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.
Sad Sad Music
Dwight Yoakam Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sad music
But this silence that you left
Is all I have
I must have missed a couple days or just forgotten
What went wrong or where it all
Fell apart
It just never crossed my mind you'd take my heart
There should be music
Sad music
The kind the movies have when love like ours goes bad
There should be music
Sad music
But this silence that you left
Is all I have
I'd swear that I woke up with you this morning
But I can see that's it been days since you were here
Oh and every night it still hits home without a warning
As my world becomes a flood of scalding tears
There should be music
Sad music
As you walk away without looking back
There should be music
Sad music
But this silence that you left is all I have
There should be music
Sad music
The song "Sad Sad Music" by Dwight Yoakam seems to be about a broken relationship and the lingering feeling of loss and hurt that comes along with it. The opening line "there should be music, sad music" suggests that the singer is expecting there to be some sort of musical accompaniment to his heartbreak. He later references the kind of music that is often played in movies when a love story goes awry - suggesting that this is what he feels his life should be like now that he's lost his love. However, instead of music, all he is left with is the silence of the absence of his partner.
Throughout the song, the singer reflects on his relationship and how it fell apart. He admits to possibly missing some signs that things were going wrong and seems genuinely shocked that his partner would leave him. He even says "I'd swear that I woke up with you this morning" - indicating that his loss still feels incredibly fresh to him. The final line of the chorus, "But this silence that you left is all I have" highlights the emptiness and loneliness that the singer feels in the aftermath of this relationship.
Line by Line Meaning
There should be music
I expected to hear some music, but instead, I am alone and missing you.
Sad music
The kind that movies have when love goes wrong, a reflection of the hurt and sorrow I feel.
But this silence that you left
You left and now I'm surrounded by deafening silence, the absence of your voice and your love.
Is all I have
I'm left with nothing except this emptiness, the void you left behind.
I must have missed a couple days or just forgotten
I don't know what happened or when it all fell apart, I just missed something important.
What went wrong or where it all
I don't know what went wrong, where everything started to fall apart, and we drifted away from each other.
Fell apart
Everything is ruined, and I don't know how to fix it or recover from what's lost.
Oh and I know you must have told me you were leavin'
I'm sure you told me you were leaving, but I didn't think you were taking my heart with you.
It just never crossed my mind you'd take my heart
I didn't realize how much I needed you until you were gone, and now, the pain is unbearable.
I'd swear that I woke up with you this morning
I could have sworn you were still here with me when I woke up, but I realized it's been days since you left.
But I can see that's it been days since you were here
I'm starting to come to terms with your absence, and it's painful to face the reality that you're gone.
Oh and every night it still hits home without a warning
Every night, the loneliness and heartbreak come crashing down on me, and I can't escape the pain.
As my world becomes a flood of scalding tears
I cry myself to sleep every night, wishing you were here to wipe away my tears and hold me close again.
As you walk away without looking back
I see you leaving, and I know you won't turn around or come back, and it shatters my heart.
There should be music
I thought I would have the comfort of sad music to ease my pain, but it seems like even that has abandoned me.
Sad music
I need the music to express my pain, to remind me that others have gone through this before, but I'm left with nothing but a void of sound.
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Written by: DWIGHT YOAKAM
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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