Watching Scotty Grow - Bobby Goldsboro (1971) 1/16/21

Sometimes, it's who you know.

Case in point: Today's "Great Song of 1971" came from a meeting, which led to another meeting. Here's how it went:

By the late '60s, Bobby Goldsboro was a certified hitmaker, especially after his rather maudlin song "Honey" went to #1 in 1968.

In 1971, he met with music producer Jerry Fuller, who suggested that Bobby meet with one of his associates: an up and coming singer/songwriter who might have some material Bobby could record.

That songwriter was Mac Davis.

Bobby met with Mac...and Mac offered up a few songs... including "Watching Scotty Grow." Bobby liked the song, and decided to record it.

He immediately ran into a roadblock--and it's a familiar story: An executive at Bobby's record label (United Artists) was against releasing it as a single because: "No one will buy a song about a father and son."

Of course, he was wrong. After Bobby's album "We've Gotta Start Lovin'" was released in late 1970, disc jockeys started playing "Watching Scotty Grow" as an album cut...and the requests started pouring in.

United Artists quickly saw the error of their ways and belatedly released it as a single. Shortly thereafter, it became a "Triple Charter" in both the US and Canada.

The song went to #1 on the Adult Contemporary Charts and #7 on the Country Charts in BOTH counties, and on the Top 40, it reached #5 in Canada and #11 in the US.

Pretty impressive for a song about a father and song, right? So what makes it a "Great Song?" It's relatable...and not just to parents with young children. Sometimes, it strikes a chord in someone else--someone like me.

Personal note: I had a cousin named Scotty, a few years younger than me, and as the family was watching him grow, it was discovered that he had Muscular Dystrophy. He spent many years in a wheelchair, and for a while his family was involved with the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Even as the disease got worse, Scotty kept plugging along and became a talented artist.

After childhood, I saw very little of him, but you can bet that every time I played "Watching Scotty Grow" on the air I would think of him, as well as his parents Judy and Dick, and his sister, Debbie. Scotty has been gone for quite a few years now, but the song still has that effect on me. (As a young parent myself back in the day, I was also impacted on that level.)

"Watching Scotty Grow," written by Mac Davis, sung by Bobby Goldsboro, and at least for me, personally, a "Great Song of 1971."