Dickey Lee Lipscomb (born September 21, 1936, Memphis, Tennessee), known pr… Read Full Bio ↴Dickey Lee Lipscomb (born September 21, 1936, Memphis, Tennessee), known professionally as Dickey Lee (sometimes misspelled Dickie Lee), is an American pop/country singer and songwriter best known for the 1960s teenage tragedy songs "Patches" and "Laurie (Strange Things Happen)." For other uses, see Memphis (disambiguation). ... A piece of fabric. ... Lee made his first recordings in his hometown of Memphis for Tampa Records and Sun Records in 1957-58. He achieved his first chart success in 1962, when his composition "She Thinks I Still Care" was a hit for George Jones. Later that year, "Patches," written by Barry Mann and Larry Kobler and recorded by Lee for Smash Records, rose to #6. Lee had a #14 hit in 1963 with a song he co-wrote, a conventional rocker, "I Saw Linda Yesterday." In 1965, he returned to teen tragedy with "Laurie (Strange Things Happen)" a song related to the urban legends known as the vanishing hitchhiker and Resurrection Mary . The song was written by a Memphis psychologist, Milton Addington, based on a newspaper article by Cathie Harmon, who shared songwriting credit. The singer meets a girl at a dance and falls in love with her. He loans her his sweater, and when he goes to her house to retrieve it, he is informed by her father that Laurie "died a year ago today." When a "strange force" draws the singer to the graveyard, he sees his sweater lying on Laurie's grave. The song made only #14 on the national charts, but broke the top ten in a number of regional markets. To many, "Laurie" is still remembered as "the sweater song." An urban legend or urban myth is similar to a modern folklore consisting of stories often thought to be factual by those circulating them. ... The vanishing hitchhiker (or phantom hitchhiker) is a reported phenomenon in which people travelling by vehicle meet with or are accompanied by a hitchhiker who subsequently vanishes without explanation, often from a moving vehicle. ... Resurrection Mary is a famous ghost story and is considered by many to be the original hitchhiker ghost story. ...

After the sixties, Lee devoted his efforts to country music performing and songwriting.

Everybody
Dickey Lee Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Everybody's reaching out for someone
Everybody's knocking at some door
And long before I ever found you
You're the one that I was reaching for

Just like the trees along the river bend
Lift up the branches to the sun above
We spent our lifetimes reaching for a friend

Cause everybody reach someone to love
And everybody's reaching out

I wanted you since the day my life began
I've heard your footsteps running just beyond my mind
Ever since that moment I've been reaching for your hand
Hoping you'd be reaching out for mine

Everybody's reaching out
Everybody's reaching out

Overall Meaning

The song "Everybody" by Dickey Lee is a love ballad that speaks about the search for love and companionship that everyone goes through in their lives. The lyrics emphasize the universal experience of everyone needing someone to love and be loved by. The opening lines, "Everybody's reaching out for someone, everybody's knocking at some door" express this sentiment perfectly, showing that people are always looking for that special someone to share their lives with.

The following lines, "And long before I ever found you, you're the one that I was reaching for" reveals the longing and yearning for a significant other that has been present even before they met. It is like a predetermined destiny or fate that they were destined to find each other. The simile of trees along the river bend lifting up their branches to the sun above, and reaching towards it, are symbolic of the same attitude we have towards finding love- we reach out of our comfort zone, and search for someone to love.

The chorus "Cause everybody needs someone to love, and everybody's reaching out" reemphasizes this expression of wanting to be with someone and makes it the central message of the song. The artist sings more of his longing for his significant other and how he has always wanted to be with her.

In summary, the song "Everybody" is a deeply emotional, melodic love ballad that stresses the importance of finding love and togetherness. It shows how everyone at some point in their life is looking for that special someone, and how the desire for love is intrinsic.

Line by Line Meaning

Everybody's reaching out for someone
Everyone needs someone to be with, to love, to hold.

Everybody's knocking at some door
Everyone is seeking something greater in life and hoping to find it behind a door.

And long before I ever found you
Before I met you, I was always searching, always reaching for a love that I now know was you.

You're the one that I was reaching for
You are the one that I have always been searching for, the one that I have always wanted to hold.

Just like the trees along the river bend
The trees reach out their branches for the sun, each one producing leaves that reflect life and happiness.

Lift up the branches to the sun above
The trees stretch upwards towards the bright, warm sun in hopes of one day touching the skies.

We spent our lifetimes reaching for a friend
Throughout our entire existence, we will always need a friend, someone to share our joys, sorrows, and fears with.

Cause everybody reach someone to love
In the end, everyone just wants to feel loved by someone they can call their own.

I wanted you since the day my life began
From the moment I was born, I have been longing for you, the one that I have always yearned to be with.

I've heard your footsteps running just beyond my mind
I have always felt your presence in my life, and knew that you were there, just out of sight and beyond my reach.

Ever since that moment I've been reaching for your hand
From the beginning, I took a step towards you and started reaching out for your hand, and will always do so.

Hoping you'd be reaching out for mine
Hoping that you would take my hand in return, hold it and dance a dance of love with me.

Everybody's reaching out
In the end, everyone is reaching out for someone or something to cling to, to share a passion, a feeling, a life with.

Everybody's reaching out
Throughout their lives, regardless of time or place, everyone will always be reaching out to others for acceptance, support, and companionship.

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ALLEN REYNOLDS, DICKEY LEE

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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Comments from YouTube:

Primrose Haran

3y↑3

Great singer and song thank you Bill

Daniel Burns

2y↑1

this song only went to #56 on the country charts in 1982!!!

Sandra Durham

3y↑2

Hello Bill, hope you're having a good Saturday. Thank you for these 3 good posts, my favourite is "Everybody Loves a Winner". Dickey Lee, I love the gentleness of the way he sings it, the lyrics are good too.

Wicker Bill

3y↑1

I do remember this one from the play over radio. I don't think anybody could've done it any better. Naming the two college teams didn't hurt either...although they have rivals in the south.