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.
Can't You Hear Me Callin'
Dwight Yoakam Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A million times that I love you best
I mistreated you, darling, I'm sorry
Come back to me is my request.
Well, the days are long the nights are lonely
Since you left me all alone
I worried so my little darling
Sweetheart of mine can't you hear me calling
A million times that I love you best
I mistreated you, darling, I'm sorry
Come back to me is my request..
--- Instrumental ---
I remember dear the night we parted
A big mistake had caused it all
If you come back sunshine will follow
If you stay away twill be my fall.
Sweetheart of mine can't you hear me calling
A million times that I love you best
I mistreated you, darling, I'm sorry
Come back to me is my request.
--- Instrumental ---
Sweetheart of mine can't you hear me calling
A million times that I love you best
I mistreated you, darling, I'm sorry
Come back to me is my request.
The song "Can't You Hear Me Callin'" by Dwight Yoakam is a classic heartbreak country song about a man who has mistreated his lover and now wants her back. The song begins with the man addressing his lost love, asking her "sweetheart of mine can't you hear me calling?" He then admits to mistreating her and asks for her forgiveness and to come back to him.
The lyrics of the song express the emotions of a man who is alone and has been suffering since his lover left. He remembers the night they parted and acknowledges it was all his fault. He clearly tells her that if she returns to him, sunshine will follow, but if she stays away, it will lead to his fall.
The emotion in Dwight Yoakam's voice as he sings the song is palpable. The soft and tender guitar notes, accompanied by the slow mournful rhythm, make the lyrics all the more poignant. Throughout the song, the instrumental has a significant role as it's a slow and gentle solo that accompanies Yoakam's singing.
Overall, the song captures the pain of loneliness and the rancor of a broken relationship. It's a classic country standard, and Yoakam's performance will surely touch the heart of anyone who has gone through a similar situation.
Line by Line Meaning
Sweetheart of mine can't you hear me calling
The singer is deeply in love with his partner and is calling out to her with immense affection
A million times that I love you best
The singer loves his partner more than anything and has told her repeatedly that she is his favourite person in the world
I mistreated you, darling, I'm sorry
The singer acknowledges that he had not always been kind to his partner and regrets his behaviour
Come back to me is my request.
The singer is begging his partner to come back to him and give him another chance to set things right
Well, the days are long the nights are lonely
The singer is feeling lonely and miserable during the days and even more so at night
Since you left me all alone
The singer's partner has left him and now he is alone and unhappy
I worried so my little darling
The singer has been worried and anxious ever since his partner left him
I worried so since you've been gone.
The singer has been worried and anxious ever since his partner left him
I remember dear the night we parted
The singer recalls the night when he and his partner parted ways
A big mistake had caused it all
The singer acknowledges that a big mistake on his part led to the separation
If you come back sunshine will follow
The singer believes that if his partner comes back to him, everything will be alright and happy times will come again
If you stay away twill be my fall.
The singer will feel like he has failed and lost everything if his partner does not come back to him
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Karen Morrison
I can not stop playing this, it is heaven.
Jesse'sMom
I LOVE me some DWIGHT! This is a perfect example as to why. He is the real deal.
Random Recordings
Dwight unplugged and natural with four other guys out on a loading dock. This is what country music is really about!
Justin Walters
Love Dwight and his of a kind sound!
T Bone
DY can do anything and make anything sound great. Best of the best.
Silvursprings
i saw him at a bar in Charleston, SC and I couldn't have been more pleased! HYe's so underrated!
Valerie Richardson
I love this one! It's of my fav's which I can't make up my mind? He has so much talent!!!
christian scholl
he should have recorded this version on to an album; that was awsome
Bascomblodge
Dwight is a great singer and one of the most under rated of out time.
marilyn stuart
Live and acoustic, love it.