Heartaches by the Number—Harlan Howard's First Cross-Over Hit
With the Grand Ole Opry as a focal point, country music began to gravitate to Nashville, Tennessee, in the 1930s. In the next two decades, Nashville became an increasingly important music center as country music gained in popularity. But by the end of the 1950s an offshoot of Nashville had developed in southern California—a sort of country music suburb. It was here that Harlan Howard, who was raised in Detroit but nurtured on the radio broadcasts of the Grand Ole Opry [on AM radio station WSM], began to succeed as a songwriter. Howard had tried, without success, to break into Nashville while he was a paratrooper stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia. After his release from the service, he landed in Los Angeles, where Johnny Bond and Tex Ritter published his songs. When he wrote "Heartaches by the Number" in 1959, Howard had already gained recognition in the country field with "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down." "Heartaches by the Number" extended that recognition...when, after Ray Price made it a hit country record, Guy Mitchell followed it up with a hit pop version. —Festival of Popular Songs
Heartaches by the Number Lyrics (Words and Music by Harlan Howard)
Heartache Number One was when you left me
Now I've got heartaches by the number
Heartache Number Three was when you called me
CHORUS
|
