Country music has changed and evolved a lot in the last several decades. While the genre sounds much different from it did in the 1960s, the era still has a lot of country songs that are worth listening to, over and over again.
These three country songs all came out in 1961 and are bound to put anyone in a good mood.
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“Crazy” by Patsy Cline
One of Patsy Cline’s most iconic hits, “Crazy” is her second hit single. Coming after “I Fall To Pieces”, Cline’s first No. 1 hit, both songs appear on Cline’s Sentimentally Yours record.
“Crazy” is actually a song about lost love. But the nostalgic song, combined with Cline’s stellar vocal delivery, makes it one that’s easy to listen to again and again. The song says, “Crazy, I’m crazy for feelin’ so lonely / I’m crazy, crazy for feelin’ so blue / I knew, you’d love me as long as you wanted / And then someday, you’d leave me for somebody new.”
In spite of how much fans revere “Crazy,” the song did not hit No. 1 for Cline.
“Tender Years” by George Jones
A song about the tenacity of love, even if it isn’t reciprocated, George Jones includes “Tender Years” on his George Jones Sings from the Heart record. The song spent seven weeks at the top of the charts.
Written by Jones and Darrell Edwards, “Tender Years” says, “So if I can’t be your first love/ I’ll wait and be your last / I’ll be somewhere in your future / To help you forget the past / And you’ll know that I love you / With a love that’s sincere / ‘Cause I’ll wait ’til you’re thru living / In your tender years.
“Big Bad John” by Jimmy Dean
From the very beginning of “Big Bad John“, it’s impossible not to at least grin a little, even though the story is actually quite sad. Written by Jimmy Dean, “Big Bad John” became a two-week No. 1 hit for him at country radio. It also spent five weeks in the top spot on the pop charts. “Big Bad John” tells a harrowing tale of a man who saves 20 men stuck in a mine, sacrificing his own life to save them.
On Dean’s Big Bad John and Other Fabulous Songs and Tales record, “Big Bad John” says, “Every mornin’ at the mine you could see him arrive / He stood six foot six and weighed 245 / Kinda broad at the shoulder and narrow at the hip / And everybody knew, ya didn’t give no lip to Big John.”
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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