R.I.P. Eddy Arnold
Your parents or your grandparents probably have some of Eddy Arnold’s records up in the attic. Give ‘em a spin, or take a tour through his Last.fm page, because Eddy’s no longer with us.
Sorry to depart from politics, and to inflict upon you my acutely uncool taste in music (Mark Steyn can switch between the two subjects with ease, but I can’t lay claim to his expertise). However, Eddy was a class act and deserves to be remembered for that. When so many celebrities and musicians are revelling in trash, it’s worth remembering someone who enjoyed a great deal of success yet lived his life pretty much above reproach. I’ve no idea what his politics were, and he never posed nude for a magazine cover (nor let his fifteen-year-old daughter do so like Billy B. Badd did.) He just sang, and sang well, in a great warm baritone that you’ll probably like even if you don’t like country.
In fact, that was part of his appeal, and a source of some criticism against him: along with Jim Reeves’, his style became known as “countrypolitan”. Eddy dropped a lot of the distinctive country instrumentation and the bedazzler’d shirts, and donned a tuxedo and sang in front of a sound-stage orchestra with lots of strings. The Jordannaires (or vocalists who sounded like them) backed him up in the kind of production music writers like to call “lush”. But all that lush backing still couldn’t hide the country in his voice. (Once in a while, he still indulged it.)
He was branded a sellout to his country roots by a lot of folks in Nashville, but his sound has aged better than many of the hillbilly acts of the day. I hesitate to dub Eddy a “crooner”, because that term conjures up (to me) a degree of smarm and guile and syrup I can’t detect in that voice. He’s not slick, or even smooth, which means he can handle some pretty sappy lyrics and still have it work. Dean Martin belting out “Make the World Go Away” would just sound like he was making excuses for being drunk; Eddy sounds like he’s been hurt and he means every word.
So if you’ll permit me one dedication: this is going out to Hillary in Chappaqua.
________________________
{Post by See-Dubya, who assumes all liability for accusations of fogeyness resulting from this post. Any uncoolness is solely mine and not Michelle’s.}
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I’m going to go ahead and put a comment here, just so that big “zero comments” isn’t staring at me.
For this post only, pity comments are encouraged.
RIP. Good music nowadays is hard to find. Here’s to the class acts of yesteryear.
I’ll help you out, see-dub. The RFD channel is having a tribute to Eddy on Monday night. They ran an “In Memoriam” spot several times during the Imus broadcast this morning and Imus paid a little tribute to him.
Mr. Arnold was one of the last of the old style country singers. He will be missed.
Excellent taste in music. Reminds me of Christmas at my house. Pops busts out his old records (we actually still have a record player OO)
okay, that last part meant to be a
(dork)
Quite the Crooner he was.
I personally own Eddy Arnold albums. He was a true gentleman and one of a kind. I’m sorry he’s left us. Sadly, there are few replacements for those of his stature these days.
Over the last ten years, Mr. Arnold frequented a certain chain restaurant in Nashville. My in-laws spoke to him twice there over ham and eggs and said he was a true southern gentleman.
Voice like butter, unlike the “idol” wannabe’s…..
I too have many Eddy Arnold albums. I must remind myself to play for the grandchildren.Keep them away from modern garbage that passes as music?
I had forgotten how many hits he had, and played about ten this morning. Multiple times. Hell of a way to start the day. My favorite is STILL “I’m Sending You A Big Bouquet of Roses”. Thanks for the link.
I first heard him on some old 77 1/3 albums I think they were? Very large and awfully thick ones at that. We always kinda figured him to be more Western than Country but you are right, he had an amazingly soothing voice. Too bad we cannot find music like that today very often.
he’s been one of my favorites since the late 50’s, when he changed his style of instrutmentation over. I never did go for that “Hillybilly” sound. I quit listening to “Country Music” in the late 80’s, when they brought in line dancing. That changed country music to something I don’t recognize. Rest in peace, Eddy.
I’m in the later half of my mid-forties, and grew up with music like this by extension of my parents listening to rather (then-)uncool “MOR” (Middle of the Road) music stations. In the past few years, I’ve revisited quite a bit of it, not just for the performers, but for the arrangements and songwriting: Englebert Humperdinck, Tom Jones, Burt Bacarach (who signed an autograph for me saying “Thanks for caring about my music” – he was thanking me??), then last year, Petula Clark. Brilliant performances on timeless songs.
Being old, I beieve the albums you are referring to were 33 1/3, and 78 RPM and, later, 45 RPM records were also common back then. I had lots of them………….
Thanks for this post see-dubya. Eddy Arnold brings back so many good memories. My favorite was I Really Don’t Want to Know. My Aunt May taught me the words to that when I was very young. I so loved it that I bought one of his albums as a teenager and took quite a bit of ribbing from friends over it! But it didn’t take long for Eddy to become part of our Saturday night repertoire.
Thanks Bob. I just have not owned a record player in so long I forgot. The last one I owned was in 1983. Now I am thinking about the old Arthur Ledbetter (Leadbelly) and Louis Armstrong albums too. Time to crawl through the proverbial attic I think.
Thanks for the Memories See Dubya!
My mom and her sisters ussed to sing along to all the “old” country classics including Eddy Arnold. There was a big reel to reel hooked up to the phonogragh and mikes. It was real cool for an 8 year old! This was “karaoke” in the 70’s. I will miss Eddy Arnold. Your legacy lives in my heart.
