A friend posted a Doris Day song on Facebook the other day, and it got me thinking about her and looking for the song I’ve posted here. It is not your typical Doris Day song – it’s a Willie Nelson song – but it is one I’ve always thought was one of her best.
Back in 1960, while he was living in the Houston area and working as a D-J and guitar instructor, Willie wrote a song he couldn’t get recorded. The head of the little recording studio didn’t think it was a Country song. Money was tight, and Nelson sold the song for $150.
Ray Price recorded the song as the title track of a 1963 album– and had a hit with it , and Doris Day released her version a couple months later. I was working for KQUE-fm when the song came out, and of course we were much too sophisticated to play Ray Price, but we did play the Doris Day version. On the late night – 10 pm to 2 am - shift, I got requests for it almost every night.
In 1965, Willie finally recorded the song on an album called Country Willie – His Own Songs for RCA, and had to pay royalties on his own creation.
Over the years, the song has been recorded by Frank Sinatra, BB King, Roy Clark, and quite a few others. It may or may not be a Country song, but it is one of Willie’s best creations, and that’s saying something.
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