Hart charted singles from 1953 to 1987, and later became a gospel singer. He performed at music festivals and other venues until he died.
Hart was born to a sharecropper family in Loachapoka, Alabama, in 1926 and spent his childhood in nearby Phenix City, Alabama, along with his 11 siblings (Nadine, Bo, Junior, Olin, Marrell, Pearl, Lonnie, Sandra, Gail, J.P., Harold, and a child who died in infancy). He learned to play guitar at age 5 and quit school by age 12. At age 15, Hart lied about his age to join the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II, seeing combat action on Guam and Iwo Jima. Following the war, Hart lived in California where he taught classes in self-defense at the Los Angeles Police Academy.
Hart got an early career break when singer Carl Smith covered Hart's song "Loose Talk" in 1955. Other artists who recorded his songs included Patsy Cline ("Lovin' In Vain"), George Jones ("My Tears are Overdue") and Porter Wagoner ("Skid Row Joe").
During the early 1950s, Hart and his family moved to California to further the growing country music scene there. In 1951, he joined Lefty Frizzell's band for a year. It was through Frizzell that Hart got his first recording contract with Capitol Records in 1953. He released several singles including his version of "Loose Talk", but none of these were successful. In 1958, Hart signed with Columbia Records and scored his first chart hit with "The Wall" in 1959 which made the Top 20. His biggest hit for the label was the 1960 Top 20 hit "The Key's In The Mailbox".
In 1965, Hart signed with Kapp Records where he would score several Top 40 hits between 1965 and 1968. The biggest of these hits included "Hank Williams' Guitar" (1965), "Born A Fool" (1968) and "Togetherness" (1968).
In 1969, Hart re-signed with Capitol Records and soon became a part of the Bakersfield sound by signing up with Buck Owens' songwriting and management company. In early 1970, he scored a Top 30 hit with "The Whole World's Holdin' Hands". Hart's song "Togetherness", a hit for him in 1968, became a Top 15 hit for Buck Owens and Susan Raye that summer. Hart would score several minor hits during the year.
In 1971, Hart released a song that he wrote called "Easy Loving" which was first recorded in the summer of 1969 for his album California Grapevine, released in 1970. Released in the summer of 1971, "Easy Loving" rapidly began climbing the charts; and by that September, it was No. 1 for three weeks on the country charts and reached No. 17 on the pop charts. It was also played on adult contemporary stations, earning a position on Billboard's Easy Listening survey. The song would ultimately win Hart numerous awards from both the Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association. The song sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold record by the R.I.A.A. in November 1971. The album of the same name also reportedly went gold. The song also won a Grammy Award for Hart.
From this success, Hart and his backup band, the Heartbeats, had a string of Top 5 hits with "My Hang-Up Is You" (six weeks at No. 1 in 1972), "Bless Your Heart" (No. 1 in 1972), "Got the All Overs For You (All Over Me)" (No. 1 in 1972), "If You Can't Feel It (It Ain't There)" (1973), "Super Kind of Woman" (No. 1 in 1973), "Trip to Heaven" (No. 1 in 1973), "Hang In There Girl" (1974), "The Want-To's" (1974), "My Woman's Man" (1975), "The First Time" (1975), "I'd Like To Sleep Till I Get Over You" (1975) and "The Warm Side of You" (1975). He has been called by many fans as "The Heart and Soul of Country Music".[citation needed]
With the success of "Easy Loving" and other songs he wrote, plus a popular concert attraction on the road, Hart became independently wealthy and owned a songwriting company, a school for the blind, a trucking company, and a chain of martial arts studios—his hobby was as a master of karate.
By 1976, Hart continued to have major hits although now his streak of Top 10s were replaced by a streak of Top 20 and Top 30 hits. These included "You Are The Song Inside Of Me" (1976), "That Look In Her Eyes" (1976), "Thank God She's Mine" (1977), "The Pleasure's Been All Mine" (1977), "Toe to Toe" (1978), and "Wasn't It Easy Baby" (1979). His last Top 10 hit came with the hit "Why Lovers Turn to Strangers" in 1977, which peaked at No. 8. This song was written by east Idaho based composer Bobby Fender.
In 1980, Hart signed with Sunbird Records, and immediately scored a Top 20 hit with "Sure Thing" that year. He followed this up with 3 Top 40 hits in 1981. This ended his days as a major country artist. In 1985 and 1987, he had a couple of minor hits on El Dorado and 5th Avenue Records, with his last hit being "The Best Love I Never Had" in 1987 peaking at No. 77.
In 2001, Hart was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame[4] A few years later, Phenix City declared a major east-west street Freddie Hart Parkway in his honor.
Hart released a handful of new albums on CD, showcasing his passion for gospel music, patriotism and the traditional country sound that originally made him famous. These albums prompted him to selectively tour and perform concerts around the world. Hart retains a large following in Europe and the U.S., where he continued to perform at music festivals, universities, churches and industry events.
Hart continued to write and record Gospel Music during the 2000's. He received numerous awards and had several number one songs in the Gospel field. In 2004 he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriter's Hall Of Fame. In 2017 he performed in Pigeon Forge Tennessee and received the Hall Of Fame award from the North American Country Music Associations International. In March of 2018 he performed for the last time on the Ernest Tubb Midnite Jamboree as a special guest to David Frizzell. Hart sang a new song he had written and just recorded about Lefty Frizzell, titled simply "Lefty". In April 2018 Hart recorded his final album titled "God Bless You". The project, produced by David Frizzell, contains 11 newly written Gospel songs and a remake of his signature song "Easy Loving". The album is set to be released in late 2018.
