"Hello, It's Me" was the first original song by
Todd Rundgren. It was first recorded in 1968 by Rundgren's band Nazz and was
included on their self-titled debut album. Although released as the B-side of
the group's debut single "Open My Eyes" it was picked up in
preference to the A-side by Boston radio station WMEX, where it rose to #1, and
was subsequently picked up by other stations, although it didn't fare well
nationally, peaking at #66 on the U.S. charts.
Rundgren's songs in this early phase of his career were
heavily influenced by the work of Laura Nyro, but in a 2005 interview he
revealed that the basic structure of the song was adapted from the introduction
of Jimmy Smith recording. "...the main influence for "Hello It's
Me" was an eight bar intro that Jimmy Smith played on a recording of
"When Johnny Comes Marching Home." He had this whole sort of block
chord thing that he did to set up the intro of the song. I tried to capture
those changes, and those changes became what are the changes underneath
"Hello It's Me."
I then had to come up with melody and words, but the changes
are actually almost lifted literally from something that was, from Jimmy
Smith's standpoint, a throwaway." Rundgren recorded an uptempo version of
"Hello It's Me" on his 1972 solo album Something/Anything. Although a
remake of the original, this new version became widely popular and has since become
a staple of the classic rock genre. An edit of this version was released as a
single in 1973 and became Rundgren's only major pop hit, reaching #5 on the
Billboard Hot 100.
