(1) A country singer an… Read Full Bio ↴There are at least two artists by this name:
(1) A country singer and songwriter from Texas.
(2) An alias of techno producer Thomas Wendel.
(1) Don Williams (Born May 27, 1939, in Floydada, Texas - Died September 8, 2017) spent much of his childhood in Corpus Christi, Texas. His father was a mechanic whose job took him to other regions, his mother played guitar and he grew up listening to country music. He and Lofton Kline formed a semi-professional folk group called the Strangers Two, and then, with the addition of Susan Taylor, they became the Pozo-Seco Singers, the phrase being a geological term to denote a dry well. Handled by Bob Dylan's manager Albert Grossman, they had major pop hits in the U.S. with "Time," "I Can Make It With You" and "Look What You've Done." Following Kline's departure, they employed several replacements, resulting in a lack of musical direction. After Williams had failed to turn the trio towards country music, they disbanded in 1971.
He then worked for his father-in-law but also wrote for Susan Taylor's solo album via Jack Clement's music publishing company. Clement asked Williams to record albums of his company's best songs, mainly with a view to attracting other performers. In 1973, Don Williams, Volume 1 was released on the fledgling JMI label and included such memorable songs as Bob McDill's apologia for growing old, "Amanda," and Williams' own "The Shelter of Your Eye." Williams' work was reissued by Dot Records, and Don Williams, Volume 2 included "Atta Way to Go" and "We Should Be Together." Williams then had a country No. 1 with Wayland Holyfield's "You're My Best Friend," which has become a standard and is the perennial sing-along anthem at his concerts. By now, the Williams' style had developed: gently paced love songs with straightforward arrangements, lyrics and sentiments. Williams was mining the same vein as Jim Reeves, but he eschewed Reeves' smartness by dressing like a ranch-hand. Besides having a huge contingent of female fans, Williams counted Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend among his admirers. Clapton recorded his country hit "Tulsa Time," written by Danny Flowers, a member of Williams' band.
Williams played a band member himself in the Burt Reynolds film W.W. & the Dixie Dance Kings and also appeared in Smokey and the Bandit 2. Williams' other successes include "Till the Rivers All Run Dry," "Some Broken Hearts Never Mend," "Lay Down Beside Me" and his only U.S. solo pop hit, "I Believe in You." Unlike most established country artists, he has not sought duet partners, although he and Emmylou Harris found success in 1981 with their version of Townes Van Zandt's "If I Needed You." Among the highlights of Williams' recording career is his interpretation of "Good Ol' Boys Like Me," McDill's homage to his southern roots. Moving to Capitol Records in the mid-'80s, Williams released such singles as "Heartbeat in the Darkness" and "Senorita," but the material was not as impressive. He took a sabbatical in 1988, but subsequent RCA Records recordings showed that nothing had changed.
In 1998, Williams released I Turn the Page on Giant Records, but the label soon closed its country music division. Following a live album in 2001, Williams retuned in 2004 with My Heart to You.
Maintaining his stress-free style, Williams continues to be a major concert attraction, especially in the U.K. and South Africa.
Williams initially started out as a songwriter for Jack Music Inc., since he lacked belief about going solo but then signed with JMI as a solo artist. His 1974 song "We Should Be Together" reached number five and he was signed on with ABC/Dot. His first single with ABC/Dot, "I Wouldn't Want to Live If You Didn't Love Me," became a number one hit, and was the first of a string of top ten hits he had between 1974 and 1991. In fact, only four of his 46 singles didn't make it to the Top Ten. Recently (as of 2012), he released the album And So It Goes.
From His Own Website.
They came to call Don Williams “the Gentle Giant” in the decades he was a dominating country hit maker because of his unique blend of commanding presence and that laid-back, easy style that has appealed to adult men and women alike—cutting across national and genre boundaries. If those personal and musical qualities stood out strongly across the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s, they are all the more distinctive in 2012, when so many country and pop records seem to work as check off lists of somebody’s idea of how to be a man, or hard-sell attempts to indicate affection for a woman. Don Williams has never sounded like he felt the need to sell somebody something, or to prove anything.
On And So It Goes, available from Sugar Hill on June 19th, that winning, self-assured ease is again front and center, and the musical style that has made Don a ballad vocal model for performers ranging from Eric Clapton (with whom he’d traded songs—“Tulsa Time,” “Lay Down Sally”) to Keith Urban (who guests on this release). One listen to the characteristically right-on-target vocals on this first Don Williams recording in eight years and his admirers will be wondering what he’s done to maintain that strength over the hiatus.
“Well, there are things that I don’t do,” Don laughs. “I don’t do a whole lot of sitting around chit-chatting, laughing, and carrying on—especially when I’m on the road, where that just makes you tired, anyway. Even at home on the farm there are literally days on end that I may not say anything but for an hour or two a day.”
This man who so clearly loves the quiet home life can still fill an auditorium or stadium across the U.S., the U.K., Europe and Africa; his special role as an international ambassador for American country and pop music is ongoing and his musical appeal, he has long since been astonished to find, is about the same from the Central Time Zone to central Africa.
“The weird thing about that is—no; I don’t change my show to go play England or Nairobi. I can pretty much choose anything from my repertoire and it works wherever I am, and that still amazes me, because you’re talking about different cultures, sometimes different languages, and the whole nine yards.”
The hundreds of memorable songs in that repertoire—over fifty of them major hits—whether contemplative ballads, affecting love songs or change-up rhythm numbers, have always been a core Don Williams strength and focus. Don and long-time producer Garth Fundis, who returns in that role on this new album, each credit the other with having contributed to their own song-picking and sequencing skills—skills well put to shared use again when Nashville’s finest writers submitted hundreds of songs for consideration for Don’s return to recording. They both knew what they were looking for in selections that would appear on And So It Goes:
“They’re very well written, they’re interesting, and the melody and the lyric are saying the same thing,” Don says. “Even when we’re starting looking for the songs, just experimenting, Garth and I are just in agreement; we just want to make good music that touches our hearts and, hopefully, touches others’ in the process. For many years, though, Garth has fussed at me about one thing— that we need to be sure and do whatever song that I wrote, because I would just pass over it. I get more excited about a new song that I’ve just heard than I do my own material!” (There are, in fact, two Don Williams co-writes among the ten outstanding songs on this new release.)
Riding and crossing the line between country and pop, and all the more distinctive for doing it, Don brought a sound and sensibility to the country charts that proved a smash—a development that was initially a surprise even to him.
“When I was just a wee lad,” he recalls, “I really appreciated people like Johnny Horton, Johnny Cash and Jim Reeves; all of those guys back then meant a lot to me, but at the same time, I really loved Brook Benton, and the Platters and all of those people. But even when I was ‘in pop’ myself, with everything that I wrote, the only people who really seemed to appreciate it were country fans. That has to tell you a little bit about where your heart’s at, whether your head agrees with it or not!”
Born in Floydada, Florida in 1939 and growing up near Corpus Christi, Texas, Don was playing guitar by age twelve, taught by his mother, and performed in folk, country and rock bands as a teenager. He first gained musical attention as a member of the pop folk trio The Pozo Seco Singers, which had six pop chart hits in 1966-’67, then was signed as a songwriter by Nashville’s Cowboy Jack Clement in 1971—the sort of songwriter whose demos demanded attention. Between 1974 and 1991, Don had at least one major hit every year, including such country standards to be as “ Good Ole Boys Like Me,” “Till the Rivers All Run Dry,” “It Must Be Love,” “I’m Just a Country Boy,” “Amanda” and “I Believe in You.” He also had a hit duet with Emmylou Harris on Townes Van Zandt’s “If I Needed You.” Don was the CMA Male Vocalist of the Year in 1978; his “Tulsa Time” was the ACM Record of the Year for 1979.
In 2010, Don received country music’s highest honor, with his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Don Williams died on 8 september 2017 after a short illness. He was 78 years old.
(2) Founder and owner of Mojuba & A.R.T.less Records and one half of the Tokomak Records company. He is the creative force behind these imprints and Tokomak's main founding member. His musical influences ranges from Classic, Funk and Jazz via Drum & Bass and Trip Hop to his beloved Detroit Techno and US House, which can be still enjoyed throughout his DJ-Sets. After a few releases on the legendary Pure Plastic imprint, he delivers tracks of his own brand of funk on labels like Rewired, Styrax Leaves and 100% Pure.
Send Her Roses
Don Williams Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
They got a road out in Alaska now,
I hear that you can go there.
Tell me about Montana,
With the cool blue mountain air.
I know your honeys got the money,
I can understand your wanderlust.
Its refrigerator or bust.
I ain't got no words for going,
I got no longing for your open road.
