Don Gibson, who always considered himself a songwriter first and a singer second, didn’t fake the feelings of despondency he captured so succinctly in his best songs. With only a second grade primary education, he once said - “Simple is the only way I can write”, displaying the economy of words that cornerstoned his songwriting. In contrast to, say, a Rhodes Scholar like Kris Kristoffosen who brought sophisticated techniques of poetry and metaphor into his songwriting, Gibson's writing was simple, noun loaded, direct, sparse - and yet so effective. Consider -
“I can’t stop wanting you / It’s useless to say / So I’ll just live my life / In dreams of yesterday...” is how he succinctly summed up the feeling of lost love in 'I Can’t Stop Loving You'. “My love has been untrue / She’s found somebody new / It’s been a blue, blue day for me...” he wrote in 'Blue Blue Day', which followed 'Oh Lonesome Me' in 1958, keeping Gibson at #1 for 10 weeks the year his career peaked.
While most musicians relish the spotlight of public performance (afterall it comes with the territory) Gibson dreaded it, once telling music critic Robert Hilburn, “I’d rather be whipped with a bullwhip than go out on that stage.” His inability to engage with an audience beyond just delivering his music, not having any public personality (or good looks) adversely affected his popularity. Merle Haggard once said - “He was singing for a different reason. He was all about what he wrote about. He never was happy in his life ... he wrote about that, and it all led back to one center - that he was a lonely fellow. I think he didn’t know how to be otherwise.”
So, with that knowledge, it's time to look at more of his self-penned songs of loneliness - all hits from 1958 to 1960,
all produced by Chet Atkins, who played guitar on some. We start with 'Look Who's Blue', reaching #8 in 1958 -
"Please, please have pity on me / Oh can't you see that I'm in misery /
Please, please I'm begging like a fool / Woe is me look who's blue ..."
Given his bouts of depression, the song title here was probably exactly what Gibson was thinking precisely at the time he wrote it - 'Who Cares About Me' is at least a great up-tempo romper of a kind that Gibson rarely committed to wax, and went to #3 in 1959, but the lyrics still speak of utter loneliness and even alienation -
"I walk down this old lonely street / And no one seems to want to speak /
Oh who cares? / Yes who cares for me? ..."
In 'Don't Tell Me Your Troubles', lyric-wise Gibson added a dimension. This time he wasn’t alone in feeling lonesome and
blue, but he certainly didn’t appreciate another bloke dumping his pain all over him. Yet again, lyrical simplicity was a Gibson strong point with few wasted words in this #5 hit, also from 1959 -
"... You tell me that she's no good / She's as mean as she can be /
It's written all over your lonesome face / Any heartbreak fool can see /
Leave me alone, go on home / Tell it to a friend / I've got troubles of my own ..." -
Ironically, once when Lefty Frizzell and Opry performer Don Gibson went out drinking together one night (a well matched pair - both musically gifted yet both shunned the limelight and celebrity lifestyle - and both alcoholics), Gibson spent the evening bitterly complaining about his treatment by the Opry. Lefty drove him home, helped him up to his front door and then – angered by having to listen to one more Gibson outburst about his troubles – slammed him up against the house, knocking off Gibson’s toupée.
Another heartfelt (and beautifully sung) song of lost love, regret and lingering desire, 'Just One Time', with a somehat Mexican feel to it in the chorus and guitar (featuring the great Chet Atkins), reached #2 in 1960 -
"... Lips that used to thrill me so / They now thrill someone else I know /
Gone is the love that once was mine / Wish I could see you just one time ..."
Connie Smith had a #2 hit with her cover of 'Just One Time' in 1971. Others covers include Skeeter Davis in 1960, the Everly Brothers in 1963, Johnny Tillotson in 1965, Frank Ifield in 1966, Kitty Wells, Dottie West and Jean Shepard, all in 1971, Chet Atkins himself in 1971, Renée Martel (in French, as "Si on pouvait recommencer") in 1972, Freddy Fender in 1976, Tompall & the Glaser Brothers in 1981, and Chet Atkins & Mark Knopfler as a duo in 1990.
Gibson re-recorded his first hit, 'Sweet Dreams' in the Nashville Sound style in 1960 (a time when many honky tonk
stars like Red Foley, Tex Ritter, Carl Smith, Webb Pierce were also re-recording their earlier songs in the new style). Your own preference for which version you like tells a lot about your music taste. The Nashville Sound version is much more sophisticated and polished, with the backing of first class musicians and the very best in production standards, produced by the best in the business, Chet Atkins. It was designed deliberately to appeal to the mass suburban audience,not just the traditional rural base, and it succeeded. Yet, while acknowledging all of that, I still like the simple, unadorned original honkytonk version of 1955 (the first from yesterday's selection). For me, the smooth makeover transforms what's meant to be a song of pain and despair, so evident in the original version, into an almost sweet romantic ballad. But your take might be different from mine - this version certainly had more overall commercial appeal, reaching # 6 in 1960 -
With this run of 10 top ten hits - including 3 (his first 3) now classic country standards, we're leaving off in 1960 - with Gibson gradually subsiding into depression, drug addiction and alcoholism, his songs reflecting his very real sense of loneliness and alienation - but, as we'll see tomorrow, he still had another classic country standard left in him.
