Tag: country

Yet more Hot Country Hits of 1986

fun with titles

Here’s yet more Hot Country Hits of 1986, for July through mid-December, one week each at the top of the charts. There are many repeats of artists from the first half of the year.

The thing I like about country tunes is how one could take the titles and make a variety of stories. Feel free to share your combinations!

Everything That Glitters (is not gold) – Dan Seals

Hearts Aren’t Made To Break (they’re made to love) – Lee Greenwood

Until I Met You – Judy Rodman

On The Other Hand – Randy Travis

Nobody In His Right Mind Would’ve Left Her – George Strait

Rockin’ With The Rhythm of the Rain – The Judds

You’re The Last Thing I Needed Tonight – John Schneider

Strong Heart – T.G. Sheppard

Heartbeat In The Darkness – Don Williams, written by Russell Smith and Dave Loggins

Desperado Love – Conway Twitty

Little Rock – Reba McEntire

Got My Heart Set On You – John Conlee

In Love – Ronnie Milsap

Always Have Always Will – Janie Frickie

Both To Each Other (friends and lovers) – Eddie Rabbit and Juice Newton

Just Another Love – Tanya Tucker

Cry – Crystal Gayle

Moi

It’ll Be Me – Exile

Diggin’ Up Bones – Randy Travis

That Rock Won’t Roll – Restless Heart

You’re Still New To Me – Marie Osmond with Paul Davis, written by Paul Davis and Paul Overstreet

Touch Me When We’re Dancing – Alabama

It Ain’t Cool To Be Crazy About You – George Strait

Hell and High Water – T. Graham Brown, written by Brown and Alex T. Harvey

Too Much Is Not Enough – The Bellamy Brothers with the Forester Sisters, written by David Bellamy and Ron Taylor

 

Hot Country Hits of 1986?

Tom Petty!

Were there any country hot country hits of 1986? The year had 51 songs that went to number one. The only reason there weren’t 52 was that the charts remained “frozen” for the last week of the year.

This occurrence was a manipulation by record labels, radio stations, and others to have as many #1 hits as possible. But when you have a #1 every single week, what is really hot? It’s quite an embarrassment in retrospect.

For the listener, it’s very difficult to really know most of these well. The last #1 song that year, for two weeks, was Mind Your Own Business by Hank Williams Jr. It was written and recorded by Hank Williams Sr. in the late 1940s. This recording features Willie Nelson, Reba McEntire,  Tom Petty, and Rev. Ike! It likely would have topped the charts for a longer period.

Here are the others in chronological order:

Morning Desire – Kenny Rogers, written by Dave Loggins, second cousin to Kenny Loggins

Bop – Dan Seals

Never Be You–  Roseanne Cash, written by Benmont Tench and Tom Petty of the Heartbreakers

Just In Case – Forrester Sisters; I have a 1990 album of theirs, Come Hold Me

Hurt – Juice Newton

Makin’ Up for Lost Time (the Dallas Lovers’ song) – Crystal Gayle and Gary Morris, written by Dave Loggins and Morris

There’s No Stopping Your Heart – Marie Osmond

Still The One

You Can Dream Of Me – Steve Wariner, written by John Hall (formerly of Orleans) and Wariner

Thinking About Love – Dolly Parton

I Could Get Used To You – Exile

What’s A Memory Like You (doing in a love like this) – John Schneider. The guy from The Dukes of Hazzard.

Don’t Underestimate My Love For You – Lee Greenwood, co-written by Dave Loggins

100% Chance of Rain– Gary Morris

She and I – Alabama

Cajun Moon – Ricky Skaggs

Now and Forever (You and Me) – Anne Murray

Once In A Blue Moon – Earl Thomas Conley

Grandpa Tell Me About The Good Old Days – The Judds

Ain’t Misbehavin’ – Hank Williams, Jr. The Fats Waller song; his given name was Thomas.

Tomb of the Unknown Love – Kenny Rogers

Whoever’s In New England – Reba McEntire

Happy, Happy Birthday, Baby– Ronnie Milsap. It is a 1957 song originally performed by the Tune Weavers

Life’s Highway – Steve Wariner

Mama’s Never Seen Those Eyes – The Forester Sisters

Livin’ In the Promiseland – Willie Nelson. A true patriotic song

I’ll do the next half of the year soon

1976 Hot Country Singles of 1976, part two

Conway Twitty

Here are the 1976 Hot Country Singles, Part Two. They were all #1 for a single week, in part a function of market manipulation.

It’s fascinating to me that I know many of the artists, but not the music, at least in this decade: Bill Anderson, Ronnie Milsap, Conway Twitty, and Tammy Wynette, to name a few.

You’ll Lose A Good Thing – Freddy Fender

Till I Can Make It On My Own – Tammy Wynette; her stated personal favorite among all that she had written and recorded.

Drinking My Baby (Off My Mind) – Eddie Rabbit

Together Again – Emmylou Harris, a 1964 Buck Owens song; I think I own this on vinyl

Don’t The Girls All Get Prettier At Closing Time – Mickey Gilley

My Eyes Can Only See as Far As You – Charlie Pride

What Goes On When The Sun Goes Down – Ronnie Milsap

After All The Good Is Gone – Conway Twitty. He broke through in 1955. He died during surgery in 1993 at the age of 59. Conway was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.

