Arnold was born on May 15, 1918 on a farm near Henderson, Tennessee. His father, a sharecropper, played the fiddle, while his mother played guitar. As a boy Arnold helped on the farm, which later gained him his nickname—the Tennessee Plowboy. Arnold attended Pinson High School in Pinson, Tennessee, where he played guitar for school functions and events. He quit before graduation to help with the farm work, but continued performing, often arriving on a mule with his guitar hung on his back. Arnold also worked part-time as an assistant at a mortuary.
In 1934, at age 16, Arnold debuted musically on WTJS-AM in Jackson, Tennessee and obtained a job there during 1937. He performed at local nightclubs and was a permanent performer for the station. During 1938, he was hired by WMPS-AM in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was one of its most popular performers. He soon quit for KWK-AM in St. Louis, Missouri, followed by a brief stint at WHAS-AM in Louisville, Kentucky.
He performed for WSM-AM on the Grand Ole Opry during 1943 as a solo artist. In 1944, Arnold signed a contract with RCA Victor, with manager Colonel Tom Parker, who later managed Elvis Presley. Arnold's first single was little noticed, but the next, "Each Minute Seems a Million Years", scored No. 5 on the country charts during 1945. Its success began a decade of unprecedented chart performance; Arnold's next 57 singles all scored the Top Ten, including 19 number one scoring successes.
In 1946, Arnold scored his first major success with "That's How Much I Love You". In 1948, he had five successful songs on the charts simultaneously. That year he had nine songs score the top 10; five of these scored No. 1 and scored No. 1 for 40 of the year's 52 weeks. With Parker's management, Arnold continued to dominate, with 13 of the 20 best-scoring country music songs of 1947–1948. He became the host of Mutual Radio's Purina-sponsored segment of the Opry and of Mutual’s Checkerboard Jamboree, a midday program shared with Ernest Tubb that was broadcast from a Nashville theater. Recorded radio programs increased Arnold’s popularity, as did the CBS Radio series Hometown Reunion with the Duke of Paducah. Arnold quit the Opry during 1948, and his Hometown Reunion briefly broadcasted in competition with the Opry on Saturday nights. In 1949 and 1950, he performed in the Columbia movies Feudin’ Rhythm and Hoedown.
Arnold began working for television in the early 1950s, hosting The Eddy Arnold Show. The summer program was broadcast successively by all three television networks, replacing the Perry Como and Dinah Shore programs. He also performed as a guest and a guest host on the ABC-TV show Ozark Jubilee from 1955–60. Arnold featured in the syndicated Eddy Arnold Time from 1955 to 1957. From 1960 to 1961, he hosted NBC-TV's Today on the Farm.
With the rise of rock and roll in the 1950s, Arnold's record sales declined, though he and fellow RCA Victor recording artist Jim Reeves had a greater audience with popular-sounding string-laced arrangements. Arnold annoyed many people of the country music establishment by recording with the Hugo Winterhalter Orchestra at RCA's studios in New York. The pop-oriented arrangements of "The Cattle Call" and "The Richest Man (in the World)", however, helped to expand his appeal beyond its country music base. This style, pioneered by Reeves and Arnold, became known as the "Nashville Sound". During 1953, Arnold and Tom Parker had a dispute, and Arnold dismissed him. From 1954 to 1963, Arnold's performances were managed by Joe Csida; during 1964 Csida was replaced by Jerry Purcell.
Arnold embarked on a second career that brought his music to a more diverse audience. In the summer of 1965, he had his first Number One country song in ten years, What's He Doing in My World and struck gold again six months later with the song that would become his most well-known Make the World Go Away accompanied by pianist Floyd Cramer on piano and featuring the Anita Kerr Singers. As a result, Arnold's rendition became an international success.
Bill Walker's orchestra arrangements provided the lush background for 16 continuous successes sung by Arnold in the late 1960s. Arnold performed with symphony orchestras in New York City, Las Vegas and Hollywood. He performed in Carnegie Hall for two concerts, and in the Coconut Grove in Las Vegas.[9] During 1966, Arnold was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the youngest performer to receive the honor. The following year Arnold was voted the first-ever awarded Country Music Association's Entertainer Of The Year. Two years later, Arnold released an autobiography named It's A Long Way From Chester County.
Having been with RCA Victor since his debut during 1944, Arnold left the company in 1973 for MGM Records, for which he recorded four albums, which included several top 40 successes. He returned to RCA in 1976.
During the 1980s, Arnold declared himself semi-retired; however, he continued recording. In 1984, the Academy of Country Music awarded Arnold its Pioneer Award. His next album, You Don't Miss A Thing wasn't released until 1991. Arnold performed road tours for several more years. By 1992, he had sold nearly 85 million records, and had a total of 145 weeks of No. 1 songs, more than any other singer.
In 1996, RCA issued an album of Arnold's main successes since 1944 as part of its 'Essential' series. Arnold, then 76 years old, retired from active singing, though he still performed occasionally. On May 16, 1999, the day after his 81st birthday, he announced his final retirement during a concert at the Hotel Orleans in Las Vegas. That same year, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences inducted the recording of "Make The World Go Away" into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2000, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. In 2005, Arnold received a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy, and later that year, released a final album for RCA entitled After All These Years.
Eddy Arnold died from natural causes at 5:00 a.m. Central Time on May 8, 2008 in a nursing home in Nashville, exactly one week before his 90th birthday. His wife of 66 years, Sally Gayhart Arnold, had preceded him in death by two months. They were survived by two children (Richard E. Arnold, Jr., and JoAnn Arnold Pollard), two grandchildren (K. Michelle Pollard and R. Shannon Pollard, Jr.), and four great-grandchildren (Katie E. Pollard, Sophie Pollard, Rowan Pollard and Ben Johns).
