Charley Pride Fought To Release What Became His First Top 10 Hit

In 1966, Charley Pride had his first Top 10 hit, with “Just Between You And Me“. On his sophomore Pride Of Country Music project, the song is his third single, but the first to become a radio hit.

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“Just Between You And Me” is written by Jack Clement. Although it seems like it was tailor-made for Pride, the country music icon actually had to fight to record the song, mostly with Clement, who was also one of the producers on Pride Of Country Music.

“He said he didn’t want me singing any gospel song, any love song,” Pride recalls to Songfacts. “And ‘I don’t want you singing my song because I don’t want people thinking I got you here and I’m going to push all of my songs on you.’”

Early in Pride’s career, racial segregation was sadly still very present, making it also a challenge for him to sing “Just Between You And Me”.

“They didn’t want me singing love songs at that point because [racists might wonder] who I was singing those love songs to, and what color were they?” Pride reflects. “So all of that would dial into the equation, which I didn’t kick then, and I’m not kicking now because I think they had a point. We weren’t even off the ground, but it ended up that all my fans want to hear me sing is love songs.”

The Influence of “Just Between You And Me” on Charley Pride’s Career

“Just Between You And Me” gave Pride his first Grammy Award nomination, for Best Country & Western Vocal Performance, Male. More importantly, based on the success of “Just Between You And Me”, Pride received an invitation to perform at the Grand Ole Opry. His debut marked the first time a Black singer performed on the Opry stage. He was also only the second Black performer, following harmonica player DeFord Bailey.

At the time, most people were unaware that Pride was Black until they saw him on the Opry stage.

“I said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I realize it’s very unique, me coming out here on a country music show having this permanent tan,” Pride recounts. “I ain’t got time to talk about our pigments; I got only ten minutes. I’m going to do my three songs. And if I have time, I’ll do maybe a Hank Williams song.’”

If there were any inhibitions about Pride being relevant in country music, they quickly dissipated.

“Once I come out and start singing, it didn’t make any difference whether I was pink,” Pride says. “They wanted to hear me sing again. So that’s the way my career has been all these years.”

Photo by Mike Prior/Redferns