Song 385: This week on the playlist you will find I Fall to Pieces by Patsy Cline, written by Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard. Though this single topped the country charts in August of 1961, I first heard it the following summer, as our family visits to OH relatives changed from yearly trips in the 1950s to even-numbered-year excursions in the 1960s. Aunt Mary and Uncle Dick had an extensive country music stockpile, and during our stays I had total access to it. This track graced a greatest hits collection that soon became a favorite, so that by the time we headed back towards the east, I had it memorized. On our repeat journeys 2, 4, and 6 years later, I often had the LP spinning on the turntable while I sang along. Sadly, I did not know that between the time I first enjoyed this cut and my further enjoyment 2 years later, Patsy had actually literally fallen to pieces in an unfortunate airplane crash, though if I had known that, it would have only increased my appreciation of her recordings. On a side note, the songwriter name Harlan Howard has appeared on this list a couple of times before (Don't Tell Me What to Do by Pam Tillis as Song 210 and Why Not Me by The Judds as Song 287) and will surely appear again, when I get around to posting Johnny Cash's Busted, Buck Owens' Tiger By The Tail and a few others. He earned my respect as a songwriter a long time ago, and the more I learn about his career, the bigger the nod I'd like to give him.
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