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 HΓΌsker DΓΌ, 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.
It Won't Hurt
Dwight Yoakam Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It won't hurt when I fall down from this bar stool
And it won't hurt when I stumble in the street
It won't hurt 'cause this whiskey eases misery
But even whiskey cannot ease your hurting me
Today I had another bout with sorrow
You know this time I almost won
I know that I'd have sorrow on the run
[Chorus]
It won't hurt when I fall down from this bar stool
And it won't hurt when I stumble in the street
It won't hurt 'cause this whiskey eases misery
But even whiskey cannot ease your hurting me
Your memory comes back up with each sunrise
I reach out for the bottle and find it's gone
Yeah, Lord, somewhere every night the whiskey leaves me
To face this cold, cold world on my own
[Chorus]
It won't hurt when I fall down from this bar stool
And it won't hurt when I stumble in the street
It won't hurt 'cause this whiskey eases misery
But even whiskey cannot ease your hurting me
Dwight Yoakam's "It Won't Hurt" is a sobering meditation on the power of addiction. It's a song about a man who is trying to numb his pain with alcohol. He knows that the whiskey won't take away the hurt of being hurt by someone he loves, but he drinks it anyway. He's been knocked down, he's stumbled in the street, and he's turning to alcohol to ease his misery. But even the whiskey can't make him forget the one who hurt him.
The chorus rings out with the main theme of the song; the whiskey may be a temporary relief from his physical pain but it can't soothe his emotional agony. The singer is attempting to push away his pain and sorrow with alcohol since he has already attempted and failed to get sober. He is struggling with his emotional and physical pain and the only way he feels he can get through his everyday life is by drinking. He's given several pieces of evidence for his sadness in the verses, the most raw of which is the memory of the one who shattered his heart that refuses to leave him.
In conclusion, "It Won't Hurt" is a Country ballad that explores the heart-wrenching pain of heartbreak and addiction. The lyrics describe a story of a man who is trying to numb his pain with alcohol but realizes that even though the whisky can relieve his physical pain, it cannot relieve the true agony he feels inside. The song's subject matter and Yoakam's delivery create a melancholic verse alongside a contemplative chorus, that perfectly summarises the mindset of someone who is in the grip of their addiction.
Line by Line Meaning
It won't hurt when I fall down from this bar stool
Getting too drunk won't hurt me physically
And it won't hurt when I stumble in the street
Even if I'm too drunk to walk, I won't feel any pain
It won't hurt 'cause this whiskey eases misery
Drinking whiskey numbs the emotional pain I feel
But even whiskey cannot ease your hurting me
Drinking won't make the pain of your betrayal any easier to bear
Today I had another bout with sorrow
Today, I'm feeling sad again
You know this time I almost won
This time, I almost managed to push the sadness away
If this bottle would just hold out 'til tomorrow
If I have enough whiskey left, I can keep the sadness at bay
I know that I'd have sorrow on the run
I'd be able to escape from my sadness if I'm drunk enough
Your memory comes back up with each sunrise
I can't escape the memory of your betrayal, and it haunts me every day
I reach out for the bottle and find it's gone
When I need the comfort of whiskey, I find that I've already finished the bottle
Yeah, Lord, somewhere every night the whiskey leaves me
Every night, the whiskey runs out and I'm left alone with my pain
To face this cold, cold world on my own
Without whiskey, I have to face the harsh reality of the world alone
Lyrics Β© O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: DWIGHT YOAKAM
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@americafuckyea2789
It won't hurt when I fall down from this barstool
And it won't hurt when I stumble in the street
It won't hurt cause the whiskey eases misery
But even whiskey cannot ease you're hurtin' me
Today I had another bout with sorrow
You know this time I almost won
If this bottle would just hold out till tomorrow
Well I know that I'd have sorrow on the run
It won't hurt when I fall down from this barstool
And it won't hurt when I stumble in the street
It won't hurt cause the whiskey eases misery
But even whiskey cannot ease you're hurtin' me
Your memory comes back up with each sunrise
I reach out for the bottle and find it's gone
Yeah Lord somewhere every night the whiskey leaves me
To face this cold cold world on my own
It won't hurt when I fall down from this barstool
And it won't hurt when I stumble in the street
It won't hurt cause the whiskey eases misery
But even whiskey cannot ease you're hurtin' me
Even whiskey cannot ease you're hurtin' me
@athenassigil5820
Who's sipping whiskey and listening to this profoundly beautiful soulful music?
@fraseredkins2509
I am Jupiter I'm listening in 2020 in harare
@jonfontes1537
I, Jupiter me sir. Sipping some leadslinngerβs bourbon whiskey
@athenassigil5820
Awesome boys! I love this song, whiskey and y'all!
@Black_Bear__
Every day
@Black_Bear__
This bottle will not hold out till tomorrow lol
@darrelholmgren7731
Real country music truly awesome unlike today's garbage on country radio
@valeriecurtis8361
One of the all-time greatest country songs!!!!
@Joan18706
Wow! a great REAL country song . . . I just can't believe I've never heard it before.
@user-th6ry9ld2f
Absolutely love this man! A great picker,singer,songwriter, and great actor!