The romantic hit song that became Dan Hill's 'albatross'
Dan Hill's 'Sometimes When We Touch' hit #1 in Canada, #3 in U.S. in the '70s
Songwriter Dan Hill wrote one of the biggest songs of the '70s. And then he did everything he could to get away from it.
Sometimes When We Touch, a soft-rock ballad that reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978 and spent 22 weeks on the chart, sent Hill on a wild ride at the age of 23.
"I was constantly on the move," he told interviewer Nadine Berger on CBC's Take 30 in 1983. "I think I did 40 dates in a row with Art Garfunkel, and on the weekends that (he) took off in performing, I would do solo shows, so I was literally playing every night."
According to the Canadian Press, Hill has been named to the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and will be inducted on Feb. 10, 2021.
'An unreal sensation'
He described flying to London on the Concorde jet for several TV appearances and flying back to play New York three days later.
"You always felt that you were never quite catching up to yourself," he said.
As for the reception to the song, Hill was well aware it had evoked what Berger called a "backlash" for being "too sensitive."
"People just weren't prepared for that, especially coming from a man," Hill said. "The songs ... were very intimate, and therefore demanded a very strong reaction. So it either got a very strong positive reaction or a very strong negative reaction. There was nothing in between."
Before the 'culture shock' of success
In 1977, before the ride began, Hill performed the song on the CBC-TV kids' show Homemade TV and later talked with host Fred Mollin.
Mollin, who also played several instruments and sang on Hill's album, including Sometimes When We Touch, asked what Hill's advice was for aspiring musicians who wanted to be like him.
"The first thing they should do is be like themselves," said Hill, who was 22 at the time. "(They should) follow their heart and follow their musical needs and it'll work out all right."
Hill appeared on CBC-TV at least six times from 1976 to 1979.
Double-edged sword
In 1983 Hill published a novel called Comeback, about a washed-up musician. (His brother, Lawrence Hill, would become a bestselling author in 2007 for his novel The Book of Negroes.)
He turned his hand to writing because his success had apparently become a double-edged sword.
"Sometimes When We Touch became an albatross," he said. "It seemed that no matter what kind of song I recorded, if it was a ballad, it always sounded like Sometimes When We Touch to the people in the outside world."
"I was feeling a little fatigued and I needed a change," he explained to host Patricia White on the CBC show Coming Attractions. "The book seemed like the natural thing to me. It was still creative, still imaginative, but it was not musical."