1964 Top Ten: Begging to You (#6)

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Good morning! Hope everyone is doing well. I’m getting ready for lunch, and getting ready to spring another great song from 1964 on you. Not all of you, ‘cause this is country. So with a “Linda? NO!!!!” preface, here’s today’s song that’s now 60 years old. #6: Begging to You - Marty Robbins There’s been a long-running joke about induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame being for “the dead and dying.” That was brought to light again this year when Toby Keith was announced as one of the members of the class of 2024. (The voting had been finalized before he died; however, it was well-known that he was in bad shape before the voting began.) It was so prevalent that Chet Atkins, upon learning of his induction in 1973, quipped, “I didn’t even know I was sick!” (Ironic side note to that: the next year, he was treated for colon cancer.) That may suck, but I would rather see a frail musician get his due while he’s alive than have his family pick up the award posthumously. (The way they did with Jerry Reed: NO WAY he shouldn’t have been inducted in his lifetime…instead, he wasn’t inducted until after his WIFE died as well! ) With that introduction, you can guess that Marty Robbins was inducted while he had one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. He’d long suffered from heart problems, surviving two heart attacks. So, on October 11, 1982, at the CMA Awards, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Less than two months later, the third heart attack took his life at the age of 57. Robbins had a fabulous career that included hits in country, western, and pop. For you trivia buffs, “El Paso” was the first #1 song of 1960 on the pop charts. It also has the distinction of being the first #1 song in history that was over four minutes in length. Oh, he was a NASCAR driver, too…never finished well (Wikipedia says his best finish was 48th), but he loved the sport. Robbins also excelled as a songwriter. He wrote a number of his hits, including this one. (He wrote “Cigarettes and Coffee Blues,” too, which was a hit for Lefty Frizzell.) And that voice…holy cow, what a voice. (They called him “Mr. Teardrop” in the 50s because of the emotion he displayed in his singing.) This was #1 for three weeks in February 1964, his only #1 that year (Buck Owens kind of owned the country charts that year). This is on my 100 favorites list. What a gem. Begging to You Written by Marty Robbins Recorded by Marty Robbins Released as a single, 1963 I guess just to walk on so you won’t touch the ground: