May 19 – This Day in Country Music

1958
Johnny Cash released “Guess Things Happen That Way”. Written by Jack Clement, the single, a song about ‘a man struggling after the love of his life has left him’, was Johnny Cash’s fourth #1 on the country chart spending eight weeks at the top and a total of twenty-four weeks on the chart.

1965
Roger Miller received a gold single for “King Of The Road”, which was was Miller’s fifth single for Smash Records.

1974
Charlie Rich was at #1 on the US Country chart with Behind Closed Doors. The album received three Country Music Association awards: Best Male Vocalist, Album of the Year, and Single of the Year, for the title song written by Kenny O’Dell. The album also went gold. Rich won the Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performance, and he took home four Academy of Country Music awards.

1979
The Bellamy Brothers scored their first #1 country single with “If I Said You Have A Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me”. Songwriter David Bellamy stated that he got the title from an old Groucho Marx quote used in the American Quiz show You bet Your Life, where Marx sometimes used the quote while interviewing an attractive female contestant, then shake his cigar and raise his eyebrows to elicit a reaction.

1983
George Strait scored his second Country #1 hit single with “A Fire I Can’t Put Out.” The track was released as the fourth and final single from his album Strait from the Heart.

1984
Willie Nelson with Julio Iglesias was at #1 on the Country charts with “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before”, (originally recorded in 1980 by Bobby Vinton). It was one of two entries on the country chart for Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson as a duo, the second was “Spanish Eyes”, which peaked at #8 in late 1988.

1997
MCA records released Trisha Yearwood’s version of “How Do I Live”. Written by Diane Warren. the song was originally intended for release as a single from the 1997 Con Air soundtrack. Disney (who owns Touchstone Pictures) felt Rimes’ version had too much of a pop feel and because she was fourteen it was believed that she was too young. Trisha Yearwood was chosen to re-record the song.