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.
One More Night
Dwight Yoakam Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
That'll be over you
One more night and I know
That the worst is through
And if I can make this heart
Just believe it too
Then one more night and I know
That I'll be over you
One more night and I know
That I'll forget your voice
One more night and I know
That I can make that choice
And ignore the awful sounds
That come when love's destroyed
One more night and I know
That I'll forget your voice
I'll escape it
If I learn to take it
And just survive two or three
Of the next million thoughts
That I have about you and me (Bridge)
One more night and I know
One more night and I know
One more night and I know
One more night and I know
Dwight Yoakam's "One More Night" is a song about a man hoping to move on from a past lover. He believes that one more night of surviving his thoughts and emotions will lead him to be over her. He wants to forget her voice and ignore the painful memories that come with losing love. The lyrics suggest that the worst is through and that he can make his heart believe it too.
The song's chorus, "One more night and I know that I'll be over you," is repeated throughout the song, emphasizing the singer's desire to be rid of his heartache. The bridge suggests that the singer can escape his emotions if he can learn to take them and survive his thoughts about his past relationship. In the end, he hopes for just one more night to be able to move on from his past lover and forget everything that reminds him of her.
Overall, the song is a powerful reflection on how hard it can be to let go of a past relationship. The repetition of “one more night” throughout the song conveys the singer’s desperation and need for closure. The emotions and struggles that come with moving on after a break-up are captured in this song.
Line by Line Meaning
One more night and I know
The singer is certain that one more night will make things better
That'll be over you
The singer will finally move on from the person they once loved
That the worst is through
The singer believes they have already overcome the worst of their heartbreak
And if I can make this heart
The artist is hopeful that they can make their heart believe in moving on
Just believe it too
The artist wants their heart to be aligned with their head when it comes to moving on
That I'll forget your voice
The singer is confident that they can forget the voice of the person they once loved
That I can make that choice
The singer feels empowered to make the choice to forget their former lover's voice
And ignore the awful sounds
The artist is determined to ignore the painful memories associated with their failed relationship
That come when love's destroyed
The artist acknowledges the hurt and sadness that follows the end of a romantic relationship
I'll escape it
The artist believes that they will eventually be able to move past their heartbreak
If I learn to take it
The singer realizes that in order to heal, they must learn to accept and endure the pain
And just survive two or three
The artist knows that they will have to weather many moments of heartache before they can fully heal
Of the next million thoughts
The singer recognizes that they will continue to think about their ex for a long time to come
That I have about you and me (Bridge)
The singer reflects on the shared memories and moments that they had with their former lover
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Written by: DWIGHT YOAKAM
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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