My 100 Favorite Charted Country Songs: Just Call Me Lonesome

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If you need some good news, we’re almost at the halfway point of these lists of my favorite songs to make the country and hot 100 charts. These are the 47th songs thrown at you. Hey, at least both performers are in their respective halls of fame today! Let’s start with country. Just Call Me Lonesome - Eddy Arnold Three people in country music history have won the “Entertainer of the Year” award from the CMA after being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Eddy Arnold was the first. (The other two are Garth Brooks and George Strait, if you’re interested…or even if you aren’t. ) Usually people are considered “has-beens” by the time they get around to being inducted into a hall of fame, so that is a pretty remarkable feat. As far as the country singles charts go, Eddy Arnold owned them. The only person close is George (Strait or Jones, take your pick). Let me explain this man’s popularity rather easily: from late 1947 until April 1949 there were only two people who had #1 songs. Eight of those weeks were songs by Jimmy Wakely. The rest of the time, it was Eddy Arnold. Arnold had the #1 song for 48 of 52 weeks in 1948. That’s unbelievable. Arnold had really slipped in popularity by 1955, since this song “only” reached #2. He made a massive comeback in the 60s, not only making it to #1 on the country charts but also hitting the top ten of the pop charts with “Make the World Go Away”…right in the middle of Beatlemania! No, this doesn’t sound ANYTHING like that Nashville Sound feel he had in the 60s. Although he re-recorded this song with a Nashville Sound approach (and a slower tempo to fit the lyrics), this is the version I prefer. And no, this is no relation to the Rodney Foster song from 1992, although that’s a pretty good tune, too. Just Call Me Lonesome Written by Rex Griffin Recorded by Eddy Arnold Released as a single, 1955 Peak chart position: #2 Today’s rock song: “Lover Please” No one meets me in my gloom: