Apart from her solo career, singer Bonnie Owens is well known for the work … Read Full Bio ↴Apart from her solo career, singer Bonnie Owens is well known for the work she did with her former husbands, Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. Born Bonnie Campbell on October 1, 1932, in Oklahoma City to a pair of sharecroppers and one of eight children, she first met Buck in the mid-'40s when he had a local daily 15-minute radio show. Once Buck discovered that Bonnie could sing, he helped her get a job with him on another radio show in 1947. The following January, Buck and Bonnie married, but the union was short-lived. By 1951, after giving birth to two sons, the marriage was over. Since neither could afford a divorce, they stayed legally married, but separated, for several years. Bonnie and the two boys left for Bakersfield, where she worked as a cocktail waitress. It was during this period that Bonnie met Fuzzy Owen and guitarist Roy Nichols, who would be instrumental in the career of Haggard.

By the late '50s Bonnie was recording on the Mar-Vel label with Fuzzy and his band, the Sun Valley Playboys. She cut a well-received duet album with Fuzzy, her sometime boyfriend, on Tally Records, which would later be re-released on Capitol Records as "Just Between the Two of Us." In 1961, Bonnie saw Haggard singing for the first time at a Lefty Frizzell concert. At the time, Haggard was just a few months out of San Quentin prison for breaking and entering. By 1964 Fuzzy was managing Haggard and suggested that Bonnie and Haggard re-record "Just Between the Two of Us." Taking Fuzzy's advice paid off; the song hit the top of the country charts but not for long. It was replaced by "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers," Haggard's breakthrough single.

In 1965 Haggard signed with Capitol Records, married Bonnie, and signed the Strangers (including Bonnie) with a booking agency owned in part by Buck. Bonnie's marriage to Haggard lasted until 1978, but the two had already separated in 1975. Eventually Bonnie resumed touring with the Strangers in the late '70s and remarried for the final time to Fred McMillenher. She continued to tour regularly with Haggard and the Strangers. While Bonnie released half a dozen albums and numerous singles on Capitol Records in the mid- to late '60s, she remained satisfied singing backup as a member of the Strangers.

The Longer You Wait
Bonnie Owens Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

The longer you wait to leave me the longer I'll hurt when you're gone
And the longer it takes you to break my heart the longer the pain lingers on
How long will you prolong my mis'ry wish I could leave on my own
Cause the longer you wait to leave me the longer I'll hurt when you're gone
[ ac.guitar - steel ]
We both know that you've never loved me I lied to myself from the start
We both know that someday you'll leave me and the knowing just tears me apart
How long will you prolong my mis'ry...

The longer I'll hurt when you're gone

Overall Meaning

Bonnie Owens's song The Longer You Wait is a poignant tune that delves into the pain that comes with a broken relationship. Owens tries to convince her lover not to delay breaking up with her because the longer it takes for the inevitable to happen, the more painful it will be for her. She expresses how she has lied to herself from the start, believing that her lover loves her, but deep down knowing that he doesn't. The realization that the person she loves will leave her eventually "tears her apart."

The lyrics are relatable for anyone who has been through a heartbreak, where they hold on to their partner even when they know the relationship is doomed. Owens's words capture the desperation and agony that come with a realization that the only way out of heartbreak is through it. The longer one delays the pain, the greater it becomes.

In conclusion, The Longer You Wait is a melancholic song that captures the agony of waiting for heartbreak. The lyrics express the pain that comes with knowingly staying in a relationship that is doomed to fail. Owens's words are relatable, capturing the emotions that one feels when going through a difficult breakup.

Line by Line Meaning

The longer you wait to leave me the longer I'll hurt when you're gone
If you postpone breaking up with me, my pain will only increase with time after you're gone

And the longer it takes you to break my heart the longer the pain lingers on
The amount of time you take to end our relationship will directly affect how long it takes for me to move on and heal

How long will you prolong my mis'ry wish I could leave on my own
I wish I could leave you myself and not have to endure the pain of waiting for you to do it

Cause the longer you wait to leave me the longer I'll hurt when you're gone
Again reinforcing that the longer you delay ending things, the longer my pain will continue after you leave

[ ac.guitar - steel ]

We both know that you've never loved me I lied to myself from the start
I'm aware that you never truly loved me, but I convinced myself otherwise in the beginning

We both know that someday you'll leave me and the knowing just tears me apart
The knowledge that you will eventually leave me is already causing me great emotional pain

How long will you prolong my mis'ry...
Repeating the earlier line, questioning how much longer I'll have to suffer

The longer I'll hurt when you're gone
Once again emphasizing that the longer we stay together, the longer my emotional pain will last after you leave

Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS

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