Maps of Music

The Hungry Years (1975)

Where the lyrics of The Hungry Years take you, and where it was really made.

The American edition of Overnight Success swapped two songs, and its 'Bad Blood' duet with Elton John became Sedaka's biggest hit.

Place unknown

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The Hungry Years: album by Neil Sedaka
Released by The Rocket Record Company in 1975
American edition of Overnight Success, with two songs replaced
'Tit for Tat' replaces 'The Queen of 1964'; 'Your Favorite Entertainer' replaces 'Goodman Goodbye'
Eleven tracks: six on side one, five on side two
The title track is one of Sedaka's most frequently requested non-single tracks

'The Queen of 1964', from Overnight Success, reached #35 in the UK in March 1975
The title track marked Sedaka's reunion with Howard Greenfield, after their partnership broke off in 1973
Sedaka and Greenfield worked together more regularly again in the late 1970s
Wayne Newton made the title track a hit on the easy listening chart in 1976

Born March 13, 1939, in Brooklyn, New York.
Began his music career in 1957 after a short tenure as a founding member of the Linc-Tones, later renamed the Tokens.
Signed a recording contract with RCA Victor.

Scored a string of early hits including "Oh! Carol" (1959), "Calendar Girl" (1960), "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen" (1961), and "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (1962), which hit No. 1 on the Hot 100.
Popularity declined by the mid-1960s after the British Invasion.
Revived in the mid-1970s with "Laughter in the Rain" and "Bad Blood", both Hot 100 number ones in 1975.
Wrote or co-wrote over 500 songs, including hits for Connie Francis, Captain & Tennille, and Tony Christie.
Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1983.
Died February 27, 2026, in Los Angeles, aged 86.

Billboard 200: number 16 on 27 December 1975, and on the chart for 32 weeks
'Bad Blood' (uncredited backing vocals by Elton John): number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1975, for three weeks
'Bad Blood' was replaced at number one by Elton John's single 'Island Girl'
'Bad Blood' was the most successful individual commercial release in Sedaka's career
Captain and Tennille's 1976 cover of 'Lonely Night (Angel Face)': number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, certified gold
'The Queen of 1964', from Overnight Success: number 35 in the UK in March 1975
Two songs on this edition differ from Overnight Success, which keeps the album's US chart run separate from its UK release

Elton John sang uncredited backing vocals on 'Bad Blood'; the personnel list credits his pseudonym Ann Orson among the backing vocalists
The title track is one of Sedaka's most frequently requested non-single tracks
Wayne Newton made the title track a hit on the easy listening chart in 1976
'Goodman Goodbye' from Overnight Success was replaced by 'Your Favorite Entertainer' on this album
'The Queen of 1964' from Overnight Success was replaced by 'Tit for Tat' on this album