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In this blog post, we’ll take a look at the history of the Kansas City anthem and find out who wrote it.
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The Origins of the Song
“Kansas City” is a rhythm and blues song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in 1952. Originally recorded by Little Willie Littlefield the same year, the song was a hit for Wilbert Harrison in 1959. Littlefield’s version was ranked #97 on Rolling Stone’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The first version
The first known version of the song was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in 1952, when the duo was just 19 years old. The tune was reportedly inspired by a cross-country trip the pair took from Los Angeles to New York City. Along the way, they made a stop in Kansas City, Missouri, where they were blown away by the city’s vibrant music scene.
The second version
The second version was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, two white songwriters from Los Angeles who had success penning songs for black performers such as the Coasters and Elvis Presley. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Stoller said they decided to write their own version of “Kansas City” after hearing Richard’s on the radio. “We loved that record,” Stoller said. “But we just felt we could do our own thing with it.”
The Lyrics of the Song
The songKansas Citywas written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in 1952. It was originally recorded by Little Willie Littlefield the same year. The song is a twelve-bar blues written in the key of A. The lyrics tell the story of a man who is going to Kansas City to find a woman.
The first version
The first[1] recorded version of “Kansas City” was by Little Willie Littlefield in 1952. It was released on Federal Records (catalog number 12327). Littlefield’s version is based on a traditional twelve-bar blues progression and includes several quotes from Big Joe Turner’s 1951 recording of “Honey Hush”. The lyrics include the opening, “I’m going to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come”, which were not part of Turner’s song.
Littlefield’s single was a local hit in western Texas and northern Mexico. Billboard ranked it as the No. 6 most popular R&B song for 1952.[2]
In March 1952, the big-band leader Wilbert Harrison recorded “Kansas City” for Felsted Records (catalog number 8248). This is the best-known version of the song.[3][4] It was rumored that petitioner Screen Gems-Columbia owned the rights to Harrison’s recording,[5] but BMI lists BMI writer Bobby Troup as its composer/publisher.[6] Harrison’s version reached No. 1 on Billboard magazine’s R&B singles chart for nine weeks and No. 1 on its pop singles chart for two weeks, starting with the issue dated April 18, 1959; it was ranked as the No. 1 single overall for 1959 by Billboard.[7][8][9] The track subsequently became a standard and has been recorded or performed by many musicians including Chuck Berry, The Beatles, Patsy Cline, Emmylou Harris, Bryan Adams and Lou Rawls.
The second version
In 1952, Kansas City songwriter Jerry Leiber and composer Mike Stoller created a new version of the song. This version was recorded by Little Willie Littlefield and released as a single. It was this version that made the song a hit, reaching number six on the R&B chart in 1952 and number nine on Billboard’s pop chart in 1954. The tune became a standard and has been recorded by dozens of artists over the years, including Wilbert Harrison (1959), Bobby Womack (1974), James Brown (1985), Joni Mitchell (2007), and Dolly Parton (2014).
The Meaning of the Song
The Kansas City song was written by Ruth Young and Jerry Leiber. It was first recorded by Little Richard in 1952. The song is about a city in Missouri that is known for its blues and jazz music.
The first version
The first version of “Kansas City” was written by Leiber and Stoller in 1952. The song was originally recorded by Little Willie Littlefield the same year and was a hit. The song is a jump blues and has been covered by many artists including Wilbert Harrison, who had a number one hit with it in 1959.
The second version
The second version of the song was recorded by Little Willie Littlefield in 1952. This version was much faster and had a different chord progression than the original recording. The most notable difference is in the lyrics. In this version, the lyrics are about a man who is trying to get to Kansas City to see his woman. He is willing to do whatever it takes to get there, even if it means hitchhiking or riding the rails.
The third and final version of the song was recorded by Wilbert Harrison in 1959. This version is very similar to Littlefield’s recording, with a few minor changes in the lyrics. The biggest change is in the opening line, which now features the famous lyric “I’m goin’ to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come.” This change helped to make the song more popular, and it has become one of the most covered songs in all of popular music.
