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A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock 'n' Roll (G)(WORD)
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You can play along with Donny & Marie using the (G) songsheet!
From 1975 to 1979 the famous brother and sister hosted the popular a ABC TV variety show, Donny & Marie, and the song was a fixture of the series. It introduced a weekly segment that featured Donny singing a rock tune in opposition to Marie singing a country song. Despite it being one of their best-known songs, Donny & Marie never released this as a single. It was, however, included on their 1976 album, Featuring Songs From Their Television Show.
The song was written by Marty Cooper, a singer-songwriter who walked a fine line between country and rock 'n roll. When Nashville told him he was too rock for country and Los Angeles told him he was too country for rock, he poured his frustration into song. But the struggle was no longer about music; it was about romance. So how did Cooper's opposites-attract love song become the theme for a brother-sister duo? He had played the song for Mike Curb, the founder of Curb Records who also happened to produce for Donny & Marie. When it came time to shoot the pilot of the variety show, Curb remembered the song and asked Cooper if he could use it. "So they put it in the pilot... selling the show," the songwriter recalled. "And it did, and it became the centerpiece of their show. Except, they're brother and sister." That little detail changed everything: "Can't have babies, can't rock all night, can't have any of the, you know, sex in it. So it changed the song forever, because we changed it."