Lynn Anderson is the singer behind some of country music’s most notable songs, including “Rose Garden”, “How Can I Unlove You”, “Keep Me In Mind”, and others. But before she became a household name, Lynn Anderson relied on a songwriter to give her songs: her mother, Liz Anderson.
It’s Liz Anderson who penned some of her daughter’s songs, including “If I Kiss You (Will You Go Away)”. On Lynn Anderson’s debut Ride, Ride, Ride record, “If I Kiss You (Will You Go Away)” became her first Top 5 single.
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“If I Kiss You (Will You Go Away)” begins with, “If I kiss you will you go away / Like in the game my mother used to play / You’re so much hurt I wish you wouldn’t stay / If I kiss you will you go away.”
Interestingly, Liz Anderson wrote seven of the 12 songs on Ride, Ride, Ride, including the title track. Only one of those seven, “It’s Only Lonely Me”, was co-written. Liz Anderson wrote that song with Lynn Anderson’s father, Casey Anderson.
What Liz Anderson Said About Writing Songs for Her Daughter, Lynn Anderson
Liz Anderson did write other songs for her daughter, including “Promises, Promises” and “Big Girls Don’t Cry”, among others. A talented songwriter, Liz Anderson was also an artist in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In fact, she originally wrote “Ride, Ride, Ride” for herself, not her daughter. It was in a meeting at Liz Anderson’s record label when it was decided that Lynn Anderson should record what her mother wrote.
“When I came back to RCA, back to record at RCA, we brought Lynn along with us,” Liz Anderson recalls. “Just to come along.”
Several people were in a hotel room, including Merle Haggard, Del Reeves, and more. It was Reeves who offered to give Lynn Anderson her first record deal.
“He heard Lynn sing,” Liz Anderson remembers. “We were all singing, and he heard Lynn singing and harmonizing, and asked if she could stay over and record for his label. So, anyway, we scrambled together and got her some songs. I had been planning on doing
‘Ride’ myself, but I gave it to her. And she did that, and then I did other things. But we actually recorded the same week. Isn’t that weird?”
Most of what Liz Anderson wrote was recorded by her daughter, but not all of it. It’s Liz Anderson who wrote “The Fugitive”, along with Casey Anderson. That song remains one of Haggard’s most notable singles. It’s Liz Anderson who also wrote “(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers”, another Haggard hit.
Photo By Rick Diamond/Getty Images
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