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.
I Don't Care
Dwight Yoakam Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
If I stay dumb and no one tells
But if I find out that you've been cheatin'
What I don't know might get you killed
Well, death row in prison it don't look half as bad
As a life filled with heartache over you
So if you're a playin' those dirty little games
'Cause what I don't know might not hurt me
If I stay dumb and no one tells
But if I find out that you've been cheatin'
What I don't know might get you killed
Well Smith and Wesson juries hold a real mean, nasty court
And the verdict that they pass is never slow
So keep on a wearin' that little poker face
'Cause soon enough your cards will have to show
And what I don't know might not hurt me
If I stay dumb and no one tells
But if I find out that you've been cheatin'
What I don't know might get you killed
What I don't know might get you killed
What I don't know might get you killed
The lyrics of the song "I Don't Care" by Dwight Yoakam convey a deep feeling of devotion and unconditional love. The singer expresses that he doesn't care about anything else in the world as long as his lover loves him. He doesn't care if the sun doesn't shine, the tops don't spin, the birds don't sing or the world doesn't turn. He even says that he will endure the worst weather conditions, and he will stay by his lover's side no matter where life takes them. The repetition of the line "Just as long as you love me" emphasizes the gravity of the singer's feelings and makes this song a declaration of love that can pull at the heartstrings.
The lyrics paint a picture of a man who seeks nothing else but to be loved by the person he loves. The words have a poetic and romantic feel, and the simple melody of the song amplifies the emotional effect. The song can be interpreted in different ways. For example, it can be seen as a song about a man who values love more than material things, or it can represent the idea of being content with what you have as long as you have someone to share it with.
Line by Line Meaning
Well I don't care if the sun don't shine
I am not concerned about time, if it’s day or night, if it’s hot or cold, as long as you love me.
I don't care if the bells don't chime
I am not interested in external sounds, bells ringing or music playing as long as you love me.
Just as long as you love me
The only thing that matters to me is your love, it’s the only thing that brings true happiness, and everything else is immaterial.
And I don't care if the tops don't spin
I don’t care if the world is spinning round and round or if everything is spinning out of control as long as you love me.
I don't care if the gins won't gin
I don’t care if life is difficult or things are not working out, as long as you love me.
So darling let it rain let it snow let the cold north wind blow
I am ready for anything that life may bring my way: the storms, the snow, the cold or anything else, as long as you love me.
North or south east or west you know I will stand the test
I can face any challenge that comes from any direction, and still stay strong as long as you love me.
I don't care if the birds don't sing
I don’t care if nature doesn't provide me with its voice, as long as you love me, that's all I want.
I don't care if the bells don't ring
I don’t care about the things that make the world go round, or the difficulties of life, as long as you love me.
I don't care if the world don't turn
I am not worried about the world's problems or wars, as long as you love me.
I don't care if the fire don't burn
The world might not show me warmth or happiness, but your love generates all that I need to survive.
Just as long as you love me
Your love is what sustains me, it gives meaning to my life, and without it, everything else becomes irrelevant.
Oh darling just as long as you love me
It all comes down to the fact that as long as you love me, everything is fine, and I can face anything that life throws at me.
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Written by: DWIGHT YOAKAM
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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