So long pardner. One of the damn singers there ever was…………
My grandparents loved Eddie. Many was the night I fell asleep listening to him. Fond memories all
Oh, Make the World Go Away. I love Eddy Arnold along with Ray Price, Marty Robbins, George Jones, and especially Conway Twitty.
You’re not alone in your taste in music. Just like Barbara Mandrell “I was country when country wasn’t cool”. We have Country Legends radio station here in Houston I listen to all the time.
Thanks for the memories and the link to last.fm.
Rest In Peace Eddy.
I like ‘Cattle Call’. Old C/W is almost all I listen and dance to. I won’t listen to the new stuff, you can’t two-step or anything else to the new singers. I have a record player, yes it is old, but still works. I play 33 and 45 on it occasionally.
RIP Eddy, God bless you and your family.
L
poop.
Billy liked Eddy.
Eddy will be missed.
His “C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S” is one of my favorite songs of that season.
Funny, I was listening to “I Really Don’t Want To Know” just the other day. It dawned on me that this song would make a charming anthem for the mainstream media’s treatment of Barack Obama.
There you go, see-dub. Politics has been re-injected into the thread.
I remember Eddy Arnold from my boyhood taking the country sound mainstream with his hit records. And he was a pleasure to listen to. No tricks and no gimmicks.
No he wasnt. I grew up on country music (CM), from the 50’s (Faron Young, Carl Smith, Little Jimmy Dickens) right on up to the trash it has become today. For my money Charlie Pride, Allan Jackson and Merle Haggard are the last of the old time honky tonk singers. Eddy was never that. He should have retired after Cattle Call. He hasnt released a record in over 40 years and I cant say I’ve missed him.
I quit listening to CM several years ago because of the lack of talent. There are no instrumentals anymore and everybody sounds alike. When no-talents like Tim McGraw, Gretchen Wilson and Big-n-Rich are the hot numbers, it’s time to move along.
While I appreciate the quality of Eddy’s voice, I also credit (or blame) him and his producers for putting the first nail in CM’s coffin. You can also put Chet Atkins on that list too. CM was beginning to be “citified” in the mid to late 60’s and reached it’s zenith in the mid to late 70’s when there was so much orchestration you could barely hear the singer. In the early 90’s it made a brief comeback as real country music, but it degenerated into what it is now.
CM as far as I’m concerned is dead, it’s been dying for 40 years. So I’ll stick with Bluegrass – it takes real talent to play that and you cant fake it.
Bluegrass hurts my ears, but Eddy Arnold soothes them. We all have different tastes, but to me his voice was smooth as chocolate silk pie. He was so mellow.
There are a number of videos of him singing on Youtube, but this one of a live performance in 1996 is charming.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE6rdpMV2Dg
Up in the attic? Hell, I have MP3s of him that get regular play along with Charlie Pride, Dale Watson, Jimmy Carpenter, Johnny Ace, Bill Monroe, Billy Joe Shaver, Doc Watson, Jimmie Rodgers, Johnny Bush, Merle Travis, Ray Price and Dave Dudley.
Of course, I am also only 32… I feel old now.
Eddy Arnold was my mother’s favorite. And as a boy I liked him too. “Make the World Go Away” was one of my favorites.
The world has changed since I was a kid and music is one area where it hasn’t gotten better. There are far too few people like Eddy Arnold out there making music.
I don’t have to miss Eddy Arnold, or Buddy Holly, or all the others as we can still remember them through their music as long as we aren’t too old and senile to find an mp3 player.
Thanks seedubya
This brought back a great memory of me learning to play guitar. My father was a jazz guitarist and was trying to teach an 11 year old with short fingers to play. I never could understand his telling me I had to feel the music before I could play it. To show me, he put on Eddy Arnold and told me to close my eyes. Then I knew. Thanks!
My folks listened to him a lot when I was growing up so I am very familiar with his music. I can sing the “Big Bouquet of Roses” in my sleep, which is probably the best time to hear me sing since I can’t carry a tune in a bucket.
Anyone ever hear of Ray Price? I saw him with my Dad a few months ago at Cypress Gardens (or whatever they call it now) in FL. He was another one we were spoon fed as kids too.
I’ve always loved “Cattle Call”. Just something about it that makes me smile.
Eddy you will be missed but you and your music will always live on and be a great asset of our county roots.
R.I.P.
In 1951 me and my buddies loaded up the trunk with fried chicken, cherry pie and sodas to last three days and drove to Nashville in a 41 Ford club coupe. We heard Eddie Arnold and he was the kind of guy that made our country great as well as a singer that had a voice like no other. You knew it was Eddie Arnold from the first note out of his mouth. God Bless Him, we won’t see another for a long time.
On May 8th, I posted on this blog:
“…and now for the most serious news of the day, I just heard that Eddy Arnold died a few hours ago. I’m from the D.C. area, Uline Arena in the 60’s…Porter Waggoner, Roy Clark, Jimmy Dean, Willie, Patsy Cline, so many others. …and Eddy Arnold, a voice like no other.
I must go now and shed a tear…”
Class act, all around. And such a great set of pipes.
not my kinda music but RIP…a definite talent and a class act….
I am dating myself with this comment–but in college we used to shoot pool, shuffleboard dance and drink beer to his music.
Class act!