My Top 15 Patsy Cline Songs: Leavin' On Your Mind (#3)
By Four Walls
@FourWalls (61915)
United States
July 6, 2016 6:58pm CST
The cream is always at the top, and I'm at the final three songs on my list of favorite Patsy Cline songs. And for these last three, I have songs that I believe will make a firm believer out of anyone who doesn't know Patsy Cline's music or think that she's worth investigating because she died over 50 years ago.
#3: Leavin' On Your Mind
Yeah, tell me this is something you should just dismiss. Tell me this is just some throw-away nonsense. One listen to this and you'll know why old farts like me can't stand modern country music.
Written by Wayne Walker, this was originally recorded by a Canadian singer named Joyce Smith. When Patsy heard the song she insisted on recording it, too, but back in those days things were a little more civil: the record label didn't want competing versions of the same song out there, especially given that Cline was a "name act" and Smith was just starting. A Patsy Cline version of this song would have dwarfed any newcomer. And that was true: Patsy's version was a country top ten hit.
And, of course, with a song title like "Leavin' On Your Mind," you know there has to be some irony. This was the final Patsy Cline single released in her lifetime. The song came out on February 16, 1963, just seventeen days before the tragic plane crash that killed her and her fellow country stars Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins.
Just listen to the ache in this woman's voice.
Leavin' On Your Mind
Written by Wayne Walker and Webb Pierce
Released as a single, 1963
Appears on The Patsy Cline Story, 1963
One of Patsy's final appearances doing one of her final songs:
One of the greatest singers in the history of country music, Patsy Cline also helped blaze a trail for female singers to assert themselves as an integral par...
3 people like this
2 responses
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
7 Jul 16
Your point is succinct. I am no country music aficionado but I know the difference between Patsy and Taylor. I see today's "country" stars and while they may be genuine southerners with southern twangs, on stage they look like dress up figures with the hats etc and more country rock than anything else. Even listening to today's rock, you can hear or feel something going back to the roots but how on earth can Taylor be a descendant of Patsy?
2 people like this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
9 Jul 16
This Patsy Cline series is bringing back what are not supposed to be fond memories. My girlfriend at the time could nail Patsy at Karaoke.
