They told Elvis not to sing "In the Ghetto."

"It's too political." 

"You're a white guy singing about a black kid." 

Etc. Etc. 

They were wrong.

Who wrote it? Mac Davis, who is Part Two of Off-Ramp's Summer Songwriter Series, as we sample the 2010 inauguration of the Grammy Museum's Songwriter Hall of Fame.

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live; and bythe Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

Off-Ramp theme music by Fesliyan Studios.

Lamont Dozier, the middle of the celebrated Holland-Dozier-Holland team that wrote and produced “You Can’t Hurry Love,” “Heat Wave,” and dozens of other hits and helped make Motown an essential record company of the 1960s and beyond, died Monday at age 81.

Duke Fakir, a close friend and the last surviving member of the original Four Tops, said, “I like to call Holland-Dozier-Holland ‘tailors of music.' They could take any artist, call them into their office, talk to them, listen to them, and write them a Top Ten song.”

From 1963-1967, Dozier and brothers Brian and Eddie Holland crafted more than 25 Top Ten songs and mastered the blend of pop and rhythm and blues that allowed the Detroit label, and founder Berry Gordy, to defy boundaries between Black and white music and rival the Beatles on the airwaves.

For Off-Ramp, we're listening back to his appearance at the kickoff of the Songwriters Hall of Fame at the Grammy Museum at LA Live in 2010. Songwriter Paul Williams was the emcee for the event. 

And I have lots more tape from that event, featuring Williams, Ashford and Simpson, Mac Davis, and Hal David. We'll listen to that in coming weeks. 

Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live; and bythe Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

Off-Ramp theme music by Fesliyan Studios.

Chef Mario Batali talks with us about his shoes, his White House dinner, and his newest cookbook ... Chicano art champion Cheech Marin on his newest traveling exhibit: Papel Chicano Dos ... We'll talk with the last surviving proposed cabinet member of the most unlikely Presidential candidate: Dizzy Gillespie ... And meet the creators of Toothpix, who took the underutilized video feature on Yelp! and have been making 12-second restaurant review masterpieces.

This week, Off-Ramp finds out what’s under the bed when the lights go off. We're bringing back a KPCC In Person event from last year, where we read stories from "In the Shadow of Edgar Allan Poe," a collection of great old under-appreciated horror stories.

“Dark Shadows” fans, cast, and crew are celebrating its 50th birthday next week in Hollywood. We mark the anniversary by bringing in one of the original stars, and one of the original fans. ... When LAPD officer Jorge Parra isn’t walking the beat in LA, he’s still thinking about the city’s streets and buildings. He’s spent years building a 72-square-foot model of LA, out of Legos, in his kitchen. ... We’ll tell you what researchers discovered about the best way to increase voter turnout: voters need to make a simple plan, tell someone about it, and then think what their neighbors will say if they don’t go to the polls.

John talks with 35-year old Chris Thile, who takes over as the new host of A Prairie Home Companion this weekend and hopes to bring in a younger audience, without scaring off older listeners. ... Anthony Hernandez: taking pictures for almost 50 years: Downtown LA in the ‘70s, Rodeo Drive in the ‘80s, the homeless in the ‘90s. ... For KPCC's Voter Game Plan, Meghan McCarty tells us how she’s helping voters understand the complex Measure R transportation tax. ... Meet an Armenian-Syrian college student from Damascus juggling a full time job, night school, and the torture of knowing what his family is going through back home.

KPCC photog Maya Sugarman lets a king snake slither around her neck, and John lets a reasonably friendly tarantula crawl up his arm ... It’s done by hand, is quite painful, and is very expensive. We'll take you to a Garden Grove shop that is one of the few places in the US approved by one of the ruling Samoan tattoo families ... John brings in pop culture experts to evaluate the new Godzilla reboot, "Shin Godzilla," which sets the Godzilla story in modern-day Japan .... The story of Bobbi Bratt, a punk rocker from Southern California whose life was cut short by cancer almost thirty years ago.

Off-Ramp celebrates 10 years on the air with show recorded before a live audience at the LA Theater Center in Downtown LA - Disney directors, yacht rock, and DPD's Rico Gagliano!

If it hardly rains here, why does NBC-4 need its new highly-promoted mobile Doppler radar truck? ... Chef Vartan Abgaryan’s last restaurant was Cliff’s Edge. And now he’s working at the top of the US Bank Tower. But he’s afraid of heights. ... All the Rolling Stones songs from the 1960s have been remastered in the original mono, and you’ll be shocked at how good they sound. ... OK OK, it doesn’t feel like autumn yet, but it officially arrived this week, and there’s nothing better on a brisk autumn day than cider, so we’ll explore the latest culinary thing: cider houses.

An in-depth look at Grand Central Market's history ... and $60m+ debt. Comedian Danny Lobell on the lure of the urban chicken. Brains On probes, very carefully, into carnivorous plants. Jesse Katz learns to cut a bagel. The people who VOLUNTEER to examine coyote poop.