Ten Favorite Back Songs: Y’all Come Back Saloon (#5)

Tweet

Thanks to my cantankerous back I came up with an idea for listing my favorite songs that have the word “back” in the title. This morning the back pain was back, probably a delayed reaction to standing on my feet at the Pokey LaFarge concert. Oh, well, that’s why they give me lidocaine patches, and I’m feeling fine now. Here’s the next song on the list. #5: Y’all Come Back Saloon - Oak Ridge Boys It’s funny: I don’t consider myself a “big” Oak Ridge Boys fan, but after I saw them at the Kentucky State Fair last year (where they play every year on Sunday night as a free show), I realized I’ve seen them a dozen times. Hey, it’s free, I’m there anyway, and you can always count on the Oak Ridge Boys for a good show. The Oak Ridge Boys began life as a southern gospel group (which probably explains the harmonies: southern gospel is filled with superb harmony groups). In 1977 they decided they’d step into the “secular” world of country music and released the album Y’all Come Back Saloon. That was certainly a good career move on their part. Forty years later they’re in both the Country Music and Southern Gospel Halls of Fame. This is a great song about a woman who sings at a beer joint (the eponymous bar), and always gets a request from someone known only as “Cowboy.” The request is the Bob Wills classic “Faded Love.” The terrific thing about this song is that you really don’t know who’s heart is more affected by the song: the singer or the man requesting the song nightly. The Oak Ridge Boys still do gospel in their shows, and as long as they keep coming back to the fair I’ll stop by and see them once every couple of years. Y’all Come Back Saloon Written by Sharon Vaughn Recorded by the Oak Ridge Boys From Y’all Come Back Saloon, 1977 She must have known the words to at least a million tunes: