Charlie Rich & Some Very Sad Songs
For whatever reason, Frank has been thinking about the wave of '90s nostalgia and revivalism happening in the music world.
This somehow led him to remember a time in the actual mid-90s when a friend of his was ending his marriage and listening to THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN THE WORLD on repeat. Back then, the sadness of the song really seemed insurmountable. It still does.
And the sadness of the song also led Frank down a rabbit hole of other truly sad songs—songs about heartbreak, songs about death or dying.
So, here’s five things we find interesting about Charlie Rich:
1. Music was a constant, powerful force in Charlie’s life throughout his adolescence and during his days in the Air Force. At the same time, music was a sideline – one that his Baptist parents strictly monitored. Charlie was allowed to play the tenor saxophone in the high school band, but playing at dances and playing for money were forbidden.
So, when the Air Force posted him to Oklahoma in the early 1950s, one of his first groups, the Velvetones, secured a spot on local TV. With Charlie on piano, they played jazz and R&B, with Charlie’s fiancée (and eventual wife), Margaret Ann, on vocals.
And maybe he never really escaped that Baptist upbringing, because Charlie, thinking it was too risque, almost passed on recording BEHIND CLOSED DOORS in 1973.
2. Often regarded as a countrypolitan singer (Editor’s note: countrypolitan is a sub-genre of country music that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s, characterized by its smooth, pop-influenced sound and arrangements), and sometimes as a blue-eyed soul singer, Charlie Rich is always seen as a musician’s musician. Here’s why:
Sam Phillips, the Memphis record producer and owner of Sun Records, enthused, “When Charlie spoke, the sound was of crushed gravel. When he sang, his voice moved Bob Dylan to call him his favorite ballad singer.”
Elvis Costello has praised him as one of the primal voices of American popular music.
Even Robert Christgau wrote, “Rich's jazzy chops and heartfelt polish transform Nashville's best chicken fat into high-quality mainstream pop—Arkansas's answer to Nat King Cole. Cole was better at it, but I prefer Rich's homely subject matter and rock and roll roots.”
Hig praise indeed.
3. Though he’d been a respected American roots musician, first in rockabilly and then in country, with a couple of medium-sized pop hits in the 1960s, the Silver Fox (Charlie’s hair turned prematurely white at 23) became an ‘overnight’ success with the 1973 pop-country hit BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. It was the first of Rich’s nine chart-topping country singles, but it was the follow-up, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN THE WORLD, that made him a crossover superstar, spending three weeks at number one on the country charts and two weeks at the top of the pop charts.
After THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN THE WORLD, number ones came quickly. Five songs topped both the country and pop charts in 1974: THERE WON’T BE ANYMORE (Number 18, Hot 100), A VERY SPECIAL LOVE SONG (Number 11, Hot 100), I DON’T SEE ME IN YOUR EYES ANYMORE (Number 47, Hot 100), I LOVE MY FRIEND (Number 24, Hot 100), and SHE CALLED ME BABY (Number 47, Hot 100).
Tom Waits, who was an opening act for Charlie during this period, mentions him in the song PUTNAM COUNTY from Waits’ album Nighthawks at the Diner with the lyric: "The radio's spitting out Charlie Rich... He sure can sing, that son of a bitch.”
4. In 1974, Charlie performed the Academy Award-nominated theme song "I FEEL LOVE (BENJI’S THEME)" from the film Benji.
Speaking of film, he appeared as himself in the 1978 Clint Eastwood movie Every Which Way but Loose, performing “I’LL WAKE YOU UP WHEN I GET HOME.”
5. During his semi-retirement in the 1980s, Charlie lived comfortably by investing in Wendy’s hamburger restaurant franchises.
Chose from all of our Charlie Rich 45s
While researching Charlie Rich, Frank was also creating a mixtape. One of only truly sad songs. And like previous mixtapes, should you want to add them to your collection or play them in your sets, this one is composed of 45s available in the store. But, first, grab a box of tissues.
IT HURTS ME Elvis Presley
BACK UP TRAIN Al Green
I’D RATHER GO BLIND Bettye Swann
I WANT TO BE WANTED Brenda Lee
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL Charlie Rich
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN LONELY Jim Reeves & Patsy Cline
DON’T LET THE SUN CATCH YOU CRYIN’ Billy Preston
(ALONE) IN MY ROOM Verdelle Smith
GLOOMY SUNDAY Carmen McCrae
ELEANOR RIGBY Aretha Franklin
BROKEN HEARTED MELODY Sarah Vaughan
FACE IT GIRL, IT’S OVER Nancy Wilson
I WILL NEVER MARRY Linda Ronstadt
YOU DON’T HAVE TO SAY YOU LOVE ME Dusty Springfield
OUR LAST NIGHT TOGETHER Tammy Wynette
I SMILED YESTERDAY Dionne Warwick
ONE LESS BELL TO ANSWER Keely Smith
LETTER FULL OF TEARS Gladys Knight & The Pips
LOVE IS A HURTIN’ THING Lou Rawls
A MAN ALONE Frank Sinatra
MY ELUSIVE DREAMS George Jones & Tammy Wynette
LOVE HURTS Gram Parsons
HURT SO BAD Little Anthony & The Imperials
AIN’T NOBODY HOME Howard Tate
IMAGINE THAT Patsy Cline
WHAT CAN I DO C.L. Blast
See you soon!
May your days be sunny and warm with an occasional rain shower. But careful, speaking from experience, summer colds and Covid are swarming out there.
