Wills formed several bands and played radio stations around the South and West until he formed the Texas Playboys in 1934 with Wills on fiddle, Tommy Duncan on piano and vocals, rhythm guitarist June Whalin, tenor banjoist Johnnie Lee Wills, and Kermit Whalin, who played steel guitar and bass. The band played regularly on a Tulsa, Oklahoma radio station, and added Leon McAuliffe on steel guitar, pianist Al Stricklin, drummer Smokey Dacus, and a horn section that expanded the band's sound. Wills favored jazz-like arrangements and the band found national popularity into the 1940s with such hits as "Steel Guitar Rag", "New San Antonio Rose", "Smoke on the Water", "Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima", and "New Spanish Two Step".
Wills and the Texas Playboys recorded with several publishers and companies, including Vocalion, Okeh, Columbia, and MGM, frequently moving. In 1950, he had two top ten hits, "Ida Red Likes the Boogie" and "Faded Love", which were his last hits for a decade. Throughout the 1950s, he struggled with poor health and tenuous finances, but continued to perform frequently despite the decline in popularity of his earlier music as rock and roll took over. Wills had a heart attack in 1962 and a second one the next year, which forced him to disband the Playboys although Wills continued to perform solo.
The Country Music Hall of Fame inducted Wills in 1968 and the Texas State Legislature honored him for his contribution to American music.[4] In 1972, Wills accepted a citation from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in Nashville. He was recording an album with fan Merle Haggard in 1973 when a stroke left him comatose until his death in 1975. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Wills and the Texas Playboys in 1999.
He was born near Kosse, Texas; his father was a fiddle player who along with his grandfather, taught the young Wills to play the fiddle and the mandolin. After several years of drifting, "Jim Rob," then in his 20s, attended barber school, got married, and moved first to Roy, New Mexico then to Turkey, Texas (now considered his home town) to be a barber. He alternated barbering and fiddling even when he moved to Fort Worth to pursue a career in music. It was there that while performing in a medicine show, where he learned comic timing and some of the famous "patter" he later delivered on his records, the show's owner gave him the nickname "Bob."
In Fort Worth, Wills met Herman Arnspinger and formed The Wills Fiddle Band. In 1930 Milton Brown joined the group as lead vocalist and brought a sense of innovation and experimentation to the band, now called the Light Crust Doughboys due to radio sponsorship by the makers of Light Crust Flour. Brown left the band in 1932 to form the Musical Brownies, the first true Western swing band. Brown added twin fiddles, tenor banjo and slap bass, pointing the music in the direction of swing, which they played on local radio and at dancehalls.
Wills remained with the Doughboys and replaced Brown with new singer Tommy Duncan in 1932. He found himself unnable to get along with future Texas Governor W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel, the authoritarian host of the Light Crust Doughboy radio show. O'Daniel had parlayed the show's popularity into growing power within Light Crust Flour's parent company, Burrus Mill and Elevator Company and wound up as General Manager, though he despised what he considered "hillbilly music." Wills and Duncan left the Doughboys in 1933 after Wills had missed one show too many due to his sporadic drinking.
After forming a new band, "The Playboys" and relocating to Waco, Wills found enough popularity there to decide on a bigger market. They left Waco in January of 1934 for Oklahoma City. Wills soon settled the renamed "Texas Playboys" in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and began broadcasting noontime shows over the 50,000 watt KVOO radio station. Their 12:30-1:15 Monday-Friday broadcasts became a veritable institution in the region. Nearly all of the daily (except Sunday) shows originated from the stage of Cain's Ballroom. In addition, they played dances in the evenings, including regular ones at the ballroom on Thursdays and Saturdays. By 1935 Wills had added horn, reed players and drums to the Playboys. The addition of steel guitar whiz Leon McAuliffe in March, 1935 added not only a formidable instrumentalist but a second engaging vocalist. Wills himself largely sang blues and sentimental ballads.
