My 100 Favorite Charted Country Songs: A Way to Survive

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Yeah, buddy! Those telehealth appointments ROCK! This side of the countdown, however, does not. This is another one of those “you are KIDDING me” mixes. It’s just the way the alphabet falls. Here’s today’s country — and I mean country — song. A Way to Survive - Ray Price For the third and final time we have Mr. Noble Ray Price. This is the latest of the three songs on the list, a hit in 1966 (the other two were from the 50s). By this time he had dropped fiddles but was still using steel guitar. Price had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into the “Nashville Sound” era, but when he finally caved in, he had massive success (the crossover hit “For the Good Times”). Needless to say, that is not the Ray Price era I like. Oh, I didn’t get up and walk out when he sang “For the Good Times” when I saw him, but I was far happier when he was singing “You Done Me Wrong” and this. And, even at age 83 (when I saw him,) he was amazing. There was no loss of power in his voice at all. When he was finally inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame he began by quipping, “It’s about time! I was beginning to feel like Susan Lucci.” Indeed, one of the biggest crimes in the history of the CMA is why they waited as long as they did to induct this legend (in 1996, or forty years after his first #1 song (the previously-featured “Crazy Arms”). What a voice. What a legend. A Way to Survive Written by Hank Cochran and Moneen Carpenter Recorded by Ray Price From Touch My Heart, 1966 Peak chart position: #7 Today’s rock song: “Train in Vain (Stand By Me)” I look at your picture too often: