"Something's Burning"
Cover of the single released in Germany
Single by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition
from the album Something's Burning
B-side"Momma's Waiting"
ReleasedJanuary 1970 (1970-01)
GenreCountry rock
Length4:00
LabelReprise
Songwriter(s)Mac Davis
Producer(s)Jimmy Bowen
Kenny Rogers and the First Edition singles chronology
"Reuben James"
(1969)		 "Something's Burning"
(1970)		 "Tell It All Brother"
(1970)

"Something's Burning" is a song by American rock band Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, released in January 1970 as a single from their album of the same name.

Controversy

The song was controversial, described at the time as being "too sensual" for the radio. Note that it also starts with an actual heartbeat played backwards. Rogers knew it was a hit record, but American radio wouldn't play it, so he got the band to perform the song on This Is Tom Jones in the UK, who he believed were "much less afraid of sexuality" than America and so "would at least give the song a fair hearing". This Is Tom Jones was also broadcast in the US and so eventually it gave enough exposure to the song to make it a hit.[1]

Reception

Reviewed in Billboard, it was written that the song "could easily repeat that success [of "Reuben James"] with this driving rocker, with an exceptional vocal workout by Rogers".[2] Cash Box wrote that the "grand vocal work and an instrumental that builds behind the scene give this new track a bright prospect for teen and adult programming".[3]

However, reviewing for Record Mirror, James Hamilton wrote that "this soft-then-building, soft-again-then-building slowie certainly won't get the crowd dancing (nor the critics disapproving) ... it's not that it's bad, just ordinary".[4]

Track listing

  1. "Something's Burning" (Davis; produced by Jimmy Bowen) – 4:00
  2. "Momma's Waiting" (Rogers, Williams; produced by Mike Post) – 3:25

Charts

Chart (1970) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[5] 13
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[6] 6
Malaysia (Radio Malaysia)[7] 1
New Zealand (Listener)[8] 14
UK Singles (OCC)[9] 8
US Billboard Hot 100[10] 11
US Cash Box Top 100[11] 5

References

  1. ↑ "Forgotten Hits - KENNY ROGERS". forgottenhits.com. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  2. ↑ "Spotlight Singles" (PDF). Billboard. 31 January 1970. p. 79. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  3. ↑ "Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. 31 January 1970. p. 36. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  4. ↑ "Record Mirror" (PDF). Record Mirror. 7 February 1970. p. 12. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  5. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  6. ↑ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 5065." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
  7. ↑ "Hits of the World" (PDF). Billboard. 23 May 1970. p. 71. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  8. ↑ "flavour of new zealand - search listener". www.flavourofnz.co.nz. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  9. ↑ "Kenny Rogers and the First Edition: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company.
  10. ↑ "Kenny Rogers Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  11. ↑ "Cash Box Top 100 Singles – Week ending May 9, 1970". Cash Box magazine. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
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