Play the Jukebox Top Ten: Life Is Too Short (#3)

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Vern Gosdin once did an album called Warning: Contains Country Music. That’s an appropriate warning for today’s song from the jukebox. You can almost imagine the songs from today and yesterday being written in the same bar about the same song, just from a different perspective. Here’s today’s song. #3: Life Is Too Short - Ira Louvin Ira Louvin never lived to see this released. He recorded it in March 1965. In June 1965 he had a contract to play a week at Genova’s Chestnut Inn in Kansas City, Missouri. Now, that was a weird place: it was a concert venue and a strip club. I’ve heard stories…believe me. Anyway, Ira and his wife, Anne Young, finished their show on Saturday night, June 19 and headed back for Alabama (about 700 miles away). A friend from Alabama was their guitar player in the band, and his wife was with them. They stopped for a meal at an all-night diner, then hit the road again. At about 4:40 AM a drunk driver slammed head-on into their car. All six occupants — two in the drunk’s truck and the four occupants in the Louvin vehicle — were killed. I mentioned this song seems like it’s from a different perspective in the same bar as “Lonely Music,” yesterday’s song. There’s a more obvious connection: Jim Reeves and Ira Louvin were part of what became known as the “Opry Curse.” Between early 1963 and June 1965 there were a number of fatal and near-fatal accidents involving Opry stars. Jim Reeves’ plane crash was one of them. Ironically, Ira Louvin sort of started the “curse” in February 1963, when his third wife shot him five times. He was still in the hospital recovering from his wounds when the Cline/Copas/Hawkins plane crash happened. His death was the final fatality in that relatively short span of time. This song is agonizing, perfect country music. In light of what happened three months after it was recorded, the title hook (“life is too short and I’ve lived it too long”) is almost prophetic. Life Is Too Short Written by Anne Young Recorded by Ira Louvin From The Unforgettable Ira Louvin, 1965 JUKEBOX LYRICS: How can the jukebox play that song without crying?