I’ll Get Over You – Crystal Gayle; my greatest hits albums of hers I’ve got from my late FIL’s collection

All These Things – Joe Stampley

The Door Is Always Open – Dave and Sugar

Golden Ring – George Jones and Tammy Wynette

Say It Again – Don Williams

Covers

Bring It On Home To Me – Mickey Gilley. Yes, the Sam Cooke classic from 1962

If You’ve Got The Money, I’ve Got The Time – Willie Nelson, a #1 hit for Left Frizell, who co-wrote it, in 1950

Here’s Some Love – Tanya Tucker

The Games That Daddies Play – Conway Twitty. He didn’t write every one of his hits, but he did pen this one

Among My Souvenirs – Marty Robbins. This was a $1 song by Paul Whiteman in 1928!

Cherokee Maiden – Merle Haggard. Bob Wills  had first recorded this song in 1941:

Hot Country Singles of 1976

Tina Turner was an inspiration

These are the hot country singles of 1976, or at least the first half of them or so. There are a total of 40 of them on the Billboard charts, a function in part of the labels’ and maybe even disc jockeys’ desire to create more and more number one hits.  No song hit the top of the charts for more than three weeks.

Good Hearted Woman – Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, 3 weeks at #1. “In 1969, while staying at the Fort Worth Motel in Fort Worth, Texas, Jennings was inspired to start writing the song when he saw advertising in a newspaper promoting Tina Turner as a ‘good-hearted woman loving a two-timing man’, a reference to Ike Turner.” Per here.

Teddy Bear  – Red Sovine, 3 weeks at #1

One Piece at a Time –  Johnny Cash, two weeks at #1. I own this silly song on two different CDs, a greatest hits compilation and a disc considered a comedy collection

El Paso City` – Marty Robbins. I found a Robbins greatest hits CD in my late FIL’s collection and kept it. This song refers to Robbins’ big hit El Paso.

(I’m a) Stand by My Woman Man – Ronnie Milsap, two weeks at #1

I Don’t Want to Have to Marry You – Jim Ed Brown and Helen Cornelius, two weeks at #1

You and Me – Tammy Wynette, two weeks at #1

Someone Somewhere (Don’t Know What He’s Missin’ Tonight) – Loretta Lynn, two weeks at #1. I remember this song well, though I never owned it

Good Woman Blues  – Mel Tillis, two weeks at #1

Thinking of a Rendezvous – Johnny Duncan, two weeks at #1

Sweet Dreams – Emmylou Harris, two weeks at #1. I had several Harris albums in the 1970s but not this song.

One week

All of the other songs are one week at number one. In chronological order:

This Time I’ve Hurt Her More Than She Loves Me – Conway Twitty

Sometimes – Bill Anderson and Mary Lou Turner

The White Knight – Cletus Maggard. A trucking song I had NOT known.

The Roots of My Raising – Merle Haggard

Faster Horses (The Cowboy and The Poet) – Tom T. Hall

Till The Rivers All Run Dry –  Don Williams

That’s enough for now. More in a few days.

Top Country Christmas Hits

Eddy Arnold

From Joel Whitburn’s Christmas in the Charts, 1920 to 2004, Top Country Christmas Hits lists the peak positions these seasonal songs reached on the country charts.

If We Make It Through December–  Merle Haggard, from 1973, four weeks at #1 CW, #28 pop

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer – Gene Autry with the Pinafores from 1949, one week at #1 CW, #1 pop for one week. It eventually sold eight million copies, second only to Bing Crosby’s White Christmas.  A new version of the song got to #70 pop in 1957.

Blue Christmas – Ernest Tubb from 1949, one week at #1 CW, #21 pop in 1950. “The song was originally recorded by American country singer, musician, and actor Doye O’Dell in 1948. It was popularized the following year in three separate recordings: one by Tubb, one by musical conductor and arranger Hugo Winterhalter and his orchestra and chorus, and one by bandleader Russ Morgan and his orchestra. Elvis Presley cemented the status of the song as a rock-and-roll holiday classic by recording it for his 1957 LP Elvis’ Christmas Album.

Snow Flake – Jim Reeves from 1966, three weeks at #2 CW, #66 pop

Jason Ritter’s grandfather

Christmas Carols By The Old Corral – Tex Ritter from 1945, one week at #2 CW. Maurice Woodeward Ritter was the star of c. 85 Hollywood westerns from 1935 to 1945. The late John Ritter was his son.

Thank God for Kids – Oak Ridge Boys from 1982, two weeks at #3 CW

Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane) -Gene Autry from 1948, one week at number 4 CW. It reached #8 pop in 1948 and #24 pop in 1949

Frosty the Snowman – Gene Autry with the Cass County Boys and Carl Cotner’s Orchestra, from 1950, one week at number 4 CW. #7 pop in 1951, #23 pop in 1952

Will Santy Come to Shantytown – Eddy Arnold from 1949, one week at #5 CW

C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S – Eddy Arnold from 1949, three weeks at #7 CW, co-written by Arnold

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