang back-up and played guitar.Their most successful record was with their novelty composition, "Mockingbird"...
), and "Haven't Got Time For The Pain", as well as many other songs that reflected Simon's upbeat beat mood during her pregnancy with her first child. On the album cover, Simon sits in a gleamingly white kitchen, robustly pregnant, smiling brightly and wearing a somewhat bohemian white linen dress.
The album went gold immediately and it stayed on the charts for eight months. Yet it was overshadowed commercially by two other major albums released by Simon's own label, Elektra/Asylum, in the same month as Hotcakes, Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
's Court and Spark
Court and Spark
Court and Spark is the sixth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. Released in January 1974, the album saw Mitchell infusing her folk-rock style, which she developed throughout her previous five albums, with jazz inflections...
and Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's Planet Waves
Planet Waves
Planet Waves is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's 14th studio album, released by Asylum Records in January 1974....
. These took the number two and number one spots, respectively, on the Billboard album chart while Hotcakes peaked at number three.
Track listing
All tracks composed by Carly Simon; except where indicated- "Safe and Sound" (Simon, Jacob BrackmanJacob BrackmanJacob Brackman is an American journalist, writer, and musical lyricist.After graduating from Harvard University in 1965, he went to work for Newsweek as a journalist. He remained there for six months and was then hired by The New Yorker...
) – 3:36 - "Mind on My Man" – 2:57
- "Think I'm Gonna Have a Baby" – 3:55
- "Older Sister" – 3:06
- "Just Not True" – 5:16
- "Hotcakes" – 1:07
- "Misfit" – 3:04
- "Forever My Love" (Simon, James TaylorJames TaylorJames Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....
) – 3:25 - "Mockingbird" (Inez and Charlie FoxxInez and Charlie FoxxCharlie Foxx and his sister Inez Foxx were an African-American rhythm and blues and soul duo from Greensboro, North Carolina. Inez sang lead vocal, while Charlie sang back-up and played guitar.Their most successful record was with their novelty composition, "Mockingbird"...
, with additional lyrics by James Taylor) – 4:11 - "Grownup" – 3:44
- "Haven't Got Time For the Pain" (Simon, Jacob Brackman) – 3:50
Personnel
- Carly Simon - guitar, piano, vocals
- Dr. JohnDr. JohnMalcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...
- guiutar, keyboards - Robbie RobertsonRobbie RobertsonRobbie Robertson, OC; is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band. He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
- guitar - James TaylorJames TaylorJames Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....
- guitar, background vocals - Michael BreckerMichael BreckerMichael Leonard Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane," he has been awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer and was inducted into Down Beat Jazz...
- saxophone - Richard Davis - bass
- Bucky PizzarelliBucky PizzarelliJohn Paul "Bucky" Pizzarelli is an American Jazz guitarist and banjoist, and the father of jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli and upright bassist Martin Pizzarelli. Pizzarelli has also worked for NBC as a staffman for Dick Cavett and also ABC with Bobby Rosengarden in...
- guitar - Howard Johnson - tuba, saxophone
- Ralph MacDonaldRalph MacDonaldRalph MacDonald is an American percussionist and song-writer. He joined Harry Belafonte's band at age 17. He wrote the Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway song "Where is the Love" with songwriting partner William Salter. Probably his best-known composition is the Grover Washington, Jr...
- percussion - Jim KeltnerJim KeltnerJames Lee "Jim" Keltner is an American drummer known primarily for his session work. He has contributed to the work of many well-known artists...
- drums - Jim GordonJim Gordon (musician)James Beck "Jim" Gordon is an American recording artist, musician and songwriter. The Grammy Award winner was one of the most requested session drummers in the late 1960s and 1970s, recording albums with many well-known musicians of the time, and was the drummer in the blues-rock supergroup Derek...
- drums - Tasha Thomas - background vocals
- Kenny Ascher - keyboards
- Larry Brean - slap bass
- Paul BuckmasterPaul BuckmasterPaul John Buckmaster is a Grammy Award-winning English artist, arranger and composer.He began learning the cello at the age of 4 and graduated from the Royal College of Music at age 16....
- strings - Billy CobhamBilly CobhamWilliam C. Cobham is a Panamanian American jazz drummer, composer and bandleader, who has called Switzerland home since the late 1970s....
- tuba, saxophone - George Devens - percussion
- Benny Diggs - background vocals
- Todd Graff - background vocals
- Lani Groves - background vocals
- Carl Hall - background vocals
- Bobby KeysBobby KeysBobby Keys is an American saxophone player, and has performed with other musicians as a member of one of the notable horn sections of the 1970s. He appears on albums by The Rolling Stones, The Who, Harry Nilsson, Delaney Bramlett, George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, Eric Clapton and Joe...
- saxophone - Russ KunkelRuss KunkelRussell Kunkel , also known as Russ Kunkel, is an American drummer and producer who has worked as a session musician with a number of well-known artists.Kunkel was born in Pittsburgh, PA...
- drums - Steve Madaio - trumpet
- Rick MarottaRick MarottaRick Marotta is a US-based drummer and percussionist who appears on many recordings by leading artists such as Aretha Franklin, Carly Simon, Steely Dan, James Taylor, Paul Simon, John Lennon, Hall & Oates, Stevie Nicks, Wynonna, Roy Orbison, Todd Rundgren, Roberta Flack, Peter Frampton, Quincy...
- drums - Andy NewmarkAndy NewmarkAndrew "Andy" Newmark is an American musician, best known as a popular session drummer, and for playing with the funk band Sly & the Family Stone from 1972 to 1973....
- drums - Richard PerryRichard PerryRichard Perry is an American music producer. Perry began as a performer in his adolescence, but shifted gears after graduating college and rose through the late 1960s and early 1970s to become a highly successful and popular record producer with over a dozen gold records to his credit by 1982...
- background vocals - Barry Rogers - trombone, trumpet
- Jim Ryan - guitar, bass
- Lucy Simon - background vocals
- David SpinozzaDavid SpinozzaDavid Spinozza is an American musician , who worked with former Beatles Paul McCartney and John Lennon during the 1970s, and had a long collaboration with singer-songwriter James Taylor, producing Taylor's album Walking Man....
- guitar - Klaus VoormannKlaus VoormannKlaus Voormann is a German Grammy Award-winning artist, noted musician, and record producer. He designed artwork for many bands including The Beatles, The Bee Gees, Wet Wet Wet and Turbonegro. His most notable work as a producer was his work with the band Trio, including their worldwide hit "Da Da...
- bass
Charts
Album - Billboard (North America)| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Pop Albums | 3 |
Singles - Billboard (North America)
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | "Haven't Got Time For The Pain" | Adult Contemporary | 2 |
| 1974 | "Haven't Got Time For The Pain" | Pop Singles | 14 |
| 1974 | "Mockingbird" | Adult Contemporary | 10 |
| 1974 | "Mockingbird" | Pop Singles | 5 |