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.
Stayin
Dwight Yoakam Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Just a thinkin' about
Ways to get you off my mind
I keep wanderin' around
Through all the lonely
Parts of town
To try and see
If I might could ever find
That I could cling to
In case I make the break through
And finally get you off my mind
I tried givin' up dreamin'
But your memory kept schemin'
And found all kinda ways
To sneak back into my sleep
I finally quit talkin' to strangers
Out of fear there's always
The danger
They say hi, hello
Or somethin' else
You might'a said to me
I've been stayin' up late
Just a thinkin' about
Ways to get you off my mind
I keep wanderin' around
Through all the lonely
Parts of town
To try and see if I might
Could ever find
One last hope
That I could cling to
In case I make the break through
And finally get you off my mind
I swore to never
Get caught looken
At a single picture
That was tookin'
Of us or anywhere we ever went
Or ever even seen
I don't dare watch the news
'Cause the wrecks
And the crashes
Can remind me too
That I used to ride around
And go places
In cars with you
I've been stayin' up late
Just a thinkin' about
Ways to get you off my mind
I keep stayin' up late
Just thinkin' about
Ways to get you off my mind
The lyrics of Dwight Yoakam's song "Stayin'" express the pain of heartbreak and the struggle to move on. The singer seems to have tried various ways to forget about his past lover, but fails every time. He has reached a point where he cannot look at their pictures, listen to any songs that remind him of her, or watch the news because everything reminds him of her. He has even stopped talking to strangers because they might say something that she used to say to him. He wanders through the lonely parts of town in hopes to find a way out of his heartbreak. The chorus is repeated twice in the song, which indicates the constant battle he is having with the memories of his past relationship.
The first verse talks about his sleepless nights where he is constantly thinking about her. He is desperately seeking a way out of his thought process. The second verse mentions his fear of things that might remind him of her. This is because he feels he cannot handle the pain of losing her. The chorus is repeated twice in the song, which indicates the constant battle he is having with the memories of his past relationship. These lyrics are relatable to anyone who has ever experienced heartbreak, and Dwight Yoakam does a great job of conveying the pain through his music.
Line by Line Meaning
I've been stayin' up late
I have been staying up late at night
Just a thinkin' about
Thinking deeply about
Ways to get you off my mind
Different methods to forget about you
I keep wanderin' around
Wandering aimlessly
Through all the lonely
Through all the desolate
Parts of town
Parts of the city that evoke solitude
To try and see
To attempt and observe for myself
If I might could ever find
If I could ever encounter
One last hope
A final prospect
That I could cling to
A possibility to hold onto
In case I make the break through
For when I finally overcome my feelings
And finally get you off my mind
And ultimately forget about you
I tried givin' up dreamin'
I attempted to stop dreaming
But your memory kept schemin'
But your recollection kept plotting
And found all kinda ways
And uncovered all sorts of methods
To sneak back into my sleep
To surreptitiously return into my subconscious
I finally quit talkin' to strangers
I eventually stopped talking to unfamiliar people
Out of fear there's always
Due to the concern that there's always
The danger
The possibility of difficulty
They say hi, hello
They greet me with words like hi or hello
Or somethin' else
Or something else entirely
You might'a said to me
That you might have said to me
I've been stayin' up late
I have been staying up late at night
Just a thinkin' about
Thinking deeply about
Ways to get you off my mind
Different methods to forget about you
I keep wanderin' around
Wandering aimlessly
Through all the lonely
Through all the desolate
Parts of town
Parts of the city that evoke solitude
To try and see if I might
To attempt and observe if I could
Could ever find
Could ever encounter
One last hope
A final prospect
That I could cling to
A possibility to hold onto
In case I make the break through
For when I finally overcome my feelings
And finally get you off my mind
And ultimately forget about you
I swore to never
I made a promise to myself to never
Get caught looken
Be caught looking
At a single picture
At a photograph
That was tookin'
That was taken
Of us or anywhere we ever went
Of us or any place we used to go
Or ever even seen
Or anything we ever saw together
I don't dare watch the news
I don't dare watch the news
'Cause the wrecks
Due to the accidents
And the crashes
And the collisions
Can remind me too
Can also remind me
That I used to ride around
That I used to drive around
And go places
And go to different locations
In cars with you
In cars with you
I've been stayin' up late
I have been staying up late at night
Just a thinkin' about
Thinking deeply about
Ways to get you off my mind
Different methods to forget about you
I keep stayin' up late
I continue to stay up late at night
Just thinkin' about
Thinking deeply about
Ways to get you off my mind
Different methods to forget about you
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: DWIGHT DAVID YOAKAM
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Susan
on Fast As You
Who is Sookie? I gotsta know!