In 1979, there was a lot of great music that came out. Some of the big hits that year are Charlie Daniels’ “The Devil Went Down To Georgia”, “If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me” by The Bellamy Brothers, and Barbara Mandrell’s “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want to Be Right”, among others.
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With so much great music, it’s hard to keep track of all of the hits in 1979. We found three country songs released that year, which were really good, even though most people have already forgotten them.
“You’re The Only One” by Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton’s first single in 1979 is “You’re The Only One”. On Parton’s Great Balls Of Fire record, Carole Bayer Sager and Bruce Roberts are the writers on the song.
“You’re The Only One” says, “You’re the only one, you’re the only one / Take me back to where we started from / And let’s make it now like we made it then / This old heart ain’t gonna break your heart again.”
“Amanda” by Waylon Jennings
Amid Waylon Jennings’ hits like “I’m A Ramblin’ Man”, “Rainy Day Woman”, and “Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)”, is a song called “Amanda“. Out by Jennings on his Greatest Hits album, the song is written by Bob McDill and first released by Don Williams in 1973.
Jennings includes “Amanda” first on his 1974 The Ramblin’ Man album, but didn’t release it as a single. Years later, Jennings decided he liked the song enough, he wanted to release it as a single.
“Amanda” says, “I’ve held it all inward, God knows I’ve tried / But it’s an awful awakenin’ in a country boy’s life / To look in the mirror in total surprise / At the hair on my shoulders and the age in my eyes / Amanda, light of my life / Fate should have made you a gentleman’s wife / Amanda, light of my life / Fate should have made you a gentleman’s wife.”
According to Classic Country Music Stories, McDill says the song is an apology to his wife. He pitched the song to Jennings, who never received it. But later, Jennings heard Williams’ version of the song, and called McDill to ask about the song.
“Broken Hearted Me” by Anne Murray
Randy Goodrum wrote “Broken Hearted Me”, which Anne Murray includes on her I’ll Always Love You record. Before Murray recorded the song, England Dan & John Ford Coley included it on their Dr. Heckle And Mr. Jive record. But it’s Murray who had a No. 1 hit with “Broken Hearted Me” in both her native Canada and the United States. It was also a No. 1 on both the country and pop charts.
“Broken Hearted Me” says, “But I don’t think time is gonna heal this broken heart / No, I don’t see how it can if it’s broken all apart / A million miracles could never stop the pain / Or put all the pieces together again / No, I don’t think time is gonna heal this broken heart / No, I don’t see how it can while we are still apart / And when you hear this song, I hope that you will see / That time won’t heal a broken hearted me.”
Photo by UPI/Bettmann Archive/Getty Image
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