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.
Take Hold of My Hand
Dwight Yoakam Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I'll do what I can
To make everything right
At least for tonight
If you'll just take hold of my hand
Press your lips against mine
And I promise to find
Some place safe from the rain
If you'll just press your lips against mine
I've lusted for love but lust is so blind
And trust for a heart is a hard thing to find
But what's left of yours might help to heal mine
Come and lay here by me
And I swear you will see
That the hurt from before
Don't live here no more
If you'll just come and lay here by me
I've lusted for love but lust is so blind
And trust for a heart is a hard thing to find
But what's left of yours might help to heal mine
Take hold of my hand
And I'll do what I can
To make everything right
At least for tonight
If you'll just take hold of my hand
If you'll just take hold of my hand
Sha la la la la la
Sha la la la la la
Sha la la la la la
Sha la la la la la
If you'll just take hold of my hand
Sha la la la la la
Sha la la la la la
Sha la la la la la
Sha la la la la la
If you'll just take hold of my hand
Dwight Yoakam’s song “Take Hold of My Hand” is a plea to a lover to let go of their fears and reservations and take a chance on him. He promises to do his best to make things right for them tonight if they just take hold of his hand. The lyrics are expressed with a sense of urgency and desperation, as the singer paints a picture of a relationship that has been marred by pain and distrust.
The chorus of the song repeats the plea for the lover to take hold of his hand, reinforcing the idea that the singer is willing to do whatever it takes to make things right. The second verse takes a more sensual turn, as the singer urges his lover to press her lips against his, promising to find a way out of the pain and into a safe haven. The third verse invites the lover to come lay by his side, assuring them that the hurt from the past no longer lingers in their space, and what remains of their heart might just help to heal his own.
Overall, the song speaks to the idea of taking a leap of faith in the name of love, even if doing so may be scary or uncertain. It is a call to trust and vulnerability, a dynamic that can often be difficult to navigate in relationships that have been hurt in the past.
Line by Line Meaning
Take hold of my hand
I want you to hold my hand, and I'll do my best to make things right tonight.
And I'll do what I can
I'll put in every effort to make tonight better.
To make everything right
I want to fix everything that's gone wrong.
At least for tonight
Even if it's just for tonight, let's make it better.
If you'll just take hold of my hand
All I'm asking is for you to hold my hand.
Press your lips against mine
Kiss me with your soft lips.
And I promise to find
I make a pledge to find...
A way out of the pain
... a way to ease the pain we feel.
Some place safe from the rain
... somewhere comfortable and peaceful, where we won't feel hurt.
If you'll just press your lips against mine
All it takes is one kiss from you.
I've lusted for love but lust is so blind
In the past, I've yearned for love, but it's difficult to see through the haze of desire.
And trust for a heart is a hard thing to find
It's hard to find a trusting heart.
But what's left of yours might help to heal mine
But I'm hoping that what's left of your heart can help care for mine.
Come and lay here by me
Come here, and let's lie down together.
And I swear you will see
I assure you'll witness...
That the hurt from before
...that the previous pain we've felt is gone.
Don't live here no more
It doesn't exist here anymore.
If you'll just come and lay here by me
All I need is for you to lie down next to me.
Sha la la la la la
The melody has an upbeat tone.
If you'll just take hold of my hand
Once again, all I'm asking for is for you to hold my hand.
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: DWIGHT DAVID YOAKAM, R.J. RITCHIE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Susan
on Fast As You
Who is Sookie? I gotsta know!