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.
Partners
Eddy Arnold Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Two partners went in search of gold
As friendly as could be
One was young and one was old
And the gay young fool was me.
Since neighter one could write his name
To share the wealth and then shook hands
The hands that dug for gold.
The summer days were gone at last
And winter nights grew cold
The snow had trapped us in the pass
When we finally find the gold.
We took our fortune to the shack
To wait the winter through
But the food ran low so I killed my friend
What else there was to do.
I threw his body just outside
Into the bitter cold
Somehow I had to stay alive
I now had all the gold.
But the howling wind just seemed to say
You have killed a man
And you'll never get to spend the gold
With the blood upon your hands.
The cabin's covered now with snow
And shelves of food are bare
Satan's waitin' for me now
And I'm too cold to care.
Is that the devil at the door
Coming for my soul
Or is it just the old man
A looking for his gold?...
The lyrics to Eddy Arnold's song "Partners" tell the story of two men who set out to find gold together. One is young and foolish, and the other is old and wise. They both swear to share the wealth they find and shake hands to seal the deal. However, when winter comes and they find the gold they had been searching for, they become trapped in a snowstorm. As food runs low, the young man murders his friend and takes all the gold for himself. The guilt of his crime and the howling wind torment him, and in the end, he is left alone to face the consequences.
The song's lyrics are a reflection of the darker side of human nature and the consequences of greed and desperation. Although it tells a fictional story, the song is grounded in a sense of reality and the harsh realities of life.
Overall, "Partners" is a powerful and memorable song that uses vivid imagery to convey a stark message about the dangers of greed and the cost of taking risks.
Line by Line Meaning
Two partners went in search of gold
Two friends set out in search of gold
As friendly as could be
They were very good friends
One was young and one was old
One of the friends was young and the other was old
And the gay young fool was me.
The artist was the young fool
Since neither one could write his name
Both friends were illiterate
We swore upon our souls
They made a solemn oath to each other
To share the wealth and then shook hands
They agreed to split the wealth and then shook hands to seal the deal
The hands that dug for gold.
Their hands that worked together to find gold
The summer days were gone at last
Summer was over
And winter nights grew cold
Winter had set in and it was cold
The snow had trapped us in the pass
They were trapped by the snow in the mountain pass
When we finally find the gold.
They found the gold after being trapped in the snow
We took our fortune to the shack
They took the gold to their shelter
To wait the winter through
They planned to wait out the rest of the winter with the gold
But the food ran low so I killed my friend
When their food depleted, the singer murdered his friend
What else there was to do.
The artist had no other choice
I threw his body just outside
The artist disposed of his friend's body outside
Into the bitter cold
It was bitterly cold outside
Somehow I had to stay alive
The singer had to do what he could to survive
I now had all the gold.
The artist now had complete control of the gold
But the howling wind just seemed to say
The wind seemed to taunt the artist
You have killed a man
The artist was being reminded that he had committed murder
And you'll never get to spend the gold
The singer would never be able to enjoy or spend the gold
With the blood upon your hands.
The artist had blood on his hands due to the murder
The cabin's covered now with snow
The cabin was now covered in snow
And shelves of food are bare
There is no more food left
Satan's waitin' for me now
The singer feels that he will be punished by Satan
And I'm too cold to care.
The artist no longer cares about anything
Is that the devil at the door
The artist hears a strange noise and wonders if it's the devil
Coming for my soul
The singer believes the devil is coming to claim his soul
Or is it just the old man
The singer considers that it could be the ghost of the old man he killed
A looking for his gold?...
Perhaps the ghost of the old man is looking for the gold that they found
Contributed by Declan E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
bobby fraser
Great tune, EA has a great voice