Sometimes, you just can’t get another person out of your head. As much as you try, there they are. With their hair just so, their eyes looking like they always do, and their voice sounding like it always does at a certain time of day. Here below, we wanted to highlight three songs that understood people. These are three country tracks by people for people about people. Indeed, these are three country songs from the 1970s you didn’t know were written about real people.
“The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers from ‘The Gambler’ (1978)
Written by Don Schlitz when he was just 23 years old in 1976, Schlitz felt convinced that this track had come from some divine inspiration. He also felt strongly that his own father had inspired it, thanks to his life of hard living. Speaking in 1979 to famed music DJ Casey Kasem, Schlitz said of the song’s origin, “Something more than me wrote that song. I’m convinced of that. I really had no idea where the song was coming from. There was something going through my head, which was my father. It was just a song, and it somehow filtered through me. Six weeks later, I received the final verse. Months later, it came to me that it was inspired by, and possibly a gift from, my father.”
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“Coal Miner’s Daughter” by Loretta Lynn from ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter’ (1971)
Speaking of fathers, this is another famed country track that has origins with the patriarch. Indeed, this autobiographical song by one of country’s biggest names highlights Loretta Lynn’s childhood. In the end, it’s all about hard work. To keep the family going, both of Lynn’s parents toiled away day and night. It’s a message any country fan can take to heart, and that’s one of the reasons why the song has persisted to this day.
“Jolene” by Dolly Parton from ‘Jolene’ (1974)
In 1974, Dolly Parton was struck by songwriting lightning twice in a brief period of time. And both times, an all-time tune about someone she knew came out of her. Whether you’re talking about “Jolene” (the song about a real woman trying to take her real husband) or “I Will Always Love You” (the breakup friendship song she wrote for former collaborator Porter Wagoner), 1974 was a good year for Parton. Those two offerings still ring out today, as loud as ever.
Photo by CBS via Getty Images
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American singer, songwriter and pianist, Ray Charles (1930 – 2004) performing at the Olympia in Paris, France on May 18, 1962. (Photo by REPORTERS ASSOCIES/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images) -
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