Time Changes Everything
Bob Wills Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Our hearts beat as one and we had our fun but time changes everything
When you left me my poor heart was broken our romance it seemed all in vain
The dark coulds're gone and there's blue skies again
'Cause time changes everything
Time has passed I've forgot you mother nature does wonderful things
I guess that it's true for me and for you 'cause time changes everything
I thought nothing could stop me from loving you but time changes everything
Good luck to you may God bless you I can't say I won't love again
But you go your way and now I'll go mine cause time changes everything
Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys's song "Time Changes Everything" centers around the theme of transformation in life. The singer yearns for the past, recalling a time "when [he] thought of no other." The reference to "our love's refrain" implies that the singer and his former partner had a special song or shared experience that reminded them of their love. However, as time passed, everything changed. The singer's heart was broken when his partner left, and their love story seemed to come to naught. But gradually, the skies cleared and blue skies appeared once more.
Mother Nature's transformative power is referenced in the second verse as another example of how time changes everything. The singer acknowledges that people change too - they move on, like he and his ex-partner did. The phrase, "you change the name of an old song, rearrange it and make it a swing," highlights how something that was once familiar can be changed into something new and exciting. Finally, the singer wishes his ex-partner good luck and blessings, acknowledging that he may love again, but for now, it's time to go their separate ways.
Line by Line Meaning
There was a time when I thought of no other and we sang our own love's refrain
Once, I was completely focused on you and our love, singing our own song of love
Our hearts beat as one and we had our fun but time changes everything
We were in sync, having fun together. However, as time passes, everything changes
When you left me my poor heart was broken our romance it seemed all in vain
When you left me, it felt like my heart was shattered and our relationship was worthless
The dark clouds are gone and there's blue skies again
Things are looking up and the depressing times are over; skies are blue again
'Cause time changes everything
The only constant in life is that time continues to move forward and things will inevitably change
Time has passed I've forgot you mother nature does wonderful things
As time has passed, I'm healing and moving on from you, thanks to the beauty of nature
I guess that it's true for me and for you 'cause time changes everything
I think that both of us have changed over time since we last were together, reflecting the fact that time affecting everything
You change the name of an old song rearrange it and make it a swing
You can take an old tune, change it up, and make it new and exciting, just like in life we respin and reframe as we move on
I thought nothing could stop me from loving you but time changes everything
At one time, I thought my love for you was indestructible, but even that can change over time
Good luck to you may God bless you I can't say I won't love again
I hope you prosper and are blessed, but I can't guarantee that I won't love again
But you go your way and now I'll go mine 'cause time changes everything
We're both heading in different directions now, but it's all part of the natural process of change that time brings
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Written by: T. DUNCAN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@bobbeck5866
No matter who's in Austin, Bob Wills is still the King
@ObindimEmmanuel-pu3ct
Time really changes everything. Beautiful music. Heard it first in the '70s.
@who346
Wow. What a good song. They had so many wonderful talented entertauners back then. Not like today. They had class...
@josephdodd5770
Tommy Duncan was a wonderful singer
@brucewerner6023
78 years ago, and he was dubbed the "King Of Western Swing". That title is still appropriate.
@radiobob805
Actually Spade Cooley won that contest, but it was based on the vote of a small local club following a battle of the bands. Spade faded away, but Bob Wills kept on truckin'. I met him in 1946 and 1960. I met Tommy on three occasions. I fell in love with Western Swing when I first heard the Wills records on the radio when I was 12.
@Amoeba744
Spade was good, but Bob is still the king.
@cynthiakeller5954
@@Amoeba744 Spade was evil! Have you read what he did to his wife? It was discounted bc he would do free concerts for the police. He did all that while the kids were home too. Poor kids had to testify against him. What a monster!
@wendibuckner982
Thank you Dad for all the memories.I miss you.Time does change everything . Remember I love you.
@carlfisher6771
Best version