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.
Long White Cadillac
Dwight Yoakam Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Winter hills are black
I'm all alone
Sitting in the back
Of a long white Cadillac
Train whistle cries
Lost on its own track
Sitting in the back
Of a long white Cadillac
Sometimes I blame it on a woman
The one that made my poor heart bleed
Sometimes I blame it on the money
Sometimes I blame it all on me
Headlights shine
Highway fades to black
It's my last ride
Sitting in the back
Of a long white Cadillac
Sometimes I blame it on a woman
The one that made my poor heart bleed
Sometimes I blame it on the money
Sometimes I blame it all on me
Train whistle cries
Lost on its own track
I close my eyes
I ain't never coming back
In a long white Cadillac
In a long white Cadillac
In a long white Cadillac
In a long white Cadillac
In a long white Cadillac
Ah, bye bye baby
I'm gonna take this white trash
On down the road
Psychodelic
The lyrics of Dwight Yoakam's song Long White Cadillac paint a dark picture of a solitary journey filled with regret and a sense of finality. The opening lines describe the desolate winter landscape with "Night wolves moan" and "Winter hills are black." The singer is "all alone" in the back of a long white Cadillac, which is often associated with luxury, but in this context, it takes on a more ominous and eerie tone. The train whistle cries, lost on its own track, symbolizing the singer's own sense of disorientation and lack of control over his life.
The chorus repeats the lines "Sometimes I blame it on a woman, the one that made my poor heart bleed. Sometimes I blame it on the money, sometimes I blame it all on me," highlighting the singer's sense of responsibility and self-blame for his current predicament. The final verse describes the headlights shining, and the highway fading to black, signaling the end of the singer's journey. It's his last ride, and he knows it. The song ends with the repeated chorus, "In a long white Cadillac, in a long white Cadillac," emphasizing the finality of his actions and the loneliness that comes with it.
Line by Line Meaning
Night wolves moan
Amidst the cold winter night, I hear the howling of wolves in the distance.
Winter hills are black
The dark and cold surroundings of the winter landscape seem to match the state of my emotions.
I'm all alone
I'm feeling isolated and abandoned by those who've left me behind.
Sitting in the back
I'm in the backseat of a car, isolated from those who are driving and moving forward.
Of a long white Cadillac
The car on which I sit is a long white Cadillac, that represents the break from the past and the possibility of a new beginning.
Train whistle cries
I hear the sound of a train whistle in the distance, a metaphor for my lost opportunities and regrets for missed chances.
Lost on its own track
The train, like my life, is lost on its own path, headed in a direction that doesn't necessarily align with my own.
I close my eyes
I close my eyes to escape the reality, avoiding the repercussions of my own decisions.
Sometimes I blame it on a woman
I place blame on the person who scorned me and broke my heart.
The one that made my poor heart bleed
The person who caused me so much pain and heartache.
Sometimes I blame it on the money
Other times I blame my suffering on the drive for material wealth.
Sometimes I blame it all on me
Ultimately, I realize that some part of my destructive actions must be attributed to me.
Headlights shine
The only constant in my life are the headlights piercing through the darkness of my existence.
Highway fades to black
The road ahead is daunting, filled with fear and uncertainty.
It's my last ride
I'm headed down a path of no return, with no hope of turning back.
I ain't never coming back
I've decided to leave my old life behind, embracing the long white Cadillac as my refuge and new beginning.
Ah, bye bye baby
I bid farewell to the past, marking the end of an old chapter.
I'm gonna take this white trash
I'm taking control of my existence or what some might see as 'trash', and finding a new journey towards something better.
On down the road
I'm moving forward towards a new path in my life, marked with unknown possibilities.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: DAVE ALVIN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Jeffrey Scott
I’m a metal head and i love Dwight Yoakam. He is amazing.
Margie Shanaman
The voice and energy!! What talent!!
naughtmoses
The audio track is from the "Dwight Live" CD recorded at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco; one of the most astonishing live albums of =any= kind ever made available to the general public.
james edwards
Pete Anderson is a great guitar player, as well as producer. Nice picking!
Margie Shanaman
These guys are the best! This band is absolutely amazing. A dedicated dwight fan for certain.
bigbassjonz
Years ago my band would cover this song and there's no intro to a song that would give me chills like this one would.
walter kersting
He’s always had a top notch band.
naughtmoses
Ah! The Warfield Theater show in 'Frisco where "Dwight Live" was recorded. Pete's post-production engineering and guitar work made that THE rockabilly CD to own in the '90s.
Auto Donk
as members of the human race, we are lucky to get to be entertained by such an awesome talent/showman as Mr. Yoakum......
Paolo Flores
No one humps a guitar like good ol Dwight.