“I can’t stop wanting you / It’s useless to say / So I’ll just live my life / In dreams of yesterday...” is how he succinctly summed up the feeling of lost love in 'I Can’t Stop Loving You'. “My love has been untrue / She’s found somebody new / It’s been a blue, blue day for me...” he wrote in 'Blue Blue Day', which followed 'Oh Lonesome Me' in 1958, keeping Gibson at #1 for 10 weeks the year his career peaked.
While most musicians relish the spotlight of public performance (afterall it comes with the territory) Gibson dreaded it, once telling music critic Robert Hilburn, “I’d rather be whipped with a bullwhip than go out on that stage.” His inability to engage with an audience beyond just delivering his music, not having any public personality (or good looks) adversely affected his popularity. Merle Haggard once said - “He was singing for a different reason. He was all about what he wrote about. He never was happy in his life ... he wrote about that, and it all led back to one center - that he was a lonely fellow. I think he didn’t know how to be otherwise.”
So, with that knowledge, it's time to look at more of his self-penned songs of loneliness - all hits from 1958 to 1960,
all produced by Chet Atkins, who played guitar on some. We start with 'Look Who's Blue', reaching #8 in 1958 -
"Please, please have pity on me / Oh can't you see that I'm in misery /
Please, please I'm begging like a fool / Woe is me look who's blue ..."
Given his bouts of depression, the song title here was probably exactly what Gibson was thinking precisely at the time he wrote it - 'Who Cares About Me' is at least a great up-tempo romper of a kind that Gibson rarely committed to wax, and went to #3 in 1959, but the lyrics still speak of utter loneliness and even alienation -
"I walk down this old lonely street / And no one seems to want to speak /
Oh who cares? / Yes who cares for me? ..."
In 'Don't Tell Me Your Troubles', lyric-wise Gibson added a dimension. This time he wasn’t alone in feeling lonesome and
blue, but he certainly didn’t appreciate another bloke dumping his pain all over him. Yet again, lyrical simplicity was a Gibson strong point with few wasted words in this #5 hit, also from 1959 -
"... You tell me that she's no good / She's as mean as she can be /
It's written all over your lonesome face / Any heartbreak fool can see /
Leave me alone, go on home / Tell it to a friend / I've got troubles of my own ..." -
Ironically, once when Lefty Frizzell and Opry performer Don Gibson went out drinking together one night (a well matched pair - both musically gifted yet both shunned the limelight and celebrity lifestyle - and both alcoholics), Gibson spent the evening bitterly complaining about his treatment by the Opry. Lefty drove him home, helped him up to his front door and then – angered by having to listen to one more Gibson outburst about his troubles – slammed him up against the house, knocking off Gibson’s toupée.
Another heartfelt (and beautifully sung) song of lost love, regret and lingering desire, 'Just One Time', with a somehat Mexican feel to it in the chorus and guitar (featuring the great Chet Atkins), reached #2 in 1960 -
"... Lips that used to thrill me so / They now thrill someone else I know /
Gone is the love that once was mine / Wish I could see you just one time ..."
Connie Smith had a #2 hit with her cover of 'Just One Time' in 1971. Others covers include Skeeter Davis in 1960, the Everly Brothers in 1963, Johnny Tillotson in 1965, Frank Ifield in 1966, Kitty Wells, Dottie West and Jean Shepard, all in 1971, Chet Atkins himself in 1971, Renée Martel (in French, as "Si on pouvait recommencer") in 1972, Freddy Fender in 1976, Tompall & the Glaser Brothers in 1981, and Chet Atkins & Mark Knopfler as a duo in 1990.
Gibson re-recorded his first hit, 'Sweet Dreams' in the Nashville Sound style in 1960 (a time when many honky tonk
stars like Red Foley, Tex Ritter, Carl Smith, Webb Pierce were also re-recording their earlier songs in the new style). Your own preference for which version you like tells a lot about your music taste. The Nashville Sound version is much more sophisticated and polished, with the backing of first class musicians and the very best in production standards, produced by the best in the business, Chet Atkins. It was designed deliberately to appeal to the mass suburban audience,not just the traditional rural base, and it succeeded. Yet, while acknowledging all of that, I still like the simple, unadorned original honkytonk version of 1955 (the first from yesterday's selection). For me, the smooth makeover transforms what's meant to be a song of pain and despair, so evident in the original version, into an almost sweet romantic ballad. But your take might be different from mine - this version certainly had more overall commercial appeal, reaching # 6 in 1960 -
With this run of 10 top ten hits - including 3 (his first 3) now classic country standards, we're leaving off in 1960 - with Gibson gradually subsiding into depression, drug addiction and alcoholism, his songs reflecting his very real sense of loneliness and alienation - but, as we'll see tomorrow, he still had another classic country standard left in him.
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