4 Country Songs From 1959 That Give Me Instant Goosebumps Every Time

With its storytelling lyricism, lush (or captivatingly sparse) arrangements, and airtight vocal harmonies, early country music is adept at giving listeners goosebumps, and I’m no exception—especially with these four country songs from 1959.

“El Paso” by Marty Robbins

Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs is a definitive album both in terms of its storytelling and impeccable performances, and Marty Robbins expertly combines both in “El Paso”. Easily one of the greatest storytelling songs of all time, the part of the narrative that sees the main subject return to El Paso as a criminal just for the chance to see his love again—only for someone to shoot him off his horse when he’s feet away—never fails to leave me in chills. When the song ends, and the narrator dies in his love’s arms, goosebumps never fail to spring up on my arms.

“The Three Bells” by The Browns

A confession: the first time I ever heard The Browns’ 1959 country rendition of “The Three Bells”, it was in the soundtrack for The Sopranos. I would be lying if I said that didn’t play a huge role in how much the song emotionally impacted me. But even without this television association, the song itself is endearing and heartbreaking in a bittersweet, “time gets us all” kind of way. As the titular bells ring out throughout the town marking the subject’s birth, marriage, and death, the listener is reminded of the fleeting nature of life.

“Five Feet High And Rising” by Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash grew up in a small farming community in Arkansas alongside the Tyronza River. And as anyone who has lived on or near a river can attest, there are a few key times each year when the river dominates all as rainfall causes riverbeds to swell and their paths to change shape. Cash wrote “Five Feet High And Rising” about the Ohio River flood of 1937, a devastating natural disaster that killed hundreds and left one million people displaced. The harrowing scene told through conversations between children and their parents makes it all the more chill-inducing.

“When It’s Springtime In Alaska (It’s Forty Below)” by Johnny Horton

Johnny Horton’s gorgeous vocal delivery of “When It’s Springtime In Alaska (It’s Forty Below)” makes the plot twist at the end of the song, in which he’s mortally wounded by the husband-to-be of a woman he’s been dancing with all night, all the more heartbreaking. The best classic country combines the most beautiful and sinister parts of life into one composition, and this 1959 single is no exception.

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