PATSY CLINE - Walkin' After Midnight

by Jim Meyer

Patsy Cline was killed in a small plane crash near Cambden, Tennessee on March 05, 1963. She was just 30 years old. Just days before, she'd told her friends, Dottie West and June Carter of a sense of impending doom and had even written out a will on a piece of Delta Airlines stationary. One always wonders what could have been...but then again, her musical legacy is sublime.

Having spent the afternoon listening to Texas music,  I went off looking for more traditional fare. This is my absolute no. 1 favorite Patsy Cline song.  Yes, I like it more than "Crazy" and "She's Got You":

I challenge you to listen all the way through without taking a shot (or several) of whiskey. Produced by the mighty Owen Bradley, founder of the "Nashville Sound."

Just about every female country singer out there has tried to imitate her -- but I've heard only two that got it right. One is k.d. lang, and the other is LeAnn Rimes. This is downright scary:

By the way, the Patsy bio-pic "Sweet Dreams" is not terribly realistic, but you do get to watch Jessica Lange for two hours, and she had the good sense to just lip-synch the originals.

The Top 20 Country Love Songs of All Time - Number 8

by Jim Poulton

Patsy Cline - Sweet Dreams

Photo courtesy of Last.fm

Well, here she is again - Patsy Cline. I told you we'd see her again in the top 10. And, not to speak out of school, but expect to run into her still one more time. She really knew what she was doing. In fact, I think (and I'm not alone) that Patsy Cline was a genius - about singing in general, but particularly about selecting songs that suited her voice and her persona. Word has it that she was pretty single-minded in making sure that the song and its production matched her vision. Today's song is no exception.

Written by Don Gibson (who, you might recall, also wrote I Can't Stop Loving You), Sweet Dreams has a rare history in Country Music. When Cline recorded it in 1963 (just before her death), her version was the third to reach the Country Hits top ten (Faron Young's 1956 version was the first, and Gibson's own 1960 version was the second). Since then, Sweet Dreams has reached the top 20 three more times, from recordings by three different artists: Tommy McLain, Reba McEntire, EmmyLou Harris (Harris' 1976 version hit number one). That is a song with staying power.

Our favorite version, though, is Cline's. As always, she treats it with such emotional expressiveness that you can almost feel it is your own story. The song's introduction is a bit cheesy (cascading violins - to represent falling into dreamland???), but the rest is pure gold.