There’s something inherently mournful about the straight, buzzing harmonies of traditional Appalachian music, of which this No. 1 country hit from 1953 had plenty. But the circumstances around the song and the country music duo that performed it make the track even more haunting and lonesome. Indeed, the tragedy that struck the same week they released their song makes The Davis Sisters’ hit single, “I Forgot More Than You’ll Ever Know”, a morbid piece of country music history.
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Skeeter Davis and Betty Jack Davis began performing as The Davis Sisters in the early 1950s. Although the two women were not related, it was hard to tell while listening to them. The Davis’ bright tones with little vibrato perfectly locked in while harmonizing with one another. They sang the track that would go No. 1 as a homophonic duet throughout the entire song, except for one section. Betty Jack sang the only solo lines, which is a somewhat uncanny coincidence. Of the two musicians, she would be the one who wouldn’t get to see the song rise to the top of the charts.
In August of 1953, the Davis’ were traveling home from a gig in West Virginia when they got into a head-on collision with a car that crossed the center line. The impact killed Betty Jack immediately and left Skeeter with head injuries. The Texarkana Gazette described Skeeter’s recovery as “long and complicated.” Skeeter attempted to continue The Davis Sisters’ musical act with Betty Jack’s sister, Georgie, but it didn’t last.
The Tragedy Made This No. 1 Country Hit From 1953 All the More Heartbreaking
The Davis Sisters’ No. 1 country hit from 1953 is a traditional waltz with woeful lyrics from a past lover—a classic example of popular heartbreak songs of the mid-1950s. In the song, both Skeeter Davis and Betty Jack Davis sing from the perspective of an ex-partner speaking to their former lover’s new beau. “You think you know the smile on his lips / The thrill at the touch of his fingertips / But I’ve forgotten more than you’ll ever know about him.” Toward the end of the song, the narrator sings, “You think he’s yours to have and to hold / Someday you’ll learn when his love grows cold.”
The singers perform almost the entire song in harmony, á la the traditional music from their native eastern Kentucky. Only one stanza is performed as a solo, with Betty Jack singing the lines, “You stole his love from me one day / You didn’t care how you hurt me / But you can never steal away / Memories of what used to be.”
Given that Betty Jack was the one who died in the car accident that summer, these lines become even more heartbreaking. Still, the song remains a standard in the traditional music canon and has been covered by countless artists, including Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Kitty Wells, The Statler Brothers, and more.
Photo by Bob Grannis/Getty Images
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