"Detroit City"
Single by Arthur Alexander
A-side	"You Don't Care"
Released	April 1965
Genre	Soul
Length	2:40
Label	Dot Records
Writer(s)	Danny Dill and Mel Tillis
Producer(s)	Noel Ball Norman Petty Bill Haney (uncredited)

"I Wanna Go Home"

Single by Billy Grammer

B-side

The Bottom of the Glass

Released

1962

Label

Decca

Writer(s)

Danny Dill and Mel Tillis

Billy Grammer singles chronology

"I'd Like to Know Why"
(1961)

"I Wanna Go Home"
(1962)

"I'll Leave The Porch Lights A-Burning"
(1963)

"Detroit City" is a song written by Danny Dill and Mel Tillis, made famous by Billy Grammer (as "I Wanna Go Home"),country music singer Bobby Bare and Tom Jones. Bare's version was released in 1963. The song — sometimes known as "I Wanna Go Home" (from the opening line to the refrain) — was Bare's first Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart that summer, and became a country music standard.

Prior to Bare's success with "Detroit City," country singer Billy Grammer released his version of the Danny Dill-Mel Tillis penned song. His version was known as "I Wanna Go Home" and peaked at #18 on the Billboard country charts in 1963.

The song is the working man's complaint, and "with its melody reminiscent of the 'Sloop John B,' describes the alienation felt by many rural southerners in the mid North," wrote country music historian Bill Malone. "Here, [Bare's] earnest and planative interpretation lends great believability to this mournful song." Bare's version begins in the key of E, until after the repeat of the refrain, he makes a transition to the key of B for the second verse and refrain. He makes a transition back to the key of E as the song fades out. Bare's version also features a spoken recitation following half of the second verse, before singing the refrain before the song's fade.

The song's peak in popularity during the summer of 1963 came during a time when Tillis was still experiencing most of his success as a songwriter. He had previously written hits for Webb Pierce, Brenda Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and others, but this was one of his earliest major hits as a songwriter outside of those artists.

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Wikipedia