Now for this stopover . . . "Forever Together" by Randy Travis (#1 for 1 week - November 30, 1991) Wikipedia entry
The songwriting team of Randy Travis and Alan Jackson happened when the two toured together in 1990. Almost all the singles from Travis' album High Lonesome were composed by the high-powered duo. It almost makes one wish they'd collaborated more often. High Lonesome was issued on vinyl by Columbia House in the U.S. and to the general public in Germany. "Forever Together" is an interesting waltz-time song. The chorus, of course, is a vow of undying love not out of place at a wedding ceremony. But the verses tell that the couple is together despite all his flaws. Basically, men can be dense, but in this case, he realizes it before she (or he) wanders in another direction. It's a decent enough song, but compared to his 1980s hits, it's paint-by-numbers Travis.
As the weeks of 1991 toll away . . . "For My Broken Heart" by Reba McEntire (#1 for 2 weeks - December 7-14, 1991) Wikipedia entry
Silly question(as I have many of her records), but is it pronounced "REE-buh or RAY-buh? I've heard it both ways.
I've always heard it as REE-buh, but someone with a strong Southern accent might say it the other way.
"For My Broken Heart" may have been the most anticipated single of Reba McEntire's career, because of the tragedy that preceded it. On March 15, 1991, McEntire and her band had done a private concert for employees of IBM in San Diego, California. Early the next morning, two planes with members of her band and her tour entourage took off from San Diego en route back to Nashville. One of the planes didn't make it; it crashed into a mountain, killing all 10 on board, including seven members of Reba's touring band, her road manager, and both pilots. Reba was under the weather, thus she stayed in San Diego overnight before flying out the next morning. Needless to say, she was devastated. She received lots of help from fellow stars including Vince Gill and Dolly Parton to get her act back together, and meanwhile, she plunged back into her work, choosing to record an assortment of songs dealing with loss, heartbreak, and healing that was named after its leadoff track, For My Broken Heart. The album was dedicated to those who had died in the crash, and the album title can certainly be seen in that light as well. It became McEntire's biggest-selling album; it's been certified four times platinum by the RIAA. It's also considered among Reba's best; after a limited vinyl release in 1991 through Columbia House (MCA 1P-8162), it was released on record for its 30th anniversary in 2021 by the custom label Vinyl Me, Please. The song itself is a more nuanced version of an occasional theme in music, that of a breakup making the left-behind party feel that everything is over, but the world keeps turning and the sun keeps rising and setting despite it. Think "The End of the World" by Skeeter Davis or even "Is That All There Is?" by Peggy Lee. Taken out of context of the relationship in the song, it could also be seen in the context of Reba losing her band members and her decision to go on performing: "Oh, I guess the world ain't gonna stop / For my broken heart." The album version starts with a 45-second string introduction, which was deleted from the single version. As for the songwriters: Liz Hengber was originally from Brooklyn, but after a failed career in musical theater and as a background singer, she relocated to Nashville and got a job as a waitress at the famous Bluebird Cafe. In 1990, she signed with McEntire's company Starstruck Entertainment, and six months later, this, her first composition for Reba, became a #1 hit. Keith Palmer, at the same time he co-wrote "For My Broken Heart," started a short-lived recording career on Epic Nashville. Two singles from his album made the lower part of the Billboard country chart -- not quite good enough to warrant a second album. Sadly, Palmer died of cancer in 1996 at the age of only 39. "For My Broken Heart" has grown on me quite a bit. I can relate, sort of; when my last relationship ended almost nine years ago, I kinda felt the same way. My heart may have figuratively died, but the world kept moving ahead regardless.
Liked this so much when it was new, that I bought this 45 and had to drive to Roy's Record Shop in Maryville, TN to buy it. Still have my well played, but pristine condition copy. Still a favorite.
And so with one "broken heart" number replacing another, we finish out 1991 with . . . "My Next Broken Heart" by Brooks And Dunn (#1 for 2 weeks - December 21-28, 1991) Wikipedia entry
Er . . . I've been apprised that label was the wrong side (no wonder, where this came from switched 'em). Here's what it should be . . . And to those who switched the sides in Images . . .
Yes. This. I noticed that the above 45 has a drill hole through the label area. I literally had never seen a 1990s 45 with one until these photos. Someone somewhere must still have been using that method to denote non-returnables... The newest drill-holed 45s in my collection are from around 1983. Anyway, "My Next Broken Heart" was yet another #1 hit from the songwriting triumvirate of Kix Brooks, Ronnie Dunn, and Don Cook. In re-listening to it, I still like it as much as I did when I first heard it back in 1992. One of the definitions of insanity, supposedly according to Albert Einstein, is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. (It actually was first used in a 1983 novel, Sudden Death by Rita Mae Brown.) After getting shot down over and over again, I stopped asking after a while, and I now mostly assume that no one is all that interested anyway. But yeah, I kinda felt the way of this song when I was younger.
