About The Song
After “Jailhouse Rock,” the last of Elvis’s seven number one country hits, his name regularly appeared at the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 pop chart. So the mark set by Buck Owens of sixteen years between number ones is actually even more spectacular than Presley’s nineteen. After “Made In Japan” became Owens’ twentieth number one record in 1972, he finally returned to the summit with Dwight Yoakam on “Streets Of Bakersfield” in 1988, officially marking the second longest gap between two number one records by the same artist.
Owens had intended to give up the performing life altogether when he retired in 1980, but Yoakam rekindled an interest in Buck’s music. Dwight was making strong headway on the country music scene, and his hero was none other than Buck Owens. In interviews and on the concert stage, Yoakam spent more time talking about Buck than he did about himself. Dwight even dedicated his first album to Owens.
In September of 1987, Dwight appeared unannounced at Buck’s office in Bakersfield, California and persuaded Owens to perform with him onstage. In his long career, Buck had never joined anyone, nor had he ever been accompanied on stage by any other singers. But he felt very comfortable with Dwight.
In January, 1988, Owens (along with Merle Haggard) was invited to be part of a Country Music Association 20th anniversary television special saluting the Bakersfield sound. When Haggard bowed out, Owens asked if he could substitute Yoakam and the producers agreed. The CMA requested some sort of song about the town often referred to as “Nashville West.” Buck remembered an old track called “Streets Of Bakersfield” from a 1973 album of his. The song fit the bill perfectly.
Homer Joy, an aspiring songwriter from Arkansas, wrote “Streets Of Bakersfield” after heading out there to directly pitch songs to Owens. It took Joy ten days just to get past the secretary. In the interim, he composed the song while walking the city’s streets.
After performing it on the CMA show, Yoakam and Owens sang “Streets Of Bakersfield” again at the Academy of Country Music awards telecast. Several prominent deejays around the country taped the performance and began playing the cut on their radio stations. As a result, Dwight and Buck recorded a studio version of the tune, which was placed on Yoakam’s “Buenas Noches From A Lonely Room” album. Later released as a single, “Streets of Bakersfield” debuted on Billboard’s country chart July 16, 1988 and reached #1 on October 15th, racking up Owens’ twenty-first chart-topper and Yoakam’s first.
Video
Lyrics
I came here looking for something
I couldn’t find anywhere else
Hey, I’m not tryin’ to be nobody
I just wanna chance to be myself
I’ve spent a thousand miles of thumbin’
Yes, I’ve worn blisters on my heels
Trying to find me something better
Here on the streets of Bakersfield
Hey, you don’t know me, but you don’t like me
Say you care less how I feel
But how many of you that sit and judged me
Ever walked the streets of Bakersfield?
Spent some time in San Francisco
I spent a night there in the can
They threw this drunk man in my jail cell
I took fifteen dollars from that man
Left him my watch and my old house key
Don’t want folks thinkin’ that I’d steal
Then I thanked him as I was leaving
And I headed out for Bakersfield
Hey, you don’t know me, but you don’t like me
Say you care less how I feel
But how many of you that sit and judged me
Ever walked the streets of Bakersfield?
Hey, you don’t know me, but you don’t like me
Say you care less how I feel
But how many of you that sit and judged me
Ever walked the streets of Bakersfield?
How many of you that sit and judged me
Ever walked the streets of Bakersfield?
