Country Love, Day 1: A Heart Full of Love

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Happy New Year! And happy new countdown! I’m going to present 45 songs. The first 35songs will be in alphabetical order by the artist, then the top ten favorites with “love” (or something like it, as Kenny Rogers once sang) in the title will take us all the way to Valentines Day. Oh, and if you don’t like country music (and I know you don’t), there’s a simultaneous rock and roll (or something like it) countdown. A is for apple, and here’s the first song. A Heart Full of Love (For a Handful of Kisses) - Eddy Arnold So here’s the “I’m impressed” moment I sprung on Gene King, the late owner of King’s Record Shop (featured on the cover of a Rosanne Cash album) and brother of Pee Wee King. He showed me a picture of his brother’s Golden West Cowboys band in the early 40s, pointed to the guy in the middle, and said, “You know who that is?” I squinted. “Eddy Arnold.” He was impressed. Richard Edward Arnold was, and still is, the king of the country music record charts, according to the Whitburn. Long forgotten now, he was the first country performer to win the CMA “Entertainer of the Year” award after being inducted into the Hall of Fame. That’s pretty amazing, given that induction into the Hall of Fame (whatever hall of fame you wish to think of) usually means your “superstar” career is long over. And Eddy Arnold OWNED the Billboard country singles charts in the late 40s. For a whopping 115 weeks, there was only ONE song to hit #1 that was NOT by Eddy Arnold. Even Elvis, the Beatles, or Michael Jackson didn’t pull that off at the apex of their respective careers. This is one of those #1 songs from that time period. This is my kind of Eddy Arnold: with Little Roy Wiggins on steel guitar. I got to meet Mr. Arnold about a year before he died, courtesy of the country music conference in Nashville. I just stammered. What can you say to a man who’s given the world so much great music? A Heart Full of Love (For a Handful of Kisses) Written by Eddy Arnold, Steve Nelson and Ray Soehnel Recorded by Eddy Arnold Released as a single, 1948 I’m hoping that you’ve had your fun: