Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, Cramer grew up in the small town of Huttig, Arkansas, teaching himself to play the piano. After finishing high school, he returned to Shreveport, where he worked as a pianist for the Louisiana Hayride radio show.
In 1952, he made his way to Nashville at a time when the use of piano accompanists in country music was growing in popularity. Before long, Cramer would become one of the busiest studio musicians in the industry, playing piano for stars such as Elvis Presley, Brenda Lee, Patsy Cline, The Browns, Jim Reeves, Roy Orbison, Don Gibson and the Everly Brothers, and many others. It is Cramer's piano that is heard, for example, on Presley's first national hit, "Heartbreak Hotel."
However, Cramer remained a virtual unknown to anyone but music industry insiders until he recorded a 45 rpm single in 1960 called "Last Date." An instrumental, the music exhibited a relatively new concept for piano playing known as the "slip note" style. The record went to Number two on the Billboard Hot 100 pop music chart. By the mid-1960s, Cramer had become a respected performer, making numerous record albums and touring with guitar maestro Chet Atkins and saxophonist Boots Randolph.
Floyd Cramer died of lung cancer in 1997 at the age of 64 and was interred in the Spring Hill Cemetery in the Nashville suburb of Madison, Tennessee.
In 2003, he was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee offers the "Floyd Cramer Competitive Scholarship."
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
Floyd Cramer Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is whining low
I'm so lonesome I could cry
I've never seen a night so long
When time goes crawling by
The moon just went behind a cloud
Did you ever see a Robin weep
When leaves begin to die?
That means he's lost his will to live
I'm so lonesome I could cry
The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky
And as I wonder where you are
I'm so lonesome I could cry
I'm so lonesome I could cry
The lyrics to Floyd Cramer's song, "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," express the singer's profound sense of isolation and grief. The opening stanza describes the plaintive cry of a whippoorwill, a bird traditionally associated with loneliness and sadness. The bird sounds "too blue to fly," suggesting that even nature itself is affected by the singer's sadness. The second line of the stanza introduces another sound, the "whining low" of a midnight train. This emphasizes the silence and emptiness of the night, as well as the singer's feeling of being left behind.
The second stanza highlights the torturous nature of the singer's loneliness. The night seems endless, and time moves slowly. The moon going behind a cloud and "crying" suggests a parallel between the singer's tears and those of the natural world. The third stanza introduces the image of a weeping robin, suggesting that the singer's loneliness is so profound that it affects even the birds. The line, "That means he's lost his will to live," highlights the connection between isolation and hopelessness.
The final stanza describes the beauty of a falling star lighting up a purple sky, but rather than feeling comforted, the singer's wandering thoughts only intensify their loneliness. The final line repeats the refrain, emphasizing the depth of the singer's despair.
Line by Line Meaning
Hear that lonesome whippoorwill?
Do you hear that sad bird singing?
He sounds too blue to fly
He sounds so sad he can't even bring himself to fly.
The midnight train is whining low
The train whistle is echoing sadness and loneliness.
I'm so lonesome I could cry
I feel so lonely that tears could come out.
I've never seen a night so long
This night seems to be dragging on forever and ever.
When time goes crawling by
Time seems to be moving so slowly, it's almost stopped.
The moon just went behind a cloud
Even the moon is hiding its face from this overwhelming sadness.
To hide its face and cry
The moon is so overcome with emotion, it is crying too.
Did you ever see a Robin weep
Have you ever seen a bird cry?
When leaves begin to die?
It is a sign of the approaching end, when everything is dying.
That means he's lost his will to live
The sadness is so much that he doesn't care to live anymore.
I'm so lonesome I could cry
The sadness is taking over, it feels impossible to avoid tears.
The silence of a falling star
When a shooting star falls, it's like the world stops moving.
Lights up a purple sky
Even when everything is dark around us, there is still some beauty left.
And as I wonder where you are
As I think about where you could be and what you're doing.
I'm so lonesome I could cry
This loneliness is overwhelming, tears are inevitable.
Contributed by Isabella J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.