Reynolds was a regular on the "oldies" circuit and a successful businessman in the U.S. Southwest. Beginning in the 1980s several compilations of his music were issued in the U.S. and Europe, and he enjoyed modest acclaim as a pioneer of rockabilly music.
In 1999 Reynolds was honored with both a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Palm Springs Walk of Stars and induction into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
Ralph Joseph Reynolds was born in Denver, Colorado, and was raised in the small town of Shady Grove, Oklahoma. Inspired by Western Swing and artists such as Bob Wills, Hank Thompson, and Eddy Arnold, who he heard on the radio, Reynolds took up guitar at age 14. He began playing rockabilly in Texas in the mid-1950s after hearing performers such as Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, and Roy Orbison.
While performing in San Diego, California, Reynolds met music publisher Herb Montel. Montel rejected several songs offered by Reynolds, but after hearing his composition "Endless Sleep", got him signed to Demon Records and began managing him.
Inspired by the haunting sound of Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel", Reynolds wrote "Endless Sleep" while in Yuma, Arizona for a gig, and played it onstage the same night. Though a proficient guitarist himself, the studio recording of the song featured Al Casey and Howard Roberts on guitars. It had been written solely by Reynolds, but Demon Records credited it to Reynolds and the fictitious "Dolores Nance", in order to make it appear to have been written by a 'professional' songwriting team. With spooky, reverb-laden vocals, "Endless Sleep" tells the story of a young man desperately searching for his girlfriend, who, after an argument, has flung herself into the ocean. The label persuaded a reluctant Reynolds to change the lyrics to give the song a happy ending.
The song reached the #5 position on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart on July 7, 1958, sold over one million copies, and inspired a trend of "teen tragedy" songs.[3] Reynolds performed on American Bandstand and other TV shows, and was featured on concert tours organized by the legendary disc jockey/promoter Alan Freed. "Endless Sleep" would later be covered by the Judds, John Fogerty, and Billy Idol; Marty Wilde had a major hit with it in England, and Hank Williams, Jr.'s version was a modest country music chart success.
Reynolds' self-penned follow up single, "Fire of Love", became a rock & roll classic years later, after being revived by the MC5 and the Gun Club, but only reached #66 on the Billboard chart when released in August 1958, and was his last song to reach the "Hot 100". As with "Endless Sleep", "Fire of Love" was given a fictitious co-writer — in this case, "Sonja Stordivant".
Reynolds recorded several more singles, both with Demon and other labels, including duets with Bobbie Gentry, two songs written by Marty Cooper and Lee Hazlewood, and two hot instrumentals released under the name "The Storms" (Reynolds' backing band). By the mid-1960s he had settled in Palm Springs, where he focused on raising a family and working as a realtor; however, he retained his lifelong love of music, writing and recording songs in a small home studio, occasionally performing in "oldies" shows, and opening a music store.
Col. Tom Parker, Elvis Presley's manager, signed Reynolds to his Boxcar Publishing Co., thinking Presley might be interested in some of his songs, though Presley died in 1977 before recording any of them. Reynolds included one of the songs he'd written for Presley, "Yesterday and Today", on a 1978 album.
Starting in the late 1970s, "Endless Sleep" and other of Reynolds' songs were re-released in Europe and America; the rockabilly revival beginning in the 1980s saw a further increase of interest in his music.
Reynolds died of liver cancer on November 7, 2008, in Palm Desert, California, at age 75. He was survived by Judy, his wife of 47 years, daughters Malinda and Marla, and son Mark.
The Girl from King Marie
Jody Reynolds Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I would take a walk to King Marie
There's a little meadow 'neath the mountain shadow
Where I would meet the girl from King Marie
How I love to hear her voice
Whispering that I'm her choice
How I love the girl from King Marie
She's as pretty as can be
How I love the girl from King Marie
Once upon a lonely, the sky was black and stormy
I was on my way to King Marie
This day of disaster, my heart was beating faster
I ran all the way to King Marie
There was a solitary tree
Standing in the meadow green
Where we would sit and pass the time away
Lightning flashed across the sky
and when I opened up my eyes
She was gone, the girl from King Marie
See the eagle flying, hear the wind is sighing
It's time to take a walk to King Marie
Two and twenty seasons, tell me what's the reason
That I still go down to King Marie
That I still go down to King Marie
How I miss the girl from King Marie
And how I love the girl from King Marie
The song "The Girl from King Marie" by Jody Reynolds is a story of love and loss. The singer describes how he would take walks to King Marie, where he would meet a girl he loves very much. He describes her as pretty and belonging only to him. However, one day, while sitting under a tree in a meadow during a storm, the girl disappears, leaving the singer alone and heartbroken. Despite this loss, he still returns to King Marie years later, reflecting on the memories he shared with the girl and how much he misses her.
The lyrics of this song capture the bittersweet pain of lost love. The singer's deep emotions are conveyed through his words, creating a vivid picture of the love story between him and the girl from King Marie. The imagery of the meadow and mountain shadow, as well as the stormy sky, adds depth and complexity to the song's themes of love, loss, and nostalgia. The repetition of the phrase "How I love the girl from King Marie" emphasizes the singer's feelings of deep longing for the girl and his inability to move on.
Line by Line Meaning
Early in the morning, when the sun is shining
Every morning, when the sun rises, I take a walk to King Marie
I would take a walk to King Marie
I frequently venture to King Marie
There's a little meadow 'neath the mountain shadow
A meadow exists near the shadow of the nearby mountain
Where I would meet the girl from King Marie
It's the place I would rendezvous with the girl from King Marie
How I love to hear her voice
I particularly treasure the sound of her voice
Whispering that I'm her choice
She whispers to me that I'm her chosen one
She's as pretty as can be
She is incomparably beautiful
She belongs to only me
She exclusively belongs to me
Once upon a lonely, the sky was black and stormy
Once upon a time when I was lonely, and the sky was dark and stormy
I was on my way to King Marie
I was en route to King Marie
This day of disaster, my heart was beating faster
This was a disastrous day, and my heart was racing
I ran all the way to King Marie
I ran rigorously towards King Marie
There was a solitary tree
A tree stood alone in the green meadow
Standing in the meadow green
It stood in the lush, green meadow
Where we would sit and pass the time away
It was the place we would sit and pass the hours doing nothing in particular
Lightning flashed across the sky
Suddenly, lightning lit up the sky
And when I opened up my eyes
When I regained my senses
She was gone, the girl from King Marie
The girl from King Marie had vanished
See the eagle flying, hear the wind is sighing
Observe the eagle soaring, and listen to the sound of the wind blowing
It's time to take a walk to King Marie
It's time for me to walk to King Marie again
Two and twenty seasons, tell me what's the reason
Twenty-two seasons have passed, yet I still go to King Marie
That I still go down to King Marie
I still frequently visit King Marie
How I miss the girl from King Marie
I yearn for the girl from King Marie
And how I love the girl from King Marie
I cherish the girl from King Marie
Contributed by James T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Jacob Ferguson
on Long Black Train
I think you need to play black train song by rudy thacker with the train video.