On May 31, 2008, RCA released "To Life", as a single from the album After All These Years. It debuted at No. 49 on the Hot Country Songs charts, Arnold's first entry in 25 years and the recording by the oldest person to chart in Billboard magazine. It set the record for the longest span between a first chart single and a last: 62 years and 11 months ("Each Minute Seems Like a Million Years" debuted on June 30, 1945), and extended Arnold's career chart history to seven decades.
I Really Don't Want To Know
Eddy Arnold Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
How many, how many I wonder, but I really don't want to know
How many lips have kissed you and set your soul aglow
How many, how many I wonder, but I really don't want to know
So always make me wonder, always make me guess
And even if I ask you darling, don't confess
Just let it remain me your secret, but darling, I love you so
The lyrics of Eddy Arnold's song "I Really Don't Want to Know" reflect the singer's fear of knowing the details of his lover's past romantic experiences. The singer is haunted by thoughts of how many other people have held and kissed his lover, but he ultimately decides that he does not want to know the answers to these questions. He prefers to live in the present moment of his relationship with his lover and maintain the illusion that he is the only one who has ever truly loved her. The phrase "always make me wonder, always make me guess" summarizes the singer's desire to remain blissfully ignorant of his lover's past and focus on their current bond.
The song's refrain, "I really don't want to know," underscores the tension between the singer's curiosity about his lover's past and his fear that the truth will undermine his feelings of love and security. The fact that he repeats this phrase four times in the song suggests that his anxieties are persistent and powerful. The final lyrics, "No wonder, no wonder, I wonder, no, I really don't want to know," add a note of ambiguity to the singer's thoughts. He acknowledges that he is still curious about his lover's past, but he is too afraid to pursue the answers. This creates a sense of unresolved tension in the song, as the singer's fears and desires remain unresolved.
Line by Line Meaning
How many arms have held you and hated to let you go
I'm curious to know how many people have loved you, but the thought of someone else holding you makes me feel jealous and uncomfortable, so I'd rather not know.
How many lips have kissed you and set your soul aglow
I wonder how many people have kissed you and made you feel amazing, but the thought of someone else giving you pleasure makes me feel possessive and uneasy, so I don't really want to find out.
So always make me wonder, always make me guess
I like the mystery of not fully knowing your past and your experiences, so please don't give me too much information and keep me guessing.
And even if I ask you darling, don't confess
Even if I ask you directly, please don't tell me the truth about your past lovers, because I might not be able to handle it emotionally.
Just let it remain me your secret, but darling, I love you so
I want your past to be a secret between us, but please know that I still love you deeply and completely, regardless of what happened before we met.
No wonder, no wonder, I wonder, no, I really don't want to know
My curiosity about your past makes me wonder, but I honestly don't want to know too many details, because it might upset me and damage our relationship.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Howard Barnes, Don Robertson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Barry Fong
Eddy's soulful n sincere rendition of this tune really touches me deep inside the core of my very being.
Ed Sauer
there isn't a better singer than this great man!! the great Eddy Arnold!From the first time I heard him I was moved and fond of this great singer!!Love him greatly.
Philip Kaplan
oh my God I never knew these two did this together! This was beautiful and a true hidden gem
Leslie KH See
In fact Eddy Arnold and Skeeter Davis had never done them together but separately in 1954 & 1961 respectively.
Natasha
This was released in a album of Skeeter Davis called "Here's the answer" where many great country legends songs were taken and songs were written to them as if she is answering them in exactly the same tune but lyrics changed to answer to the original songs and I guess released in 1961....
Philip Kaplan
@Natasha very cool info, thank you! Now I just need to interject this random piece of knowledge into my next cocktail party that I am never invited to and I'll be set! :D
Philip Kaplan
@Leslie KH See that somehow makes this more hauntingly beautiful.
Carl5383
I've often wondered how to best describe this music because it's its own sound but is a cross between Frank Sinatra and Hank Williams. Some of these vocalists are extraordinary because the songs become messages to the world, and the singers tell a vital story. Love these songs!
Deanna Sisson
As I've heard before, genre is just a separator. It's how the song makes you feel that is all that really matters. God bless the music, and God bless you, sir.
Deanna Sisson
It seems that it all came about in the late 1940's to the early '50's, pre-Elvis and Pat Boone. Doris Day and Peggy Lee were letting the public know women could sing too and the men had to just scoot over and let them do it. We always called it '40's/50's (if we called it anything at all, because nobody really had a name for it). But genre doesn't matter. It's all how it makes you feel. Some Hank Sr. will make me want to go for a walk, so people don't laugh, when I try to yodel too. Big Bands were getting smaller and more gigs for that reason. Gene Krupa had his own, whether it was a quartet or a sextet. Some years he was able to keep them together on the road, other years he had to take a break from being the boss and fold back into a Big Band. Band singers were becoming movie stars in those days and Dick Haymes once more replaced Frank Sinatra. Ernie Tubb, who they called the Texas Troubadour, had a new girl singer named Loretta Lynn, around that time. Beautiful kid that made you think of the young one that was taking the Country sound by storm with her comedy and the second incarnation of the Carter Family, with her sisters, Anita and Helen. Miss June Carter. It was a fun time, it was a glorious time, but genre? What would you call the music. Like William Wallace said in 'Braveheart'. I'd call it 'Freedom'!