Donald Eugene Gibson (April 3, 1928 – November 17, 2003) was an American co… Read Full Bio ↴Donald Eugene Gibson (April 3, 1928 – November 17, 2003) was an American country musician.

Gibson was born in Shelby, North Carolina into a poor working-class family, he dropped out of school in the second grade.

Gibson's first band was called Sons of the Soil, with whom he made his first recording in 1948. Among his greatest hits were "Oh Lonesome Me" (later recorded by both Ray Charles and Neil Young) and "Blue Blue Day" (both No. 1 hits in 1958); "Don't Tell Me Your Troubles" (1959); "Sea of Heartbreak" (1961); "Lonesome No. 1" and "I Can Mend Your Broken Heart" (1962); and "Woman (Sensuous Woman)" (a No. 1 hit in 1972).

Gibson recorded a series of successful duets with Dottie West in the late 1960s, the most successful of which were the No. 2 country hit "Rings of Gold" (1969) and the top 10 hit "There's a Story Goin' Round" (1970). In 1957, Gibson travelled back to Nashville to record "Oh Lonesome Me" for RCA. He and producer Chet Atkins decided to abandon the traditional steel guitar and fiddle and use a new sound featuring only guitars, a piano, a drummer, upright bass, and background singers. It became one of the first examples of what would be called the Nashville Sound and won Gibson a #1 hit; it also set the pattern for a long series of other RCA hits, including “Blue Blue Day” (1958).

A talented songwriter, Gibson was nicknamed "the sad poet" because he frequently wrote songs that told of loneliness and lost love. He wrote and sang "I Can't Stop Loving You", a song that would be recorded by more than 700 artists, most notably by Ray Charles with a pop version in 1962. He also wrote and recorded "Sweet Dreams" that would become a major 1963 crossover hit for Patsy Cline. A great fan, in 1967 Roy Orbison recorded an album of his songs simply titled: Roy Orbison Sings Don Gibson.

Don Gibson was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1973 and in 2001 into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

On his passing in 2003, he was interred in the Sunset Cemetery, in his hometown of Shelby, North Carolina.

Just Out Of Reach
Don Gibson Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Love that runs away from me
Dreams that just won't let me be
Blues that keep on botherin' me
Chains that just won't set me free
Too far away from you and all your charms
Just out of reach of my two open arms

Each night in dreams I see your face

Memories time cannot erase
Then I awake and find you've gone
I'm so blue, I'm all alone
So far away from lips so sweet and warm
Just out of reach of my two open arms

(That lonesome feeling all the time)
(Knowing you cannot be mine)
Dreams that hurt me in my sleep
Vows that we could never keep

Too far away from lips so sweet and warm
Just out of reach of my two open arms

Overall Meaning

The song "Just Out Of Reach" by Don Gibson describes the pain and longing of a lover who is unable to be with their beloved. The lyrics talk about the feeling of being unable to hold on to love, and how memories and dreams serve only as a reminder of what is missing. The first verse describes the various forms of heartache that the singer experiences, such as love that runs away from them, unattainable dreams, and the blues that just won't leave them alone. The final line of the verse also refers to the physical distance between the singer and their lover, who is just out of reach of their two open arms.

Line by Line Meaning

Love that runs away from me
The feeling of love that I have always seems to slip away from me.

Dreams that just won't let me be
Despite my efforts, my dreams about you keep reminding me of how much I long for you.

Blues that keep on botherin' me
My sadness and misery remain persistent and never seem to fade away.

Chains that just won't set me free
I feel imprisoned by my own emotions that keep me from moving on and forgetting about you.

Too far away from you and all your charms
The distance between us and the separation from your alluring qualities only adds to my pain and heartache.

Just out of reach of my two open arms
No matter how much I try to hold onto you, I can never have you in my arms.

Each night in dreams I see your face
In my subconscious, I am unable to forget your image and your impact on my life.

Memories time cannot erase
The memories we created together are so powerful that time cannot undo their effects on me.

Then I awake and find you've gone
I wake up from my dream only to find that in reality, you are not there with me.

I'm so blue, I'm all alone
My sadness and loneliness make it difficult to find joy and companionship in anything else.

So far away from lips so sweet and warm
The distance between us is preventing me from experiencing the comfort and warmth of your loving embrace.

Just out of reach of my two open arms
I am so close to having you, yet so far away, as I cannot hold you in my embrace.

Dreams that hurt me in my sleep
My dreams of you, despite being my only comfort, are also causing me pain and heartache.

Vows that we could never keep
Our inability to keep our promises to each other only adds to the sense of betrayal and disappointment that I feel.

Too far away from lips so sweet and warm
The separation from your lips, which I once felt so close to, burdens me with great pain and longing.

Just out of reach of my two open arms
Although I am so close to holding you, never can I have you, as you are always out of my grasp.

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Virgil Stewart

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it

TRACKS