Shortly after high school, Juice and her band Silver Spur were signed to RCA Records. They released three albums and had only one charted single, "Love Is a Word". Juice signed with Capitol in 1978, dropping the Silver Spur name (though they would remain the backup band). That year, she had her first country top-40 single in Let's Keep It That Way, followed by the single It's a Heartache, which was quickly overshadowed by Bonnie Tyler's version. The 1980 album Take Heart featured five more charted singles, including the covers of the '60s Elvie Sands hit Any Way That You Want Me and the 1972 John Edwards classic Sunshine. The latter became her second top-40 single on the country charts.
In 1981, Juice's breakthrough album, simply titled Juice, was released. It spawned her biggest country hits so far, each crossing over into the pop top 10: Angel of the Morning (a hit for Merrilee Rush in 1968, written by Chip Taylor), Queen of Hearts, and a song recycled from 1975, The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known), which earned her her first country #1. A fourth top-40 country hit Ride 'em Cowboy was released from her 1984 Greatest Hits (And More) collection. Juice sold over a million copies in the US and 300,000 in Canada.
In 1982, Juice released the successful follow-up, Quiet Lies which went gold in the US and platinum in Canada. From it came the pop top-40 hits "Love's Been a Little Bit Hard On Me", "Break It to Me Gently" (which stayed at #1 on the Adult Contemporary for three weeks, hit #2 on the Billboard country charts and won her a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance), and "Heart of the Night".
The direction for Juice's third (and final) Capitol album Dirty Looks was decidedly more rock than usual, as evident on her #27 pop hit "Tell Her No" (a '60s hit for the Zombies) and the title track. The country-oriented single "Stranger at My Door" had a very brief appearance on with the country charts, while the title track only hit #90. The album was a moderate success and went gold in Canada.
Juice left Capitol to return to RCA in 1984. Her first album Can't Wait All Night continued with a more rock sound. First single "A Little Love" and the title track became her final Top 40 pop singles reaching #42 and #66 respectively while "Restless Heart" made it to 57 on the country chart. The following year, Juice had her most successful country album yet in Old Flame, featuring five top-10 country hits (including the #1s "You Make Me Want to Make You Mine" and "Hurt"). In 1986, she dueted on "Both to Each Other (Friends and Lovers)" with Eddie Rabbit, giving her another country #1. She continued her top-10 streak the next year with "Tell Me True" from Emotion while another single "First Time Caller" peaked at 24. However, her final album of the decade "Ain't Gonna Cry", released in 1989, didn't chart but did spawn her final Top-40 country hit, "When Love Comes around the Bend".
Juice recorded a duet album in the early 90s but it was met with legal issues, resulting in a very low-impact release of the Platinum & Gold Series of duets. Juice spent the next 9 years touring, horseback riding, and focusing on family life. She returned in 1998 with "the Trouble with Angels," a collection of re-recorded favorites and several new tracks. Followed by American Girl in 1999, which featured tracks written by Queen and Tom Petty. Every Road Leads Back to You (consisting of live material) in 2002, and American Girl Vol. II which is available only at her shows. In 2005 she appeared on the TV show "Hit me Baby One More Time" where she performed Ashlee Simpson's "Pieces of You" and "Queen of Hearts" which online voters selected as the best performance of the night.
Newton continues to tour extensively.
Texas Heartache
Juice Newton Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When I was seventeen
Gave my heart to a rodeo rider
Best lookin' thing I've ever seen
He took me far as Dallas
I'd never been that far before
He told me that he loved me
There's a heartache, deep in the heart of Texas
There's a yellow rose witherin' on the vine
There's a heartache, deep in the heart of Texas
Oh, it takes more than a woman to change a cowboy's mind
So I went back to Houston
Thinkin' he'd come home someday
But home is where your heart is
And his is always away
Some heartaches you get over
Some just grow with time
And it takes a place as big as Texas
To hold a heartache big as mine
There's a heartache, deep in the heart of Texas
There's a yellow rose witherin' on the vine
There's a heartache, deep in the heart of Texas
Oh, it takes more than a woman to change a cowboy's mind
The lyrics of Juice Newton's song Texas Heartache tell a story of a young woman who falls in love with a rodeo rider in her teenage years. He takes her to Dallas and though he professes love for her, he tells her that he loves his freedom more. Heartbroken, she goes back to Houston, hoping he would come back for her. However, the cowboy's heart is always somewhere else and he never returns. The woman is left with a heartache so big that only a place as big as Texas can hold it. The chorus talks about the deep heartache in the heart of Texas, symbolized by a withering yellow rose on the vine. It emphasizes that it takes more than a woman to change a cowboy's mind.
The song talks about a love that is not meant to be, leaving the listener with a sense of melancholy. The lyrics are relatable and the music is soothing, making it an excellent country ballad. The song makes use of the symbolism of a withered yellow rose to represent the heartache of a love that has died. This symbol is often used in Texas as a representation of a love gone wrong.
Line by Line Meaning
I grew up in Texas
I am from Texas and have always lived in Texas
When I was seventeen
At the age of 17, I had an experience that changed my life
Gave my heart to a rodeo rider
I fell in love with a cowboy who participated in rodeos
Best lookin' thing I've ever seen
He was the most attractive person I had ever seen
He took me far as Dallas
He took me on a trip to Dallas which was far away from where I lived
I'd never been that far before
I had never been that far from my hometown before
He told me that he loved me
He expressed his love for me
But he loved his freedom more
He prioritized his freedom and independence over his love for me
There's a heartache, deep in the heart of Texas
There is a feeling of emotional pain that is unique to Texas
There's a yellow rose witherin' on the vine
There is a metaphorical yellow rose that is dying due to emotional distress
Oh, it takes more than a woman to change a cowboy's mind
It is difficult for a woman to change the perspectives and attitudes of a cowboy
So I went back to Houston
I returned to my hometown of Houston
Thinkin' he'd come home someday
I believed that he would eventually return to me
But home is where your heart is
One's true home is where they find their emotional connection and attachment
And his is always away
His heart is always longing for an adventurous and turbulent lifestyle
Some heartaches you get over
Some emotional pain can be healed with time and self-reflection
Some just grow with time
Other emotional pain only intensifies over time
And it takes a place as big as Texas
The emotional pain that I feel is so strong that it can only be contained within a place as large as Texas
To hold a heartache big as mine
My emotional pain is so intense that it requires a significant amount of space to contain it
Contributed by Chloe V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.