And we have reached the end of 1991. It's time to update the #1s for the fourth quarter of the year according to Radio & Records and Cash Box, as always avoiding any spoilers. I will put in bold anything that didn't hit #1 in Billboard. If a song hit #1 in both other magazines but not in Billboard, it will be in bold italics. Radio & Records country #1s Oct. 4: "Keep It Between the Lines," Ricky Van Shelton (CB #2) Oct. 11: "New Way (To Light Up an Old Flame)," Joe Diffie (BB #2) Oct. 18: "Anymore," Travis Tritt Oct. 25: "Someday," Alan Jackson Nov. 1: "Brotherly Love," Keith Whitley and Earl Thomas Conley (BB #2, CB #2) Nov. 8: "Shameless," Garth Brooks Nov. 15: "Forever Together," Randy Travis Nov. 22: "Then Again," Alabama (BB #4) Nov. 29: "For My Broken Heart," Reba McEntire (CB #3) Dec. 6: "The Chill of an Early Fall," George Strait (BB #3) Dec. 13: "My Next Broken Heart," Brooks & Dunn Cash Box country #1s Oct. 26: "New Way (To Light Up an Old Flame)," Joe Diffie Nov. 2: "Someday," Alan Jackson Nov. 9: "Anymore," Travis Tritt Nov. 16: "Like We Never Had a Broken Heart," Trisha Yearwood (BB #4, RR #2) Nov. 23: "Then Again," Alabama Nov. 30: "Shameless," Garth Brooks Dec. 7: "Forever Together," Randy Travis Dec. 14: "The Chill of an Early Fall," George Strait Dec. 21: "Look at Us," Vince Gill (BB #4, RR #4) Dec. 28: "My Next Broken Heart," Brooks & Dunn All seven Billboard #1s hit the top in Radio & Records; five of them did in Cash Box. Note again that neither RR or CB had a single multi-week #1 hit in this stretch (not including frozen chart weeks); they were still using the old method of playlist reports.
For the record (no pun intended), I went into that website where the side order was wronged, and righted it. Now those clicking on "My Next Broken Heart," should see the "My Next Broken Heart" side in front instead of "Boot Scootin' Boogie" - a title I would have expected from the 1940's.
Now we go to the first song of 1992 - the first time in a long time it was also the first new song of the year: "Love, Me" by Collin Raye (#1 for 3 weeks - January 4-18, 1992) Wikipedia entry - the first, too, for Mr. Raye; but also, one of the last to be pressed by the Columbia plant in Carrollton, GA, which ceased vinyl production in November 1991 (later pressings of this were made by the MCA plant in Gloversville, NY, where Sony shifted vinyl production of its product after that shutdown).
That looks like my copy. Working in Pat's shop I heard everything that she ordered. I had to stop and listen to this one. Then I grabbed one. I played it over and over repeatedly weeping. It made me so emotional. Such a well written song it grabbed me by the heart and squeezed. It still does. I played it just a few days ago. Am I the only one who thinks this sounds like Dan Fogelberg? Edit: It just reduced me to a puddle again. Thanks.
It does sound much like Dan Fogelberg. Also grabbed me by the heart, and didn't let go. Still superb today! Your post puts a smile on my face.
My copy of "Love, Me" is the second pressing from Gloversville, N.Y. When CBS' Carrollton, Ga., plant closed, I think it marked the end of the roughly 40-year history of styrene 45s. In the 1980s, Collin Raye, whose last name was originally spelled Wray, was in a band with his brother Scotty called The Wray Brothers Band. They released five singles on two indie labels, CIS Northwest and Sasparilla (sic), before they were signed by Mercury. With their name shortened to The Wrays, they released three more singles before they were dropped. Raye was signed as a solo artist by Epic in 1990. "Love, Me" was only his second single; the first, "All I Can Be (Is a Sweet Memory)," was not a big hit, as it peaked at only #29. The songwriters were relatively new, too. Skip Ewing had recorded four albums for MCA and one for Capitol Nashville by the end of 1991; he had four top-10 singles, including the #3 "Burnin' a Hole in My Heart" in 1988. He also began placing songs with other artists; one of the best-known is the country Christmas song "It Wasn't His Child," first recorded by Sawyer Brown in 1988. Max T. Barnes had songwriting in his blood; his father was Max D. Barnes, whose career went back to the 1970s and was still writing big hits at the same time his son was. In fact, T. and D. both were nominated for CMA Song of the Year in the same year for different songs. That year indeed was 1992, where father was nominated for "Look at Us" by Vince Gill and son for "Love, Me." (Max D. won.) In an interview with the website Songfacts, Ewing explained that "Love, Me" was inspired by two unrelated things: the relationship his grandparents had, and by a note he got from an old girlfriend on which she didn't sign her name but wrote, "Love, Me." As I was writing this post, I just remembered that an old girlfriend at least once wrote me a note and signed it "Love, Me." I might even still have one if I wanted to try to find it. Though this song doesn't move me quite as much as it does JamieC, it's still really touching. It stays on the correct side of the line between sentimental and maudlin. Two later Collin Raye songs, neither of which hit #1, are even more meaningful to me, but I'll wait to mention them until we get there, as they are still some years in the future.
It did, it did. I seem to have noticed the last styrene pressing from Allied in Los Angeles came out in 1989, and not long after that PRC ceased pressing in that way around the time their plants were sold to Cinram.
And looking at my crystal ball and seeing how many country #1's unfold in this year, compared with the pop side, let's get to the next one now: "Sticks And Stones" by Tracy Lawrence (#1 for 1 week - January 25, 1992) Wikipedia entry - and yet another first-timer to the top.
