The Guitar Man

"The Guitar Man" is a song written by David Gates and originally recorded by the rock group Bread. It first appeared on Bread's 1972 album, Guitar Man. It is a mixture of the sounds of soft rock, including strings and acoustic guitar, and the addition of a wah-wah effect electric guitar, played by Larry Knechtel. It peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States and their third No. 1 hit on the easy listening chart,[2] (following "If" and "Baby I'm-a Want You").

For the Jerry Reed song, see Guitar Man (song).
"The Guitar Man"
Single by Bread
from the album Guitar Man
B-side"Just Like Yesterday"
ReleasedJuly 1972
GenreRock, soft rock[1]
Length3:46
LabelElektra
Songwriter(s)David Gates
Producer(s)David Gates
Bread singles chronology
"Diary"
(1972)		 "The Guitar Man"
(1972)		 "Sweet Surrender"
(1972)

Chart performance
Chart (1972) Peak
position
Australia (KMR) 22
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[3] 6
Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM)[4] 7
Ireland (IRMA)[5] 14
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[6] 8
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[7] 16
US Billboard Hot 100[8] 11
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[9] 1
US Cash Box Top 100[10] 10

Personnel

Cover versions

The song has been covered by David J on his 2003 album Estranged, Cake on their 2004 album Pressure Chief, Starflyer 59 on their 2007 vinyl collection Ghosts of the Future, and Bobby Bare, Jr. on his American Bread EP. Hank Marvin released his album Guitar Man with a cover version of the song. In 2012 Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby recorded a version for a fund raising CD titled Super Hits of the Seventies for radio station WFMU.

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See also
  • List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1972 (U.S.)

References
  1. Soft Rock Music - What is Soft Rock? - Oldies Music Songs and Artists
  2. Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 39.
  3. "Canada Top Singles"
  4. "Canada Adult Contemporary"
  5. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Guitar Man". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
  6. "Charts.nz – Bread – The Guitar Man". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved November 24, 2018.
  7. "Bread: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 24, 2018.
  8. "Bread Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved November 24, 2018.
  9. "Bread Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved November 24, 2018.
  10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-10-18. Retrieved 2016-11-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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