Country music by the late 1960s was having a pretty incredible moment, although it wasn’t fully recognized until years later. Among the many great country songs that came out at the end of that decade are these tunes. All out in 1969, every 60s kid almost certainly still knows them by heart today.
“A Boy Named Sue” by Johnny Cash
Written by Shel Silverstein, “A Boy Named Sue” appears on Johnny Cash’s live album, At San Quentin. The song is a story about a man who named his son Sue before abandoning the family, and the reckoning that happens when the boy, who lived with a girl’s name his entire life, finally meets the father who gave him the odd name.
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“A Boy Named Sue” says, “Now, I don’t blame him cause he run and hid / But the meanest thing that he ever did / Was before he left, he went and named me ‘Sue.’”
Cash earned his first of two CMA Awards for Single of the Year with “A Boy Named Sue”. He didn’t win his second CMA Award in that category until 2003, with “Hurt”.
“Woman Of The World (Leave My World Alone)” by Loretta Lynn
“Woman Of The World (Leave My World Alone)” is on Loretta Lynn’s Woman of the World / To Make a Man record. The No. 1 single is about infidelity, a common theme in Lynn’s music. But surprisingly, Lynn did not write “Woman Of The World (Leave My World Alone)”. Instead, Sharon Higgins is the writer of the cautionary tale.
The song says in part, “I don’t know about the things the bright lights talk to you / My country boy don’t know them any better than I do / I’ll have to watch him hurtin’ after you are gone / Woman of the world leave my world alone.“
“Woman Of The World (Leave My World Alone)” is one of several hits Lynn had in 1969. That year, she also released “Who’s Gonna Take The Garbage Out”, a duet with Ernest Tubb, plus “To Make A Man (Feel Like A Man)” and “Wings Upon Your Home”.
“Galveston” by Glen Campbell
One of Glen Campbell’s most popular songs, “Galveston” was written by Jimmy Webb. “Galveston” is the title track of a record that Campbell also released in 1969.
A crossover hit, “Galveston” begins with, “Galveston, oh Galveston, I still hear your sea winds blowin’ / I still see her dark eyes glowin’ / She was 21 when I left Galveston.”
Before Campbell released “Galveston”, it was first recorded by Don Ho. Ho performed the song on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, which is how Campbell heard “Galveston”, deciding to record it on his own. “Galveston” stayed in the top spot on the country chart for three weeks.
Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content
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