With a contract to Mercury Records (1975), McEntire began her professional career singing heavily pop-influenced ballads, a far cry from the neotraditionalist movement she would help lead a few years later.
"I Don't Want To Be A One Night Stand" became her first charting single in 1976. Her first Top 10 hit "(You Lift Me) Up to Heaven" followed four years later, and in 1982 she scored her first #1 hit with "Can't Even Get The Blues."
Frustrated at her limited commercial success, McEntire left Mercury and signed with MCA Records in 1984. 1984's "Just A Little Love" wasn't much different form her Mercury material and was only moderately successful. However, another album followed later that same year, titled "My Kind of Country." This was a return-to-roots record, complete with fiddles and steel. It was comprised largely of covers of classic country songs, as well as original songs such as "How Blue" and the Harlan Howard-penned "Somebody Should Leave", both of which reached #1 on the Billboard country singles chart.
In the early 1990s McEntire expanded her audience by adopting a softer, more pop-oriented sound. She became one of the best-selling country artists of all time, releasing three volumes of greatest hits collections.
Since that first #1 hit in 1982, she's forked out 21 more chartbusters, which are all recapped on "Reba #1s" released on November 22nd, 2005. The 2-disc compilation features all 22 number one singles (according to Billboard magazine) in chronological order, including two new tracks "You're Gonna Be" and "Love Needs A Holiday." "Reba #1s" also contains 11 singles that reached the #1 spot in publications other than Billboard.
She won the Female Vocalist of the Year award from the Country Music Association four times in a row (a record she holds with Martina McBride), and had dozens of Top Ten hits during the 80s. For her contribution to the recording industry, Reba McEntire has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Blvd. In 1995, she was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
She is one of only six solo women (others include Shania Twain, Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, and Taylor Swift), to win the Country Music Association's highest honor, "Entertainer Of The Year". McEntire continued to hit the charts through the 2000s, as well as appearing in television and film, most notably Tremors, a cult horror movie series, Forever Love, and One Night at McCool's. She also starred as Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun on Broadway, receiving critical acclaim.
From 2001 to 2007, Reba starred in the hit WB television show, Reba (with Texan actor Christopher Rich as her philandering ex-husband), even getting a visit from fellow country star Dolly Parton who played Reba's character's supervisor at a real estate firm.
Baby's Gone Blues
Reba McEntire Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Cause I feel you being gone
It's something I wish I could lose
Baby's gone blues
There ain't no sunshine in sight
Cause you're gonna leave me tonight
My heart is sure feeling bruised
[Chorus]
Oh, love has gone wrong
It's so hard on my heart going from good into gone
There ain't no easy way back into nights before you
Baby's gone blues
Baby's gone blues
It's like a razor on me
Knowing you want to be free
I'm standing here feeling used
Baby's gone blues
There ain't no dreams coming true
I won't recover from you
There ain't no heartache like you
Baby's gone blues
[Chorus]
In "Baby's Gone Blues," Reba McEntire sings about the pain and sorrow of a breakup. She expresses her feeling of loneliness and heartache as she realizes that her loved one has left her. The lyrics reveal how much she wishes she could escape from the pain she's experiencing but can't because her heart is broken. She feels the blues coming on, and it is evident in the way she sings. The pain she's feeling is palpable, and the listener can't help but acknowledge it.
The second verse of the song implies that the singer's life is falling apart. There is no sunshine, no dreams coming true and no recovery from the pain she's experiencing. The chorus emphasizes the depth of her heartache, and how difficult it is to go from "good into gone." Reba McEntire's emotive voice puts the listener in the same situation as she feels, and the heartache felt in every word of the song is felt by anyone who listens to it.
Line by Line Meaning
I feel the blues coming on
I sense the overwhelming sadness because you are gone.
Cause I feel you being gone
I am sorrowful and unhappy because I know you are no longer with me.
It's something I wish I could lose
I hope to forget the emotions that overwhelm me in your absence.
Baby's gone blues
I am experiencing deep melancholy because you are not here with me anymore.
There ain't no sunshine in sight
Without you, everything in my life seems dull and without vibrancy.
Cause you're gonna leave me tonight
I'm heartbroken and anxious because I know that tonight will be our last night together.
My heart is sure feeling bruised
My heart physically aches because of the mental torment you are putting me through.
Oh, love has gone wrong
I've realized that love is going wrong because I'm losing you.
It's so hard on my heart going from good into gone
The feeling of moving from a happy place of love to an empty one is taking a toll on my emotions.
There ain't no easy way back into nights before you
I don't believe that I could ever go back to the happy times before you left me.
Baby's gone blues
I'm still experiencing deep sadness and despair because of your absence.
It's like a razor on me
The pain of your leaving is sharp and cutting.
Knowing you want to be free
Knowing that you want to break free from me is heartrending and devastating.
I'm standing here feeling used
I am left feeling betrayed and unimportant to you.
There ain't no dreams coming true
I have lost all hope and aspirations of a future with you.
I won't recover from you
I know that the pain you have caused me will not go away anytime soon, if ever.
There ain't no heartache like you
Nothing compares to the broken heart that I feel because of your departure.
Baby's gone blues
I am still experiencing deep sadness and sorrow because you are gone.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, ZELLS MUSIC COMPANY
Written by: MARY ANN KENNEDY, PAM ROSE, PAT BUNCH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind