Yoakam was born in Pikeville, Kentucky, the son of Ruth Ann, a key-punch operator, and David Yoakam, a gas-station owner. He was raised in Columbus, Ohio. He graduated from Columbus's Northland High School in 1974. During his high school years, he excelled in both music and drama, regularly securing the lead role in school plays, such as "Charlie" in a stage version of Flowers for Algernon, honing his skills under the guidance of teacher-mentors Jerry McAfee (music) and Charles Lewis (drama). Outside of school, Yoakam sang and played guitar with local garage bands, and entertained his friends and classmates with his impersonations, such as Richard Nixon, who, at the time, was heavily embroiled in the Watergate controversy.
Yoakam briefly attended Ohio State University, but dropped out and moved to Nashville in 1977 with the intent of becoming a recording artist. Later on, Ohio Valley University in Parkersburg, West Virginia awarded and presented Dwight with an honorary doctorate degree on May 7, 2005.
When he began his career, Nashville was oriented toward pop "urban cowboy" music, and Yoakam's brand of hip honky tonk music was not considered marketable.
Not making much headway in Nashville, Yoakam moved to Los Angeles and worked towards bringing his particular brand of new Honky Tonk or "Hillbilly" music (as he called it) forward into the 1980s. Writing all his own songs, and continuing to perform mostly outside traditional country music channels, Yoakam did many shows in rock and punk rock clubs around Los Angeles, playing with roots rock or punk rock acts like The Blasters (Yoakam scored a small video hit with his version of their song "Long White Cadillac"), Los Lobos, and X. This helped him diversify his audience beyond the typical country music fans, and his authentic, groundbreaking music is often credited with rock audiences accepting country music.
Yoakam's recording debut was the self-financed EP Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. on independent label Oak Records produced by lead-guitarist Pete Anderson; this was later re-released by Reprise records, with several additional tracks, as his major-label debut LP, 1986's Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.. It launched his career. "Honky Tonk Man", a remake of the Johnny Horton song, and "Guitars, Cadillacs" were hit singles. His stylish video "Honky Tonk Man" was the first country music video ever played on MTV. The follow-up LP, Hillbilly Deluxe, was just as successful. His third LP, Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room, included his first No. 1, a duet with his musical idol, Buck Owens, on "Streets of Bakersfield". 1990's If There Was a Way was another best-seller.
Yoakam's song "Readin', Rightin', Route 23" pays tribute to his childhood move from Kentucky, and is named after a local expression describing the route that rural Kentuckians took to find a job outside of the coal mines. (U.S. Route 23 runs north from Kentucky through Columbus and Toledo, Ohio and through the automotive centers of Michigan.) Rather than the standard line that their elementary schools taught "the three Rs" of "Readin', 'Ritin', and 'Rithmetic", Kentuckians used to say that the three Rs they learned were "Readin', 'Ritin, and Route 23 North".
Johnny Cash once cited Yoakam as his favorite country singer. Chris Isaak called him as good a songwriter that ever put a pen to paper. Time Magazine dubbed Yoakam "A Renaissance Man" and Vanity Fair declared that "Yoakam strides the divide between rock's lust and country's lament." Along with his bluegrass and honky-tonk roots, Yoakam has written or covered many Elvis Presley-style rockabilly songs, including his covers of Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" in 1999 and Presley's "Suspicious Minds" in 1992. He recorded a cover of The Clash's "Train in Vain" in 1997, a cover of the Grateful Dead song "Truckin'", as well as Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me". Yoakam has never been associated only with Country music; on many early tours, he played with Hardcore Punk bands like Hüsker Dü, and played many shows around Los Angeles with Roots/Punk/Rock & Roll acts. His middle-period-to-later records saw him branching out to different styles, covering Rock & Roll, Punk, 1960's, Blues-based "Boogie" like ZZ Top, and writing more adventurous songs like "A Thousand Miles From Nowhere". In 2003, he provided background vocals on Warren Zevon's last album The Wind.
In the 21st century, Yoakam released dwightyoakamacoustic.net, an album featuring solo acoustic versions of many of his hits; left his major label and started his own label.
2005 saw the release of Yoakam's well-reviewed album Blame the Vain, on New West Records. Yoakam also released an album dedicated to Buck Owens, Dwight Sings Buck, on October 23, 2007. His duet with Michelle Branch, a song titled "Long Goodbye", was released as a free download on Branch's official website in early 2011.
In July 2011, Yoakam re-signed with Warner Bros. Nashville and announced plans to release a new album. 3 Pears was released on September 18, 2012 with twelve new tracks. The album, produced by Yoakam, includes collaborations with Kid Rock, Beck, and Ashley Monroe. 3 Pears was released to resounding critical acclaim and earned Yoakam the highest-charting debut of his career on the Billboard 200 and Billboard Country Albums charts. 3 Pears reached #1 on the Americana Radio chart on October 29, 2012 and went on to break the 2012 record for most weeks at #1 on Americana Radio.[4] By the end of 2012, the album was named on annual best of lists by NPR, Rolling Stone, American Songwriter, AOL's The Boot, Entertainment Weekly, The Village Voice, and Rhapsody, and has been included in more critic's "best of 2012" lists than any other artist in the country genre.
Yoakam won the Grammy Award for "Best Male Country Vocal Performance" in 1993 for the song "Ain't That Lonely Yet". He was also named "Artist of the Year" by CMT Europe in 1993 and given the International Touring Artist Award by CMA in 2007.
In 2011, Yoakam received the Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award for his trailblazing achievements in the country music genre.
A Promise You Can't Keep
Dwight Yoakam Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And it caught me almost wanting to believe
The three little words that serve as warning
And say it's just a promise you can't keep
A statement that's been so used
I felt compelled to tell you
But knew there wasn't much to say
Or listed hopeless reasons
If I didn't have this need to stay
Three little words should be my warning
'Cause I know that it's a promise you can't keep
A statement that's been so used
I felt compelled to tell you
But knew there wasn't much to say
I could have threatened leavin'
Or listed hopeless reasons
If I didn't have this need to stay
Three little words should be my warning
'Cause I know that it's a promise you can't keep
I heard you swear your love this morning
Dwight Yoakam's "A Promise You Can't Keep" is a song about a man who is aware that his partner's promises of love are empty and unfulfilled. The song conveys the feelings of doubt and skepticism that arise when someone makes a promise that they can't keep. The opening line sets the tone for the rest of the song, as the singer describes how he almost wants to believe in his partner's declarations of love.
The chorus of the song is particularly poignant, as it emphasizes the futility of empty promises. The phrase "it's just a promise you can't keep" creates a sense of resignation and acceptance that some things are beyond our control. The singer realizes that the three little words of love that he hears from his partner should actually be a warning sign, because he knows that they are just empty promises.
The song conveys a sense of melancholy and sadness, as the singer struggles with his conflicting emotions. He knows that he could threaten to leave or list reasons why their relationship is hopeless, but he also realizes that he has a need to stay. In the end, he is left with the knowledge that his partner's promises of love are unfulfilled and that he must accept this reality.
Line by Line Meaning
I heard you swear your love this morning
This morning, I heard you express your love for me with words of admiration and affection.
And it caught me almost wanting to believe
Although I was skeptical at first, your emotional words almost convinced me to believe them.
The three little words that serve as warning
When someone says 'I love you', those three common words sometimes carry a hidden warning behind them.
And say it's just a promise you can't keep
The warning behind those three words is that it's just a promise that cannot be fulfilled.
A statement that's been so used
This warning has been spoken so many times and is so familiar to me.
I felt compelled to tell you
I felt the need to speak up and tell you my thoughts.
But knew there wasn't much to say
However, I knew that my words might not make a difference since the warning has been said so many times.
I could have threatened leavin'
I could have warned you that I might leave if the promise was not fulfilled.
Or listed hopeless reasons
I could have given you reasons why I do not believe you can fulfill this promise, but they may seem hopeless and not influence you.
If I didn't have this need to stay
If I did not have this emotional connection and desire to be with you, I might have taken a different approach to this situation.
Three little words should be my warning
The three words that you said to me earlier should serve as my warning.
'Cause I know that it's a promise you can't keep
I have my doubts that you will be able to fulfill this promise, hence the warning behind those three words.
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Written by: DWIGHT YOAKAM
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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