“I fell in love with it the moment I heard it,” said Judy Collins of a song written by Canadian singer, songwriter, and producer Rolf Peter Kempf. After moving from Toronto to Los Angeles to pursue music, Kempf’s band split shortly after, and his guitar was stolen. While playing one day on a borrowed guitar, Kempft began reflecting on everything that transpired, whilst sitting near a swimming pool, and started writing “Hello, Hooray.”
Several days later, Kempft offered the song to Judy Collins, who recorded it for her 1968 album Who Knows Where the Time Goes.
Collins embraced Kempf’s lyrics about “renewing the spirit at those times when you have to pick yourself up and start over,” according to the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. The song also probed into the euphoria of bringing the audience on a musical journey.
Ready as this audience that’s coming here to dream
Loving every second, every moment, every scream
I’ve been waiting so long to sing my song
And I’ve been waiting so long for this thing to come
Yeah, I’ve been thinking so long I was the only one
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‘Billion Dollar Babies’
By the early 1970s, when Alice Cooper was working on its sixth album, the folkier pop song eventually found its way into the band’s stadium-filled theatrical extravaganzas, but Cooper needed some convincing from producer Bob Ezrin first.
“I heard it, and I said, ‘Bob, this is a folk song,’” Cooper recalled on The Alice Cooper Show Radio Special. “He said, ‘No, listen to the lyrics. It’s about a guy who is about to go onstage. And he’s terrified — but he’s ready.” He added, “It was the perfect opening for ‘Billion Dollar Babies.’”
Also referenced as “Hello Hurray,” it became the grand opening and lead single off Alice Cooper’s biggest-selling album, Billion Dollar Babies.
“He [Cooper] got the emotional essence of the tune right,” said Kempf, “and added a tag to bring it home.”
Hello! Hooray! Let the show begin
I’ve been ready
Billion Dollar Babies went to No. 1 in the UK and in the U.S. on the Billboard 200, and cracked open a catacomb of Cooper classics, including the title track, “Elected,” and “No More Mr. Nice Guy.” For Cooper, “Hello, Hooray” was also another hit, reaching No. 6 in the UK and peaking at No. 35 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2016, “Hello, Hooray” was also inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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