Gentle On My Mind (song) - Background and Writing

Background and Writing

Hartford reported that he was inspired to write the song after seeing the film Doctor Zhivago when his own memories took over, and that it took about fifteen minutes to write down.

Campbell's hit recording has an interesting history of its own. Campbell had heard Hartford's original version on the radio and decided at once that he wanted to record it. At the time, Campbell was under contract with Capitol Records as a solo artist but had little success in establishing a name for himself in the public eye. Campbell gathered some of his fellow session players from the famous "Wrecking Crew" gang (one of which being Leon Russell who was later listed as the producer of the album by the same name) to come into the Capitol studio to record a demo version that he could pitch to his producer. Between phrases and stanzas, Campbell would yell instructions to the players. He then left the rough recording for his producer to listen to. His producer fell in love, not only with the song, but with the recording itself. Without telling Campbell, he took the tape back into the studio and removed the unwanted verbiage from between the phrases. He then released the demo recording, which became a mega-hit for Campbell when it was released a second time in the wake of "By the Time I Get to Phoenix."

"I went to see the movie Doctor Zhivago the night I wrote it. Everyone's made a whole lot out of that. I know it gave me a feeling that caused me to start writing, but as far as saying it came from that, I don't know. It just came from experience. While I was writing it, if I had any idea that was going to be a hit, it probably would have come out differently and it wouldn't have been a hit. That just came real fast, a blaze, a blur."