Hart died as a result of pneumonia on October 27, 2018 in Burbank, California.
The Wall
Freddie Hart Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Was a friend of mine who spent his time
Just staring at the wall staring at wall
In his hand was a note that his gal had wrote and it proves that crime don't pay
Was the very same gal he robbed and stole
For name in her wedding day for name in her wedding day
Nobody at all ever climbed that wall
But I'm gonna be the first I'm gonna be the first
The warden walked by and said son don't try I would hate to see you fall
There ain't no doubt they will carry you out
If you ever touch that wall if you ever touch that wall
The years gone by since he made his try but I can still recall
How hard he tried and the way he died
But he never made that wall he never made that wall
There's never been a man ever shook this can but I know a man who tried
The newspapers called it a jailbreak plan
But I know it was suicide I know it was suicide
Freddie Hart's song "The Wall" tells the story of a man who is in prison and has been staring at the wall for a long time. The singer of the song, who seems to be a fellow inmate and friend of this man, tells us that this man has a note in his hand that his girlfriend wrote. The note shows that the man had committed a crime against his girlfriend and stolen something from her, presumably for the engagement or wedding. Furthermore, the song says that there are a lot of strange men in the prison, but this man is the strangest of them all because he spends his time staring at the wall, as if it held the key to his freedom.
The man declares that he will be the first person to climb the prison wall and escape, but the warden warns him not to try, saying that he "would hate to see him fall." Despite the warning, the man makes his attempt, but dies in the process. The song tells us that he was the only one who ever tried to escape the prison, and this attempt was a fatal case of suicide.
The song's powerful lyrics and country-style melody convey a compelling and sad story about the struggle for freedom and the consequences of our actions. It suggests that a life of crime and longing for freedom is ultimately a futile endeavor. The wall, which is frequently referenced throughout the song, acts as a metaphor for the impossibility of escape, both physically and mentally.
Line by Line Meaning
There's a lot of strange men in cell Block 10 but the strangest of them all
The singer is referring to a prison block with a lot of strange men but one of them stands out as the strangest.
Was a friend of mine who spent his time
The singer is saying the strangest man in the prison was a friend of his who spent his time staring at the wall.
Just staring at the wall staring at wall
The singer is emphasizing how the man spent his time in prison by repeating the phrase 'staring at the wall'.
In his hand was a note that his gal had wrote and it proves that crime don't pay
The man had a note from his girlfriend that proved crime doesn't pay, as she was the same person he had robbed on her wedding day.
Was the very same gal he robbed and stole
The artist is revealing that the note in the man's hand was from the same girl he had robbed and stolen from on her wedding day.
For name in her wedding day for name in her wedding day
The singer is repeating a phrase from the note, possibly to emphasize its significance or to remember it better.
As he looked at the wall so strong and tall I could hear him softly curse
The man cursed softly as he looked at the strong and tall wall in the prison.
Nobody at all ever climbed that wall
The artist is saying that nobody has ever climbed the prison wall before.
But I'm gonna be the first I'm gonna be the first
The man is expressing his determination to be the first person to climb the prison wall.
The warden walked by and said son don't try I would hate to see you fall
The warden warned the man not to try and climb the wall as he didn't want to see him get hurt or worse, fall to his death.
There ain't no doubt they will carry you out
The singer is warning the man that if he attempts to climb the wall and fails, they will have to carry him out of the prison.
If you ever touch that wall if you ever touch that wall
The warden repeats the warning about touching the wall, showing that he is serious and wants to prevent any harm.
The years gone by since he made his try but I can still recall
The singer is saying that years have passed since the man attempted to climb the wall, but he still remembers it clearly.
How hard he tried and the way he died
The singer remembers how hard the man tried to climb the wall and also how he died trying.
But he never made that wall he never made that wall
Despite his determination, the man was never able to climb the wall before his death.
There's never been a man ever shook this can but I know a man who tried
The artist is saying that nobody has ever shaken the prison and escaped, but he knows one man who attempted to do so.
The newspapers called it a jailbreak plan
The artist is saying that the newspapers called the man's attempt to climb the wall a 'jailbreak plan'.
But I know it was suicide I know it was suicide
The singer believes that the man's attempt to climb the wall was really a suicide attempt, rather than an escape plan.
Lyrics © LEGACY OF HARLAN PERRY HOWARD, LLC
Written by: Don Bowman, Harlan Howard
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Daniel Burns
this song went to #24 on the country charts in 1959!!!
Shannon Burns
Any relation to my Late Shannon Burns? She left this Earth and took my heart with her. I will love you for eternity Shannon. Your Dennis.
Shannon Burns
Frederick Segrest a prolic songwriter and a decent singer. He wrote almost every song he ever sung. Including this one, under his stage name Freddie Hart.
buford1st
One note, though. I think ol’ Harlan wrote this. You are not incorrect, however.
Donna Robarts
Brings back memories of real country music
Bernd Weber
What a fantastic record-country pure
Bernd Weber
Feddie hart,the heart of country music.
Jimmie Allen
Thanks Ya'll much appreciated. Brings back some fine memories.
BugsWisely
I wanna hear the 6 string guitar one
Twang Train
👍🎶❤️🇺🇸