As pop songwriter Gloria Sklerov recalled:
At the time I was a staff writer for Garrett Music, who had a sub-publishing with the Australian publisher. They had asked me to write an "urban story song" for an
artist who had just had a major hit named Terry Jacks. The song was Seasons in the Sun. I really wanted to get that record. On the way home on the freeway, I passed a motel called "Hollywood Eight" which intrigued me. I started to think about who might be checking in there. When I got together with Harry Lloyd, we discussed it and decided to change the name to "Hollywood Seven'
because it "sang" better. We then plotted the story and it all sort of came to be like it was meant to.
Ironically, the Terry Jacks deal never happened and so the song was sent out to all the sub-publishers.
We were thrilled when we heard Jon's record because they used some of the synth riffs we had used on the demo and his vocal was great...
As a writer, I was very proud of Jon's version
About Vicki's version from 1977:
Single on Private Stock by star of The Carol Burnett Show. She also performed the song on the show.
Vicki Lawrence also recorded the Sklerov-Lloyd song He Did With Me, a hit in Australia. Her biggest hit was The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia (1972, #1 USA), written by her then husband Bobby Russell.
A label shot of a promo copy of the single is posted by Daniel J. Selby here.
The number of the 45 is PS1288, an unusual number for Private Stock singles 1974-1979 which were in the format PSR or PS 45,XXX. The single does not appear on any Private Stock singles discography that I've seen,
and I haven't found a label shot of a released single.
HOLLYWOOD SEVEN
(Gloria Sklerov & Harry Lloyd)
She came in one night from Omaha
Worn out, 'cause she could never sleep on trains
Took a bus to Hollywood
Looking for a room in the pouring rain
Her hair so blonde, her eyes so brown
She thought she'd take this town and turn it upside down
I was living in a hotel just off sunset
She moved in across the hall
She said she'd be a movie star
So she waited every morning for the call
I'd ask her in for coffee
But she hardly had the time
Her call might come tomorrow
And she had to know her lines
Hollywood Seven
Rooms to rent
Till your name goes up in lights
Hollywood Seven
You can dream your dreams for seven bucks a night
The months went by without a job
The money that she'd saved was nearly spent
She started bringing strangers home
Had to find a way to pay the rent
Staring at the ceiling
While she'd give herself away
Just busy rehearsing in her mind
The scenes she'd never play
Hollywood Seven
Rooms to rent
Till your name goes up in lights
Hollywood Seven
You can dream your dreams for seven bucks a night
I found her there one morning
When she didn't come for coffee when I called
She brought the wrong one home this time
There were crazy lipstick scrawls across the wall
Now she's going back to Omaha
But not the way she planned
There'll be no crowd to cheer her on
No "welcome home", no band
Hollywood Seven
Rooms to rent
Till your name goes up in lights
Hollywood Seven
You can dream your dreams for seven bucks a night
She came in one night from Syracuse
Excited from her first time on a plane
Took a cab to Hollywood
Dreaming of the lights that would spell her name