Alvis Edgar Owens Jr. (August 12, 1929 – March 25, 2006), known professiona… Read Full Bio ↴Alvis Edgar Owens Jr. (August 12, 1929 – March 25, 2006), known professionally as Buck Owens, was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and band leader. He was the lead singer for Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, which had 21 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country music chart. He pioneered what came to be called the Bakersfield sound, named in honor of Bakersfield, California, Owens's adopted home and the city from which he drew inspiration for what he preferred to call "American music".

While the Buckaroos originally featured a fiddle and retained pedal steel guitar into the 1970s, their sound on records and onstage was always more stripped-down and elemental. The band's signature style was based on simple story lines, infectious choruses, a twangy electric guitar, an insistent rhythm supplied by a prominent drum track, and high, two-part vocal harmonies featuring Owens and his guitarist Don Rich.

From 1969 to 1986, Owens co-hosted the popular CBS television variety show Hee Haw with Roy Clark (syndicated beginning in 1971). According to his son Buddy Alan (Owens), the accidental 1974 death of Rich, his best friend, devastated him for years and impacted his creative efforts until he performed with Dwight Yoakam in 1988.

Owens is a member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Owens was born on a farm in Sherman, Texas, United States, to Alvis Edgar Owens Sr. and Maicie Azel (née Ellington) Owens.

In the biography About Buck., Rich Kienzle writes: "'Buck' was a donkey on the Owens farm." "When Alvis Jr. was three or four years old, he walked into the house and announced that his name also was "Buck." That was fine with the family, and the boy's name became "Buck" from then on."He attended public school for grades 1–3 in Garland, Texas.

Owens' family moved to Mesa, Arizona, in 1937 during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. While attending school in Arizona, Owens found that while he disliked formal schoolwork, he could often satisfy class requirements by singing or performing in school plays. A self-taught musician and singer, Owens became proficient on guitar, mandolin, horns, and drums. When he obtained his first electric steel guitar, he taught himself to play it after his father adapted an old radio into an amplifier. Owens quit school in the ninth grade in order to help work on his father's farm and pursue a music career.

Owens had three sons: Buddy Alan (who charted several hits as a Capitol recording artist in the early 1970s and appeared with his father numerous times on Hee Haw), Johnny, and Michael Owens.

Owens successfully recovered from oral cancer in the early 1990s, but had additional health problems near the end of the 1990s and the early 2000s, including pneumonia and a minor stroke in 2004. These health problems had forced him to curtail his regular weekly performances with the Buckaroos at his Crystal Palace. Owens died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack at his ranch just north of Bakersfield on March 25, 2006, only hours after performing at his club. He was 76 years old.

Owens was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996. He was ranked No. 12 in CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music in 2003. In addition, CMT also ranked the Buckaroos No. 2 in the network's 20 Greatest Bands in 2005. He was also inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

The stretch of US Highway 82 in Sherman, Texas, is named the Buck Owens Freeway in his honor.

Love's Gonna Live There
Buck Owens Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Oh, the sun's gonna shine in my life once more
Love's gonna live here again
Things are gonna be the way they were before
Love's gonna live here again
Love's gonna live here
Love's gonna live here
Love's gonna live here again
No more loneliness, only happiness

Love's gonna live here again

I hear bells a-ringin'
I hear birds a-singin'
Love's gonna live here again
I hear bees a-hummin'
And I know the day's a-comin'
Love's gonna live here again
Love's gonna live here
Love's gonna live here
Love's gonna live here again
No more loneliness, only happiness

Love's gonna live here again
Love's gonna live here again

Overall Meaning

Buck Owens's song "Love's Gonna Live Here" is a classic country love song that celebrates the end of loneliness and the beginning of happiness as love returns to the singer's life. The opening lines signify that the singer is hopeful that the dark clouds of loneliness and heartbreak are finally disappearing, and there's a new ray of sunshine warming up his life. The singer is now breaking free from the chains of sadness, depression, and melancholy and embracing the light of love that gives him hope to live again.

The chorus of the song, "love's gonna live here, love's gonna live here, love's gonna live here again, no more loneliness, only happiness, love's gonna live here again" repeats the phrase thrice to emphasize that the love that was once missing from the singer's life is now returning, and it brings joy, peace, and sound in his life. It indicates that love has the power to heal all wounds and can create a beautiful change.

The second verse of the song paints a poetic picture of the surroundings as the singer hears bells ringing, birds singing, and bees humming, and he knows the day's approaching when love is going to take residence in his life once more. The song conveys a positive and optimistic message that even when things are dark and uncertain, love will always find a way to break through, and with it comes happiness, joy, and contentment.

Line by Line Meaning

Oh, the sun's gonna shine in my life once more
I will experience happiness and joy in my life again.

Love's gonna live here again
My love for someone special will be rekindled, and I will experience a fulfilling relationship again.

Things are gonna be the way they were before
Life will return to a time when my love and I were together and happy.

No more loneliness, only happiness
I will no longer feel lonely or unfulfilled, as I will be surrounded by joy and love.

I hear bells a-ringin'
I hear the joyful sound of wedding bells, signaling that love is in the air.

I hear birds a-singin'
Nature itself is singing the praises of my happy, fulfilled love life.

Love's gonna live here again
My love life will be renewed and fulfilled.

I hear bees a-hummin'
The sound of bees buzzing signals the arrival of new growth and new beginnings in my love life.

And I know the day's a-comin'
I am confident and certain that my love life will be renewed with joy and fulfillment.

Love's gonna live here again
My love life will be renewed and fulfilled.

No more loneliness, only happiness
I will no longer feel lonely or unfulfilled, as I will be surrounded by joy and love.