#7: With Pen In Hand by Billy Vera

City: Guelph, ON
Radio Station: CJOY
Peak Month: August 1968
Peak Position in Guelph ~ #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #43
YouTube: “With Pen In Hand”
Lyrics: “With Pen In Hand”

William Patrick McCord was born in Riverside, California, in 1944. He grew up in New York State. His father was radio announcer Bill McCord. His mother, singer Ann Ryan, was a member of The Ray Charles Singers backing Perry Como on his TV show and his hit records. In 1962, at the age of 18, Bill jr. was a member of the Resolutions. He also recorded fronting Billy Vera and the Contrasts. In 1967, he wrote a song about interracial love titled “Storybook Children”. He also sang a duet with Judy Clay, a black singer. The single made the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart in 1967. He released several more duets with Clay and they appeared several times in concert at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem (New York City). Though the topic of interracial dating had been the subject of previous songs like “Society’s Child” (Janis Ian in 1966), Vera and Clay pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in the age of movies like Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? 

In 1968, Billy Vera recorded his debut solo titled “With Pen In Hand”.

“With Pen In Hand” was composed by Bobby Goldsboro who was born in Mariana, Florida, in the Florida Panhandle in 1941. From 1962 to 1964 Goldsboro toured with Orbison, including the tour where The Beatles appeared as the opening act on the UK tour with Orbison as headliner. He roomed with Roy Orbison and they became close friends. In 1962, Goldsboro released his first of four singles on Laurie Records. With United Artists Records Goldsboro wrote “See The Funny Little Clown”. The song peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 when he turned 23-years-old. That year Goldsboro was the opening act on tour with the Rolling Stones. Subsequently, he was the opening act on a tour headlined by the Four Seasons. The following year he was the opening act on tour with The Beach Boys.

He went on to have modest success with “Little Things”, “The Straight Life“, “Autumn of My Life“, “Muddy Mississippi Line“, “Watching Scotty Grow”, “Summer (The First Time)”, and especially his chart-topping 1968 hit “Honey”. In the early seventies he co-wrote jingles for corporations such as McDonald’s, Buick, Western Airlines, Honda and Bell Telephone. He also wrote and sang the theme song for the Mary Tyler Moore Show, “Love Is All Around“. In the years that followed Goldsboro had a TV show that ran for three years starting in 1973. After the mid-seventies, Goldsboro released a number of singles that climbed into the Top 20 on the Hot Country Singles chart and/or the Easy Listening chart. These include “Alice Doesn’t Love Here Anymore”, “A Butterfly for Bucky”, and “Goodbye Marie”, and “Me and the Elephants”. He formed House of Gold publishing company that published “Behind Closed Doors” for Charlie Rich, and “Wind Beneath My Wings”, a hit for Bette Midler. Over his career Bobby Goldsboro has been a nominated for a Grammy award six times. In addition to his musical career, Goldsboro is known for his oil paintings.

“With Pen In Hand” is a song that addresses the subjects of divorce and losing custody of one’s child. It is sung from the perspective of the parent who expects to be losing custody of their child, as they make a final plea to their spouse to reconcile before the divorce is finalized. The child in question is a girl named Jenny: “Can you teach her how to roll up her hair. Can you make sure each night that she says her prayers…”

“With Pen In Hand” peaked at #4 in Guelph (ON), #4 in Beckley (WV), #5 in New Haven (CT), #6 in Harrisburg (PA) and Roanoke (VA), #7 in Syracuse (NY), #8 in Hartford (CT) and Toronto, #9 in St. Thomas (ON), #10 in Winston-Salem (NC), and #11 in Columbus (OH). It climbed to #12 on the RPM Top 100 Singles chart in Canada, and #43 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA.

Before Billy Vera recorded “With Pen In Hand”, Johnny Darrell had a #3 hit with the song on Billboard‘s Hot Country Singles chart in 1968. In 1969, Vicki Carr had a Top 40 pop hit with the song in both the UK and USA. In 1970, Carr received a Grammy Award nomination for her live recording of the song in the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance category. Bobby Goldsboro recorded the song himself in 1972 and took it to the Top 30 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart. The song has also been recorded by Conway Twitty, Jerry Vale, and Aretha Franklin. R&B singer Dorothy Moore had a #12 hit with the song on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart in 1977.

After “With Pen In Hand”, Billy Vera had a slump in the music industry. During the seventies he served as conductor for many oldies acts, including the Shirelles, and Ronnie Spector. Vera also fronted the band at the 1972 Reunion concert of Dion & the Belmonts. However, in 1978 he wrote “I Really Got the Feeling” which was a number-one hit for Dolly Parton on the Hot Country Songs chart.

In 1979, Vera moved to Los Angeles and formed Billy & the Beaters. in 1981, they had a #39 hit with “I Can Take Care of Myself”. In 1987, “At This Moment” became a number-one hit on both the Billboard Hot Country Songs and Hot Adult Contemporary charts, and sister charts in Canada. It also reached #11 on the pop charts in Australia. In 1988, he had another Top Ten hit on the Hot Adult Contemporary chart with “Between Like and Love”. That year he wrote the theme song for the NBC TV sitcom Empty Nest. He also wrote one of the songs for the soundtrack of the movie Iron Eagle II. In 1998, Billy Vera wrote the theme song for the CBS TV sitcom The King of Queens.

Over the decades Billy Vera has released over twenty studio albums. Among his more recent ones is Big Band Jazz (2015). Over the past few decades, Billy Vera has worked as a music historian and has written liner notes for over 200 albums. These include sets of music by Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Louis Jordan, Louis Prima, and Ray Charles. In 2013, Vera won a Grammy Award for liner notes to the Ray Charles box set Singular Genius: The Complete ABC Singles.

Book publishing came calling and in 2016, his first effort, Vintage Neon: Los Angeles, 1979, featuring photographs from Vera’s nocturnal hunts for old neon signs was released. His second book, a memoir entitled Harlem to Hollywood was released in 2017. Reviews hailed it as “an astounding story…the purest treatise on the subject ever produced.” Award-winning documentarian Alan Swyer has directed a documentary on Billy Vera, also titled Harlem to Hollywood. In 2020 Billy Vera published his first novel of dystopian political satire titled A Dollop of Toothpaste. 

References:
“Billy Vera biography,” billyvera.com.
“About Bobby Goldsboro,” Bobby Goldsboro.com.
Brian Ives, “Woody Guthrie, Ray Charles Collections and Bjork Album Win Grammys,” CBS, February 10, 2013.
Warren Lawrence, “Interview with Bobby Goldsboro,” WKNY, Kingston, New York, July 7, 2018.
Diane Bernard, “The United States’ first interracial love song,” BBC, June 27, 2022.

CJOY 1460-AM Guelph Top 50 | August 16, 1968