Don't get found rollin' into town tugging on a heavy load.
You've gotta give me the nights with the city lights, and the people buzzin' everywhere.
One hand upon the parking meter, the other on her easy chair.
I'll send her roses, send her roses everyday.
If I don't go down another dirt road, I don't think it's gonna hurt my day.
I'll send her roses, send her roses once in awhile.
I'm a long, long way from outta here, but you know I'm gonna go in style.
Well, I was rollin' around Boston town, wasn't hardly anybody I know.
Got to singin' low for the first three rows, puttin' on a lousy show.
Well then I met her, I had to let her buy my lunch, I got the flowery plate.
I'm telling you why, good brother don't laugh, think I got me one suitable mate.
I'll send her roses, send her roses every day.
If I don't go down another dirt road, I don't think it's gonna hurt my day.
I'll send her roses, send her roses by the dozen.
I've been having me a whirl with a pretty girl,
And she told me she liked my lovin'.
(repeat last bridge)
In Don Williams's song Send Her Roses, the singer is speaking to a friend who is about to embark on a journey. The friend is excited to explore new places like Alaska and Montana, while the singer is content to stay in the city. The singer argues that the city life is fulfilling enough, with its bright lights and bustling people. He claims that he has no longing for the open road, with its unknown destinations and heavy loads. Instead, he plans to send his loved one roses every day, as a symbol of his affection and commitment.
The song contrasts the idea of adventure and freedom with the stability and comfort of home. The singer acknowledges the appeal of traveling and experiencing new things. However, he also recognizes the value of routine and familiarity. For him, the joy of being with his loved one and enjoying the simple pleasures of city life outweighs the excitement of the unknown.
Line by Line Meaning
They got a road out in Alaska now,
I am aware that there is a newly built road in Alaska now,
I hear that you can go there.
And I have heard it's a place people can visit.
Tell me about Montana,
Can you share some information about Montana?
With the cool blue mountain air.
I hear Montana has a refreshing and rejuvenating weather.
I know your honeys got the money,
I am aware that your woman has the financial means,
I can understand your wanderlust.
And I understand your desire to explore and travel.
Brother, and boy, for me these days,
Personally, for me nowadays,
Its refrigerator or bust.
All I want is to be close to my refrigerator or nothing else.
I ain't got no words for going,
I have no interest in traveling,
I got no longing for your open road.
And I don't miss the idea of traveling on the open road.
Don't get found rollin' into town tugging on a heavy load.
Moreover, I don't want to be caught entering a town with a heavy load behind me.
You've gotta give me the nights with the city lights, and the people buzzin' everywhere.
Instead, what I want is to experience the nights in the city with its vibrant lights and people everywhere.
One hand upon the parking meter, the other on her easy chair.
I want to have one hand on the parking meter while the other holds her hand while sitting in a comfortable chair.
I'll send her roses, send her roses everyday.
I will send her roses, daily to show my affection.
If I don't go down another dirt road, I don't think it's gonna hurt my day.
I believe it won't hurt my day if I don't go down another dirt road.
I'll send her roses, send her roses once in awhile.
Even if I don't send roses every day, I will make sure to send them every once in a while.
I'm a long, long way from outta here, but you know I'm gonna go in style.
I may be far from here, but I'm confident I will travel in style.
Well, I was rollin' around Boston town, wasn't hardly anybody I know.
I was touring around Boston city, and there weren't many familiar faces around me.
Got to singin' low for the first three rows, puttin' on a lousy show.
I started to sing without much enthusiasm, and my performance was not at its best.
Well then I met her, I had to let her buy my lunch, I got the flowery plate.
But then I met her, and she ended up buying me lunch while I got a decorative plate.
I'm telling you why, good brother don't laugh, think I got me one suitable mate.
I want to assure you that she is a suitable match for me, so please don't mock me for it.
I'll send her roses, send her roses every day.
I will make sure to send her roses every day to express my love.
If I don't go down another dirt road, I don't think it's gonna hurt my day.
Skipping dirt roads won't affect my mood negatively.
I'll send her roses, send her roses by the dozen.
I'm willing to send her a dozen rose flowers to show my affection.
I've been having me a whirl with a pretty girl,
Recently, I've been having a wonderful time with a charming lady.
And she told me she liked my lovin'.
She appreciated my way of expressing my love to her.
(repeat last bridge)
Repeating the previous bridge.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: PAT MC LAUGHLIN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind