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.
Tears For Two
Dwight Yoakam Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To be what I could use
And caught me tempting fate
Still red handed and confused
Pride has sent me where
There's not much left to lose
Then cruelly let me care
[Chorus]
About you
As if there was one small chance
to be through
With everything I can't
So even if this worn-out heart was new
And all it's foolish hopes were true
This one lifetime just won't do
'Cause I cried enough tears for two
Dreamin' only served
To take my restless sleep
Steeling comfort from these eyes
So desperate for relief
Fueled by empty promises
They never meant to keep
Leaving me with nothing more
Than endless years to weep
[Chorus]
In the song "Tears For Two" by Dwight Yoakam, the lyrics explore the theme of regret and lost love. The first verse depicts the singer's realization that they have missed out on something valuable - luck - which could have been used to their advantage. It is as though the singer is recognizing that they have made poor choices in the past, with their lucky break coming too late. The use of the phrase "red handed" adds to the sense of guilt and wrongdoing on the singer's part. The second verse continues with the theme of loss and despair, as pride has caused the singer to lose much of what they once had. However, the singer cannot help but care deeply for the person they have lost and longs to be with them again.
The chorus reveals the singer's desperation to be reunited with their lost love, even if it is only a small chance. The singer is aware of the foolishness of their hope, acknowledging that even if they got everything they wished for, it would not be enough: "this one lifetime just won't do". The final line of the chorus, "I cried enough tears for two", emphasizes the depth of the singer's heartbreak and the magnitude of their desire to be reunited with their love. The last verse speaks to the singer's inability to escape their pain and the sense of betrayal they feel from broken promises. The years of tears the singer has shed for their lost love have left them with little solace, making it difficult for them to move on.
Line by Line Meaning
Luck found me too late
I had no luck when I could have used it the most
To be what I could use
I couldn't be what I needed to be, even though I wanted to
And caught me tempting fate
I got caught doing something risky
Still red handed and confused
I was confused and didn't know what to do
Pride has sent me where
My pride led me to a place
There's not much left to lose
Where there wasn't much left for me to lose
Then cruelly let me care
And then made me care even though it was cruel
And convinced me I could choose
And made me believe I had a choice
[Chorus]
The chorus talks about how the singer cried enough tears for two people because of his unrequited love.
About you
About the person he's in love with
As if there was one small chance
As if there was even a tiny chance that they could be together
to be through
To be done with everything
With everything I can't
With everything he's unable to do because of his love for this person
So even if this worn-out heart was new
Even if his heart was brand new and he had no past experiences
And all its foolish hopes were true
And all of his unrealistic hopes actually came true
This one lifetime just won't do
There isn't enough time in one lifetime to fulfill all of his desires and wishes
'Cause I cried enough tears for two
Because he has cried so much over this person that it's like he's crying for two people instead of just himself.
Dreamin' only served
Dreaming only made things worse for him
To take my restless sleep
It kept him awake at night and made him restless
Steeling comfort from these eyes
It took away any kind of comfort from his eyes
So desperate for relief
He was so desperate to feel better
Fueled by empty promises
This desperation was fueled by empty promises
They never meant to keep
Promises that the other person never intended to keep
Leaving me with nothing more
Which left him with nothing but
Than endless years to weep
Years of crying over this person, with no end in sight.
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: DWIGHT DAVID YOAKAM, MARY HOLLADAY (HOLLY) LAMAR
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Susan
on Fast As You
Who is Sookie? I gotsta know!