Country Love Top Ten: Thats the Way Love Goes (#6)

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We’re into Valentines Day week, and the end of this month-and-a-half countdown of favorite songs in rock and country with “love” in the title. I’m halfway through the top ten already! Wow. Here’s today’s country “love” song...and it really is a love song (for a change). #6: That’s the Way Love Goes - Johnny Rodriguez With good looks and a sweet voice, native Texan Johnny Rodriguez made a lot of hits in the 70s. (One of them included a cover of the Eagles’ “Desperado,” which you don’t really wanna hear unless you’re into masochism.) This was one of his biggest hits, a country music festival in less than two minutes. It’s a gorgeous love song, short and to the point, written by Hall of Famer Lefty Frizzell and songwriting legend Whitey Shafer. It’s been covered a blue billion times (as frequently happened in country music in those days), even where Merle Haggard scored a hit with his version in the 80s, but I always go back to this version. It was the first version of the song (Frizzell himself recorded it after Rodriguez had the hit), and to me it’s still the best. Viva Johnny Rodriguez! That’s the Way Love Goes Written by Lefty Frizzell and Sanger D. Shafer Recorded by Johnny Rodriguez From All I Ever Meant to Do Was Sing, 1973 (Also a hit for Merle Haggard, 1983) Honey, I love you too: