Garland Perry "Hank" Cochran (August 2, 1935 – July 15, 2010) was an Americ… Read Full Bio ↴Garland Perry "Hank" Cochran (August 2, 1935 – July 15, 2010) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Starting during the 1960s, Cochran was a prolific songwriter in the genre, including major hits by Patsy Cline, Ray Price, Eddy Arnold and others. Cochran was also a recording artist between 1962 and 1980, scoring seven times on the Billboard country music charts, with his greatest solo success being the No. 20 "Sally Was a Good Old Girl." In 2014, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Born during the Great Depression in Isola, Mississippi, he contracted pneumonia, whooping cough, measles, and mumps all about the same time at age 2. The doctor didn't believe that he would survive. His parents divorced when he was 9 years old. He relocated with his father to Memphis, Tennessee, but then was put into an orphanage. He was sent to live with his grandparents, in Greenville, Mississippi, after he had run away from the orphanage twice. His uncle Otis Cochran taught him how to play the guitar as the pair hitchhiked from Mississippi to southeastern New Mexico to work in the oilfields. After returning to Mississippi in his teens, he went to California and picked olives. While there he formed The Cochran Brothers, a duo with un-related Eddie Cochran.

Aged 24 he hitchhiked for Hollywood, but ended up going to Nashville in 1960, and teamed with Harlan Howard to write the song "I Fall to Pieces." It became a major success for Patsy Cline (recorded November 16, 1960), reaching No. 1 on the Billboard country music charts and No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 (chart for all music categories). Cline also recorded Cochran's "She's Got You" (recorded December 17, 1961, it was another major hit, No. 1 on the country charts and No. 14 on the Hot 100), and "Why Can't He Be You" (recorded September 5, 1962).

In 1960, he was on a date at a movie theater when the film inspired him. He left the theater quickly, and by the time he got home fifteen minutes later had composed "Make the World Go Away." Ray Price recorded the song, and it scored No. 2 on the Billboard country charts in 1963. The next year Eddy Arnold would make the song his signature hit, scoring No. 1 on the country music charts and then in 1965 No. 6 on the overall Billboard Hot 100 charts (his highest rated song ever). Arnold would also record the song "I Want to Go with You".

Cochran wrote several successful songs sung by Burl Ives ("A Little Bitty Tear", "It's Just My Funny Way of Laughin'", "The Same Old Hurt"). He also wrote songs for George Strait ("The Chair" with Dean Dillon and "Ocean Front Property" with Dillon and Royce Porter), Merle Haggard ("It's Not Love (But It's Not Bad)"), "Don't You Ever Get Tired (of Hurting Me)", a No. 1 scoring record for Ronnie Milsap, and Mickey Gilley ("That's All That Matters").

While working at publishing company Pamper Music, he used to spend nights performing in a Nashville tavern named Tootsie's Orchid Lounge. There he took notice of a new performer whose talent left Cochran amazed. He encouraged management to contract the young songwriter, Willie Nelson, giving Nelson a raise that was owed to him at the time.

Two of his fondest memories were working with Natalie Cole (among other artists) on a 2003 tribute album to Patsy Cline (Remembering Patsy Cline), because of his love for her father Nat King Cole, and his collaboration with Vern Gosdin for the 1988 album Chiseled in Stone (Gosdin's highest rated album at No. 7).

In 2008, he let singer Lea Anne Creswell come to his home and choose an album's worth of songs, which the artist released with the album title Lea Anne Sings Hank Cochran and ....

Cochran was married five times, Jeannie Seely was his fourth bride, and Suzi his fifth, from 1982.

He died on July 15, 2010, age 74.

In October 2012, singer Jamey Johnson released Living for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran, which features his renditions of sixteen songs that Cochran wrote.

Awards and honors include:

1967: Walkway of Stars – Country Music Association
1974: Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
2003: Mississippi Music Hall of Fame
2014: Country Music Hall of Fame inductee

Artist recordings
Notable artists who have recorded his songs include:

Eddy Arnold
Patsy Cline
Waylon Jennings
Natalie Cole
Elvis Costello
Bing Crosby
Ella Fitzgerald
Mickey Gilley
Vern Gosdin
Merle Haggard
Emmylou Harris
Rebecca Lynn Howard
Burl Ives
Jamey Johnson
George Jones
Norah Jones
Loretta Lynn
Henry Mancini
Dean Martin
Reba McEntire
Ronnie Milsap
Brad Paisley
Johnny Paycheck
Elvis Presley
Ray Price
Jim Reeves
Linda Ronstadt
Dinah Shore
Nancy Sinatra
George Strait
Hank Williams Jr
Lee Ann Womack
Richard Thompson
Keith Whitley

Discography

Albums
Year Album US Country Label
1965 Hits from the Heart — RCA
Going on Training —
1968 The Heart of Hank 41 Monument
1978 With a Little Help from My Friends — Capitol
1980 Make the World Go Away — Elektra

Singles
Year Single Peak chart positions Album
US Country
1962 "Sally Was a Good Old Girl" 20 Going on Training
"I'd Fight the World" 23 Hits from the Heart
1963 "A Good Country Song" 25 single only
1967 "All of Me Belongs to You" 70 The Heart of Hank
1978 "Willie" 91 With a Little Help from My Friends
"Ain't Life Hell" (with Willie Nelson) 77
1980 "A Little Bitty Tear" (with Willie Nelson) 57 Make the World Go Away

I'm Ready
Hank Cochran Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Well, I'm ready, I'm willin', and I'm able to rock and roll all night
I'm ready, I'm willin', and I'm able to rock and roll all night
Come on, pretty baby, we gonna rock, we gonna roll until the broad daylight

Because I'm ready
And I'm able
I'm willin' and I'm able
So you better come and go with me

We gonna rock and roll till tomorrow `bout three

Talkin' on the phone is not my speed
Don't send me no letter `cause I can't read
Don't be long `cause I'll be gone
We gonna rock and roll all night long

`Cause I'm ready, I'm willin', and I'm able to rock and roll all night
I'm ready, I'm willin', and I'm able to rock and roll all night
Come on, pretty baby, we gonna rock, we gonna roll until tomorrow night

Talkin' on the phone is not my speed
Don't send me no letter `cause I can't read
Don't be long `cause I'll be gone
We gonna rock and roll all night long

`Cause I'm ready, I'm willin', and I'm able to rock and roll all night

I'm ready, I'm willin', and I'm able to rock and roll all night
Come on, pretty baby, we gonna rock, we gonna roll until tomorrow night

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Hank Cochran's song "I'm Ready" are fairly straightforward and easy to understand. The song is about a man who is eager to live in the moment and experience all that life has to offer. He is ready and willing to rock and roll all night long and is inviting his partner to join him.

The song touches on themes of spontaneity and living in the present. The singer of the song is not interested in talking on the phone or receiving letters because those things do not allow him to live in the moment. He is urging his partner to join him in living life to the fullest and enjoying the simple pleasures of rock and roll.

While the lyrics may not be particularly deep or complex, they capture a feeling that is universal and timeless. The song is an anthem to youthful exuberance and the joys of living in the moment.

I'm ReadyHank Cochran Lyrics

I'm Ready
Hank Cochran Lyrics