Born Milton Sims Newbury, Jr. in Houston, Texas. As a teenager, Mickey Newbury sang tenor in a moderately successful vocal group called The Embers. The group opened for several famous performers, such as Sam Cooke and Johnny Cash. Although Mickey tried to make a living off of his music by singing in clubs, he put his musical career on hold at age 19 when he joined the Air Force. After four years in the military, Mickey again set his sights on making a living as a songwriter. Before long, he moved to Nashville and signed to the prestigious publishing company Acuff-Rose Music.
For a time, he was one of the most influential creative minds in Nashville and it's arguable that he was the first real "outlaw" of the outlaw country movement of the 1970s. Ralph Emery referred to him as the first "hippie-cowboy" and along with Johnny Cash and Roger Miller, he was one of the first to rebel against the conventions of the Nashville music society. After being disappointed by the production methods used by Felton Jarvis on his debut album, Mickey got himself released from his contract with RCA and signed the first offer he received to comply with his condition that he could either produce his own albums or hire a producer of his choice.
He went on to record three musically revolutionary albums in Wayne Moss's garage-turned-studio just outside of Nashville. The influence of the production methods can be heard in the albums Waylon Jennings went on to record in the 1970s (with instrumentation highly unconventional for country music) and his poetically sophisticated style of songwriting was highly influential on Kris Kristofferson.[citation needed] It was Newbury who convinced Roger Miller to record Kristofferson's "Me & Bobby McGee", which went on to launch Kristofferson as country music's top songwriter. Newbury is also responsible for getting Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark to move to Nashville and pursue careers as songwriters. However, he had no desire to cash-in on the Outlaw movement.[citation needed]
In 1974, he moved to a house on the McKenzie River in Oregon with his wife, Susan, and new born son, Chris, where they welcomed three more children over the years. He recorded several albums throughout the 1970s for Elektra and ABC/Hickory, all of them critically praised, but financially unsuccessful. In 1980, he was given the distinction of being the youngest songwriter ever inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Although he spent much of the 1980s retired from performing and recording music, he returned both to recording and touring in the late 1980s before he died following a prolonged battle with pulmonary fibrosis on September 29, 2002, aged 62.
Sweet Memories
Mickey Newbury Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
As dark as it is deep
Night after night the past slips in
Gathers all my sleep
My days are just an endless stream
Of emptiness to me
Filled only by the fleeting
Sweet memories
Sweet memories
She slipped into the silence
Of my dreams last night
Wandering from room to room
She's turning on each light
Her laughter spills like water
From the river to the sea
Lord I'm swept away from sadness
Clinging to her memory
Sweet memories
Sweet memories
In the song "Sweet Memories," Mickey Newbury portrays a man drowning in the memories of his past love. The song opens with the metaphor "My world is like a river, as dark as it is deep." Here, the river represents the singer's mind, a place where his thoughts flow like water. The past, with all its happy and sad memories, flows into his thoughts, only leaving emptiness in the present. The lyrics highlight that the past has made such a deep impression on him that he can't forget it. The singer's life seems mundane and monotonous as he says his days are just an "endless stream of emptiness."
The second stanza presents the man's dream where his memories are personified as his lost love. He dreams about his past love wandering through his empty house, turning on the lights, and laughing as she spills "like water from the river to the sea." The imagery of water running towards the sea implies that his memories have taken him over, washing away his present feelings of sadness and forcing him to cling onto the happy memories. The song's melancholy sound underscores the sorrow the man feels as he revisits the memories of his past love.
Line by Line Meaning
My world is like a river
My life is like a river that keeps flowing along its course.
As dark as it is deep
Though it may seem concealed or difficult to know, it has its own depths.
Night after night the past slips in
Every night, my past comes back to haunt me.
Gathers all my sleep
And disrupts my peaceful sleep.
My days are just an endless stream
My days seem to have no meaning.
Of emptiness to me
They are hollow and unfulfilling.
Filled only by the fleeting
The only moments of joy I experience are brief.
Moments of, of her memory
They are memories of the one I loved and lost.
She slipped into the silence
She came to me in my dreams.
Of my dreams last night
And I dreamed of her all through the night.
Wandering from room to room
In my dream, she was walking around my house.
She's turning on each light
As if searching for something, she turned on all the lights.
Her laughter spills like water
In my memories, her laughter is as refreshing and calming as water.
From the river to the sea
Just like a river ends up flowing into the sea, her laughter spreads all around me.
Lord I'm swept away from sadness
Her memories help me forget my sadness.
Clinging to her memory
I find solace in holding onto the memories of her.
Sweet memories
They are the only sweetness left in my life.
Sweet memories
They are the only comfort I have in my emptiness.
Contributed by Sophie A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Charlene Kelly
Best Ever!!The Great Mickey Newbury!!RIP Mickey you wrote and left for us some great songs!!No one good sing your music as great as you did ☺️🎶❤️🎶
Michael Sahr
The guitar and the singing make up a perfect harmony
Johnny Dogg
Micky was one in a million..God blessed u with that voice and you did not disappoint him....
Gwag
Amen
PHs PALACE
Mickey Newbury, brilliant artist!
Hippety Hop
This clip is a real treasure. Thank you.
Lil Miller
Hippety Hop u
John Macleod
My god what a beautiful voice and song
Randy Williams
What a beautiful voice Mickey Newbury possessed...Randy Williams
Delmer Helton
Beautiful