On August 4 1957, one of country music’s first female superstars, Patsy Cline, released the first of three studio LPs that came out during her lifetime. Although Patsy Cline wasn’t a huge commercial success, the album still introduced the world to one of the genre’s defining voices.
Cline’s first album was released on Decca Records, where she would later record her other two albums. Owen Bradley, a pioneer of the “Nashville sound”, was the producer for the project. Bradley also worked with artists like Loretta Lynn, Kitty Wells, Ernest Tubb, and Burl Ives.
Videos by American Songwriter
Cline’s first single, “Walkin’ After Midnight” gained attention through the variety show, Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts. The exposure she received led to her song becoming a crossover hit on both the pop and country charts. Her second single for the album, however, “I Don’t Wanta”, did not end up charting.
“Walkin’ After Midnight” is still one of Cline’s most popular songs, although it sits below her monster hit, “Crazy,” of course, which she had in 1961. The song contains a simple narrative about walking around in the night, hoping to catch a glimpse of an absent lover.
I go out walkin’ after midnight
Out in the moonlight
Just like we used to do
I’m always walkin’ after midnight
Searchin’ for you
I walk for miles along the highway
Well, that’s just my way
Of sayin’, “I love you”
I’m always walkin’ after midnight
Searchin’ for you.
Cline’s self-titled album included 12 songs in total, one of which, “Don’t Ever Leave Me Again”, Cline received credit as a co-writer on.
Willie Nelson’s Joke About “Crazy”
If you know anything at all about Patsy Cline, you’re likely familiar with the song that made her an icon. Willie Nelson, who wrote “Crazy”, once shared in an interview with Mass Live that he felt Cline was one of the greatest female vocalists ever.
“Well, she was the greatest female vocalist maybe all around ever, but for sure, for country, that I ever heard,” he explained. He went on to share a joke he knew about other female singers trying to sing “Crazy”.
“There’s this joke,” he continued. “After Patsy Cline did ‘Crazy’ and everyone else has tried it, and this joke is really not meant to hurt anybody else’s feelings but when they say ‘How many girl singers does it take to sing ‘Crazy’?’ and they answered ‘All of them.’”
After the release of her third album, Sentimentally Yours, Cline passed away in a tragic plane crash in 1963. A fourth compilation album, called The Patsy Cline Story, was released posthumously, three months after her death.
Photo by: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
-
NEW YORK – JANUARY 1: Carson Robison of the CBS Radio country and western music performers, Carson Robison and His Buckaroos (aka: Carson Robison and His Pioneers) poses for a portrait in New York, NY. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images) -
(MANDATORY CREDIT Watal Asanuma/Shinko Music/Getty Images) Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney of Wings perform on stage at Wembley Pool, London on 19th October 1976. (Photo by Watal Asanuma/Shinko Music via Getty Images) -
UNITED STATES – OCTOBER 10: NOKIA THEATER Photo of Randy SCRUGGS, performing live onstage at the benefit for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum (Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns) -
NEW YORK – JANUARY 6: Rock and roll musician Elvis Presley performs on stage with his back up singers The Jordanaires on the Ed Sullivan Show on January 6, 1957 in New York City, New York. On the left are Jordanaires Neal Matthews Jr (1929 – 2000, far left) and Gordon Stoker (1925 – 2013). (Photo by Steve Oroz/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) -
ATLANTA, GA – FEBRUARY 20: (EDITORS NOTE: Image has digital treatments) Jerry Douglas, Jeff White, Johnny Warren and Shawn Camp of Earls of Leicester perform at City Winery on February 20, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by R. Diamond/Getty Images)
