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.
Open Up Your Heart
Buck Owens Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Open up your heart and let my life begin
The sun's gonna shine, there'll be blue skies again
When you open up your heart and let my love come in
I know you've been hurt by an old love affair
But darling don't blame me I wasn't even there
Your long lonely nights I will bring to an end
Open up your heart and let my love come in
Open up your heart and let my life begin
The sun's gonna shine, there'll be blue skies again
When you open up your heart and let my love come in
Someone before me has treated you like dirt
Someone before me has made your heart hurt
Your long lonely nights I will bring to an end
When you open up your heart and let my love come in
Open up your heart and let my love come in
Open up your heart and let my life begin
The sun's gonna shine, there'll be blue skies again
When you open up your heart and let my love come in
When you open up your heart and let my love come in
In Buck Owens's classic country song "Open Up Your Heart," the singer is pleading with his lover to open up her heart and let him in. The lyrics are an appeal to the lover who has been hurt before to let go of their past pains and embrace new love. In the first verse, Owens asks the lover to let his love in so that they can start a new life together, promising that the future would be brighter once they do.
In the second verse, Owens acknowledges that his lover has likely been hurt by a previous love and pleads for her not to blame him for the mistakes of others. He reiterates that he will put an end to her lonely nights if only she opens up her heart to his love. The chorus reinforces these ideas of new beginnings and brighter horizons with its repeated message of the sun shining and blue skies returning once the lover opens up her heart.
The song is a classic country love song that is both simple and heartfelt in its delivery. The lyrics speak to anyone who has been hurt in love and is wary of opening their heart again. Owens's comforting and encouraging words are an appeal to take a chance on love again and not to be afraid of future heartbreak.
Line by Line Meaning
Open up your heart and let my love come in
Please allow me to enter your life and love you completely
Open up your heart and let my life begin
Please allow me to start a new life with you
The sun's gonna shine, there'll be blue skies again
With my love, your life will be full of happiness and joy once more
When you open up your heart and let my love come in
Your fear of getting hurt and rejection is preventing me from loving and cherishing you fully
I know you've been hurt by an old love affair
I understand that you've been through a difficult relationship in the past
But darling don't blame me I wasn't even there
Please don't hold my responsible for the past and let me love you
Someone before me has treated you like dirt
Another person has treated you poorly and disrespected your feelings
Someone before me has made your heart hurt
Your past experience has broken your heart and left you vulnerable
Your long lonely nights I will bring to an end
I want to be there for you and take away your loneliness and pain
When you open up your heart and let my love come in
Please let go of your guard and allow me to love you with all my heart and soul
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Buck Owens
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind