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.
Nothing's Changed Here
Dwight Yoakam Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I think that I'm dreaming
'Til I hear you shut the door
I wake up crying and calling your name
Nothing's changed here without you
I start every day the same
The same old sun comes up to shine
I tell myself the same old lie
I've got you off my mind
I feel your body lyin' next to mine
I reach out in the darkness
But you're not there for me to find
There's only sorrow followed by pain
Nothing's changed here without you
I start every day the same
I see your sweet lips softly kiss me goodbye
I taste the salt of my teardrops
As they fall down from my eyes
I take a deep breath
But it's only in vain
'Cause nothing's changed here without you
I start every day the same
I start every day the same
The song "Nothing's Changed Here" by Dwight Yoakam is a powerful expression of heartbreak and loss. The song talks about how the singer is unable to move on from the end of his relationship, as everything reminds him of his lost love. The lyrics tell the story of a man who still feels the presence of his ex-partner everywhere he goes, and how he is unable to get over the pain of their separation. The opening lines of the song paint this picture of the man lying in bed, and hearing the sounds of his ex walking across the floor. But even though he knows she's not really there, he can't help but feel like he's dreaming. The way the lyrics are written is particularly raw and emotional, and they perfectly capture the sense of loneliness and despair that comes with a painful breakup.
The chorus of the song highlights the main theme - the fact that nothing has changed since his ex left him. The sun still rises in the same place, his bed is still there, and he tells himself the same lie every day - that he's over her. But despite all of this, he still feels her presence, and he still wakes up every day missing her. The bridge of the song adds another layer of emotional depth, as the singer talks about how he can still feel his ex's body next to him, even though she's not really there. He reaches out to touch her, but she's not there, and he's left with nothing but sorrow and pain.
Overall, "Nothing's Changed Here" is a deeply moving song that perfectly captures the pain of heartbreak and the difficulty of moving on. The lyrics are raw and honest, and the melody is haunting and beautiful - it's a song that will resonate with anyone who has experienced the pain of a failed relationship.
Line by Line Meaning
I hear you walking across the floor
The singer hears footsteps and begins to believe that they were only dreaming until they hear the sound of the door make a familiar shut.
I wake up crying and calling your name
The singer wakes up emotionally burdened and distressed, calling out the name of the person who is missing in their life.
Nothing's changed here without you
The singer believes that there's nothing new, nothing evolved in their lives since this person left them.
I start every day the same
The artist is going through the same routine and pattern of behaviors each day since this person left, as if they stopped living past the day of their departure.
I tell myself the same old lie
The artist tries to convince themselves of a falsehood to escape the hard truth of the absence of this person in their lives.
I've got you off my mind
The singer tries to convince themselves that they don't think about this person anymore, that they don't have any bearing on their current life, but this is far from true.
I feel your body lyin' next to mine
The singer is so consumed in their loneliness and longing for this person, that they can even imagine feeling them laying next to them.
There's only sorrow followed by pain
The artist feels stuck in a cycle of melancholy and distress that there's no escape from, no relief.
I see your sweet lips softly kiss me goodbye
The artist remembers a bittersweet moment of goodbye, a moment that hurts even to imagine.
I take a deep breath
The artist tries to calm themselves and take control of their emotions, but it does very little for them.
But it's only in vain
The singer begins to understand that their efforts to move on or heal are for nothing, they are stuck in this state of longing and despair.
I start every day the same
The artist repeats the same actions, thoughts, and feelings in a loop, each day, as if they don't know how to move on from this pain.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Written by: DWIGHT DAVID YOAKAM, KOSTAS LAZARIDES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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