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.
Johnson
Dwight Yoakam Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Like no other had before
Now his heart was just a token
Of all the pain it had endured
And his memories were clouded
With all the hurtful things she'd said
Yes for all intent and purpose
He might just as well been dead
And some people claim they still hear him call her name
Hey hey Maureen
Swear they hear it just that plain
Deep in the night or sometimes right at dawn
See his body died some years ago
But around here Mr. Johnson's love lives on
He seemed far away and distant
With that cold and silent stare
Never moving, never speaking
And just barely breathing air
No one really knew her reason
And who can judge her right or wrong
The only true and solemn fact is
The man we'd known was all but gone
Some people claim they still hear him call her name
Hey hey Maureen
Swear they hear it just that plain
Deep in the night or sometimes right at dawn
See his body died some years ago
But around here Mr. Johnson's Love lives on
Sissy Thompson said she'd seen him
Late that night on Shelby Road
About a mile from there they found him
Seems he died out in the snow
I hear'd the preacher at the service
Say from love he's finally free
But I say love it knows no season
It haunts the soul eternally
Some people claim they still hear him call her name
Hey hey Maureen
Swear they hear it just that plain
Deep in the night or sometimes right at dawn
See his body died some years ago
But around here Mr. Johnson's love lives on
Yes his body died some years ago
But around here Mr. Johnson's love lives on
The lyrics to "Johnson's Love" by Dwight Yoakam tell the tragic story of a man named Mr. Johnson who was left "lost and broken" by his lover, Maureen. The pain of her leaving him was so intense that it felt as though his heart was just a "token" of the hurt he had endured. Even his memories of her were filled with hurtful things she had said, and for all intents and purposes, he might as well have been dead.
The second verse describes how Mr. Johnson has become a shell of his former self since Maureen left him. He's "far away and distant" and barely breathing, with a look of cold silence in his eyes. Nobody knows what drove Maureen to leave him, and even if they did, who can say what is right or wrong? The only thing that is certain is that the man they once knew is gone, replaced by a tragic, lifeless figure.
The final verse brings the story to a tragic conclusion, with Mr. Johnson being found dead in the snow. Despite the preacher's words about him finally being free from love, the song's narrator reminds us that love knows no season, and that it haunts the soul eternally. Even though Mr. Johnson's body may have died, his love for Maureen lives on in the brokenhearted people who still hear him calling her name in the night.
Line by Line Meaning
She had left him lost and broken
His lover left him feeling helpless and shattered
Like no other had before
Her leaving affected him more than any other previous heartbreak
Now his heart was just a token
His heart has lost all emotional value and significance
Of all the pain it had endured
The heart has gone through tremendous emotional pain
And his memories were clouded
His recollection of events was unclear
With all the hurtful things she'd said
He remembers her saying a lot of cruel things to him
Yes for all intent and purpose
From an outside perspective, he may as well be dead
He might just as well been dead
The emotional pain he's experiencing is comparable to physical death
And some people claim they still hear him call her name
Some individuals believe they can hear him calling her name after he's gone
Hey hey Maureen
The name of the woman Johnson is calling out for
Swear they hear it just that plain
The sound is heard with clarity and certainty
Deep in the night or sometimes right at dawn
The name-calling happens late at night or just before the sun rises
See his body died some years ago
Johnson has been deceased for a few years
But around here Mr. Johnson's love lives on
Johnson's love for Maureen is still a topic of conversation in that area
He seemed far away and distant
Johnson came across as detached and remote
With that cold and silent stare
He had a cold and emotionless gaze
Never moving, never speaking
Johnson seemed to be always still and never said a word
And just barely breathing air
He was taking shallow breaths
No one really knew her reason
No one knew the reason as to why Maureen left him
And who can judge her right or wrong
It's impossible to say whether her actions were just or unjust
The only true and solemn fact is
The only thing that can be certain is
The man we'd known was all but gone
The Johnson that they knew was no longer there
Sissy Thompson said she'd seen him
Someone named Sissy Thompson claimed to have seen Johnson
Late that night on Shelby Road
It happened on Shelby Road, late at night
About a mile from there they found him
Johnson's body was located approximately a mile away from the sighting
Seems he died out in the snow
It appears that he passed away in the snow
I hear'd the preacher at the service
The singer recalls hearing what the preacher said at Johnson's funeral
Say from love he's finally free
The preacher suggested that Johnson is no longer bound by his love for Maureen
But I say love it knows no season
The artist doesn't agree with the preacher, as they believe that love is evergreen
It haunts the soul eternally
Love can continue to torment and plague someone's spirit forever
Yes his body died some years ago
Johnson passed away a while back
But around here Mr. Johnson's love lives on
People still talk about and mention Johnson's love for Maureen in that area
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Written by: DWIGHT YOAKAM
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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