Mac Davis Hated His First No. 1 Hit for Being “Super Egotistical”

Mac Davis had an incredibly successful career as a songwriter, penning hits for artists like Elvis Presley, Helen Reddy, Perry Como, Lynn Anderson, and more. But Davis was also a successful artist on his own as well.

Throughout the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s, Davis had numerous hit singles as an artist, including “One Hell Of A Woman”, “Stop And Smell The Roses”, “It’s Hard To Be Humble”, and more. Davis also had several crossover songs, making him one of the most popular artists of his generation.

But for Davis, his success as an artist started with “Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me”. Written solely by Davis and released in 1972, “Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me” is the title track of his third studio album. Not only did “Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me” become his first No. 1 hit, but it reached the top of the charts on both Billboard’s Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts. Even more impressive, it also became a Top 30 hit at country radio.

“Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me” is a song about a man warning a woman not to get too close. The song says in part, “Baby baby, don’t get hooked on me / Baby baby, don’t get hooked on me / ‘Cause I’ll just use you then I’ll set you free / Baby baby, don’t get hooked on me.” The song, a three-week No. 1 single, also gave Davis a Grammy nomination. So, it’s surprising that a song that was so successful for Davis is one that he later admitted he hated.

What Mac Davis Says About “Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me”

Davis wrote “Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me” inspired by his producer, Rick Hall. It was Hall who suggested he write “a hook song.” Davis took him literally, writing “Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me”.

“I thought it was super-egotistical and pretentious,” Davis later revealed in The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. “But Columbia released it as a single anyway.”

Decades later, Davis looked back on “Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me”. Even then, he still acknowledged that he was not a fan of the song.

“I thought it was a little bit chauvinistic,” he told American Songwriter. “In fact, it became Ms. Magazine’s chauvinist pig Song of the Year for 1972. I used to tell everybody, ‘Thank God Paul Anka came up with ‘You’re Having My Baby’ and took it away from me.’” 

Davis may not like the song, but it’s hard to argue with its success. “Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me” is his only No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

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