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.

Mapping Eden; At Eden's Edge; Sound of Los Angeles; Hank Rosenfeld Can't Skate Backwards; The Man Who Made Plants Sexy; Compost It; May the Force be With You; To Seed or Not to Seed; Inner-City Academic Athletes; Smells like Smog; Reporter's Roundtable

The Observatory Revisited; Like a Phoenix; The Dark Patron of Griffith Park; Reporting in Flames; Theatricum Botanicum; Passing the Torch; Pomona's Cinema Paradiso; Billy Pew; Letters

Going BioDiesel; BioDiesel My Ride; Trolling for Oil; Vegging Out; Spiny Forest; Slide Show'n'Tell; Longing for Llano; Hungary for Sausage; Double Jeopardy; Fast Food Dude-Revisited; Theater LAndscape; Reporter's Roundtable

Off-Ramp to the I.E. Special thanks to cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz for plugging our little show in his nationally distributed comic strip, La Cucaracha (click "enlarge" to see.) This week, Off-Ramp explores the Inland Empire. The nation's fastest growing community is home to one of the world's oldest orange trees, Chick-fil-A and more. Next week, Off-Ramp will be broadcasting live from LA Times Festival of Books. We'll be at Dickson Court North, Zone F, booth 601. Come vist, we'd love to meet you. -John (and Queena)

Steve Lopez; Susan Straight; Russ Parsons; Chris Abani; Roving Reporter: Henry Winkler; Roving Reporters: Authors@Google; Roving Reporter: Spirituality Book Stand

Note from Off-Ramp This week, we take you to the world's biggest train store in Culver City, which is closing soon... another casualty of the Internet. Looking forward, on April 28th we'll be doing a live show from the LA Times Festival of Books. We'll talk with columnist Steve Lopez, chef Nancy Silverton, novelist S.E. Hinton and others. In the meantime, go visit the train store (info below). There might never be anything like it again. -John and Queena

Hot Ramen; I Eat Ramen, Here Me Roar!; The Tristan Project; Don't Be Koi; Sherlock Rock; Shopping in the Rain; The Good and the Ugly; Skinny Model Ban; Remembering Bob Clark; Reporter's Roundtable

City Hall Tower; Lucille Ball Remembered; El Pollo Chino; Star Power; Downtown LA Rising; Comic Book Legend Len Wein; These Streets Aren't Paved With Gold; Final Four