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 Me
Dwight Yoakam Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
(Kelly)
Take me, take me to your darkest room
Close every window and bolt every door
The very first moment I heard your voice
I'd be in darkness no more.
Take me to your most barren desert
A thousand miles from the nearest sea
The very, very moment I saw your smile
It'll be just like heaven to me.
B: There's not any mountain to rugged to climb
D; No desert too barren to cross
B: Darlin', if you would just show a sign
D: Of love, I could bear with all loss.
Take me to Siberia
The coldest weather of the winter time
It would be just like spring in California
As long as I knew you were mine.
(Both)
It would be just like spring in California
As long as I knew you were mine
Take me, take me...
The lyrics of "Take Me" by Dwight Yoakam and Kelly Willis speaks about the incredible power of love in overcoming any obstacle. The song begins with Kelly's verse, where she sings of wanting to be taken to the darkest, most private room and sealed off from the world. She says that just hearing her love interest's voice would end her darkness. Dwight Yoakam's verse takes a different approach; he talks about being taken by his love interest to the most unforgiving desert, miles from civilization, but her smile would bring him joy beyond measure.
The bridge of the song emphasizes the lengths to which the singer is prepared to go for love. He/she believes that no mountain is too high to climb and no desert too barren to cross. As long as there's a sign of love, they can bear all the world's loss.
The song ends with both singers collectively declaring that with this love in their lives, even the bitter winter winds of Siberia would feel like the gentle warmth of California's springtime.
Overall, "Take Me" is a song about the unmeasurable joy and hope that comes with love. It speaks of the power of love to overcome any darkness or hardship and the lengths that one will go to for the sake of it.
Line by Line Meaning
Take me, take me to your darkest room
Take me to the place where you hide your deepest, darkest secrets and desires.
Close every window and bolt every door
Shut out the rest of the world and let me in, so I can be completely yours.
The very first moment I heard your voice
From the very first moment I heard your voice, I knew I wanted to be with you.
I'd be in darkness no more.
Your presence has the power to lift me out of my darkest moments and bring light into my life.
Take me to your most barren desert
Take me to the place where no one else can survive, and let us make it our own oasis.
A thousand miles from the nearest sea
Distance means nothing as long as we have each other.
The very, very moment I saw your smile
As soon as I saw your smile, I knew I was going to be happy as long as I have you in my life.
It'll be just like heaven to me.
Being with you feels like heaven, and nothing else can compare.
There's not any mountain to rugged to climb
I am willing to face any challenges or obstacles as long as I have you by my side.
No desert too barren to cross
No matter how difficult the journey, I am willing to overcome it as long as you are with me.
Darlin', if you would just show a sign
If you would just give me a sign that you love me, I would do anything to be with you.
Of love, I could bear with all loss.
Love is worth any sacrifices or hardships that come along the way.
Take me to Siberia
Take me to a place that is known to be one of the coldest places in the world.
The coldest weather of the winter time
Even in the harshest conditions, I am willing to be with you.
It would be just like spring in California
Being with you makes everything feel warm and inviting, even in the coldest of places.
As long as I knew you were mine.
As long as I have you by my side, nothing else matters.
It would be just like spring in California
Even in the dreariest of places, being with you brings new life and energy.
As long as I knew you were mine.
As long as I have you with me, I am happy and fulfilled.
Take me, take me...
I am willing to go anywhere and do anything as long as I have you.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: GEORGE JONES, LEON PAYNE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@HTJB60
WOW, it's not often the Female vocal's are stronger than the male's..... LOVE IT.
@jaimeacosta233
Man, couldn't pick a better two singers two cover a great song. Fantastic !
@tylergavin8219
Love his twang voice
@roberthanson7528
Sure wish they would have done more duets!
@charlene5413
Two of my favorite singers. Kevin Welch and Jelly Willis recorded a song years ago. The name of song is THAT’LL BE ME! It is one of my very favorite songs
@debbiemathis1119
Love this version
@francesmoore5789
This is beautifully sung.
@gaillavoie2626
Awesome song
@WilliamHunterII
Well, look what I found! This is wonderful. Thanks for the upload.
@tammyfincham7350
My 2 favorite singers...WOW