3 Classic Country Songs From the 1960s That Still Give You Goosebumps

Many country songs are like mirrors into listeners’ own lives, with an emotional connection that remains as strong as the first listen. And they often leave you with goosebumps regardless of how many times you’ve heard them. On this playlist of classic country from the 1960s, we’ll hear from a singular voice getting left behind before she leaves us too soon. Then, from a couple comprised of an outlaw and country royalty who help each other through hard times with a touching sacrifice. But first, let’s begin with a sorrowful track by a future icon making her introduction.

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“Put It Off Until Tomorrow” by Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton wrote “Put It Off Until Tomorrow” with her uncle, Bill Owens. Then Bill Phillips released it as a single in 1966, with Parton singing an uncredited backing vocal on the track. But Parton’s timeless voice was far too big to be left in the background, let alone uncredited. She recorded her own version, which appears on her debut LP, Hello, I’m Dolly. In hindsight, it’s hard not to notice the irony in Parton’s album title as she transformed from an unknown voice to one who no longer requires an introduction.

In Parton’s recording, there’s a quiver in her singing as she hopes to put off loneliness for another day. It’s a pleading and heartrending tune. Though “tomorrow” doesn’t offer much time, it’s better to delay the grief of breaking up.

“Strange” by Patsy Cline

Sentimentally Yours, Patsy Cline’s third studio album, arrived in 1962, just one year before she was killed in a plane crash at age 30. While mostly standards fill the LP, one of the new tunes is “Strange”, where Cline delivers a heartbreaking vocal to an ex-lover. It describes the curiosity of how easily her partner turns off his feelings for her. It’s as if she were just a placeholder, a pretend lover to occupy a space better filled by someone else.

“Pack Up Your Sorrows” by Johnny Cash and June Carter

“Pack Up Your Sorrows” describes how a couple shares life’s burdens. It’s about mutual struggle and the idea that you don’t have to go it alone. Johnny Cash and June Carter sing the solidarity anthem to each other. Better to be together than to explain your melancholy to a stranger. No need to walk in the shadows, as Carter sings. Then Cash croons about the many highways and byways and the endless ways one gets lost. But with a fellow life traveler, navigation gets easier.    

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