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.
Touch Me
Buck Owens Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Touch me touch the arms that once held all the charms of the world's sweetest girl
Touch me maybe someday you may need to know how it feels when you lose
Touch me you'll know how you feel with the blues
Watch me watch the eyes that have seen all the heartache and pain in the land
And be thankful you're happy though standing so close to the world's bluest man
Don't forget me take a good look at someone who's lost everything he can lose
Watch me watch the eyes...
The lyrics of Buck Owens's song "Touch Me" are about a man who has lost everything, but he is asking someone to touch him so they can understand how it feels to go through such an ordeal. The first verse expresses how he feels that he used to own the world, but now he has lost everything. He wants someone to touch him and feel the touch of the man who "once owned all the world." In the second line, he asks the person to touch the arms that once held the world's sweetest girl. This line is particularly poignant as it highlights the loss he has suffered in his personal life as well. The verse ends by saying that touching him might be useful someday in case the other person also experiences such a loss.
The second verse is about how the person should watch his eyes and be thankful that they are happy in comparison to him. The man acknowledges that he is the world's bluest man, and the person should be grateful for the good things they have in their life. He then asks the person to take a good look at him and understand what it means to lose everything. By touching him, they will understand how it feels to have the blues.
The song's lyrics are about personal loss, but they also have a universal appeal. One interesting fact about the song is that it was released in 1961 and became Buck Owens's first major hit. It peaked at number three on the country charts and stayed there for 23 weeks. Despite being one of Owens's most popular songs, it was never released as a single in the UK.
Line by Line Meaning
Touch me touch the hand of a man who once owned all the world
Reach out and touch the hand of a man who used to possess everything in the world
Touch me touch the arms that once held all the charms of the world's sweetest girl
Touch my arms that once embraced a woman who was considered the most desirable person in the world
Touch me maybe someday you may need to know how it feels when you lose
Touch me, as you may have to experience the feeling of losing everything one day
Touch me you'll know how you feel with the blues
Touch me and you'll feel what it's like to be sad and depressed
Watch me watch the eyes that have seen all the heartache and pain in the land
Observe my eyes that have witnessed all the suffering and misery in the world
And be thankful you're happy though standing so close to the world's bluest man
Be grateful for your happiness even when you are near a man who is said to be the saddest in the world
Don't forget me take a good look at someone who's lost everything he can lose
Remember me and observe a person who has already lost everything that can be lost
Touch me you'll know how you feel with the blues
Touch me and you'll get to know how it feels to be in a melancholic state
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: RAY FENWICK, MIKE HURST
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind