On the Charts 62 Years Ago, Buck Owens Was on Top With a Song That Replaced Its Own B-Side at No. 1

Buck Owens was never a big fan of the term “country music,” referring instead to his style as simply “American music.” However you categorize Owens’ music, though, it was an indisputable success. With his Buckaroos’ twangy electric guitar, catchy choruses, and easily digestible storylines, the Sherman, Texas-born artist sent 21 songs to the top of the country singles chart, including “Act Naturally” (1963) and “Waitin’ In Your Welfare Line” (1966). On this day (May 21) in 1964, Owens landed his third number-one hit with “My Heart Skips a Beat”.

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Buck Owens Replaced Himself at No. 1

Buck Owens wrote many of his hits himself, including “My Heart Skips a Beat”. The jaunty tune pays tribute to new love: Oh, my heart skips a beat when we walk down the street / I feel a trembling in my knees / And just to know you’re mine until the end of time / Makes my heart skip a beat.

Recorded for his number-one album Together Again, Owens released “My Heart Skips a Beat” as a double-sided single with the title track. The song spent 26 weeks on the country singles chart, with seven of those (non-consecutive) at number one.

Even more impressively, “Together Again” also hit number one, both replacing and being replaced by “My Heart Skips a Beat”. Billboard also named the latter its top country single of 1964.

Writing for AllMusic, critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine called Together Again “one of Buck Owens’ strongest albums of the ’60s,” classifying it as “superb, pure honky tonk.”

[RELATED: These 4 Buck Owens Songs From the 1960s Will Always Make Me Smile]

The “Genius of Soul” Later Covered This Song

Buck Owens and his Buckaroos ruled the country charts in the 1960s, becoming just the second country band to ever perform at Carnegie Hall in 1966.

That same year, soul icon Ray Charles released cover version of two Owens songs: “Crying Time” and “Together Again”.

While Owens’ version of “Crying Time” missed the charts entirely, Charles turned it into a massive pop hit, reaching number six on the all-genre Hot 100 and winning two Grammy Awards the following year.

The “Georgia On My Mind” singer made it clear he meant his recording of “Crying Time” as a tribute to the Country Music Hall of Famer. “I’m crazy about Buck,” he said. “But I heard something that fit my style. The key was keeping my style while watching my style work in different ways.”

Featured image by Don Paulsen/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images