Mary Frances Penick was born on December 30, 1931 in the small Appalachian town of Dry Ridge, Kentucky. As a child, her grandfather nicknamed her "Skeeter" because she was always active and buzzing around like a mosquito. She got her start in music as part of the duo, The Davis Sisters, along with childhood friend, Betty Jack Davis. Thus, Skeeter Davis was born to the rest of the world.
The Davis Sisters sang in the local Lexington, Kentucky area and appeared on local radio WLAX in 1949. From there, they earned radio and television appearances in Detroit, Cincinnati and Wheeling, WV, where they were part of the WWVA Wheeling Jamboree.
In 1952, Skeeter and Betty Jack recorded for Fortune, but won a recording contract with RCA the following year and achieved their first chart success. "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know" went to number one on the U.S. country chart and number eighteen on the U.S. pop chart.
Sadly, on August 23, 1953, Skeeter and Betty Jack were involved in a serious car accident in which Betty Jack died and Skeeter was critically injured. It took Skeeter more than a year to recover both physically and mentally. With great difficulty and a lot of persuasion, Skeeter returned to singing with Betty Jack's sister, Georgia Davis, to briefly resume the Davis Sisters' act. But, within a year, the duo broke up and Skeeter pursued a solo career.
She continued to record on the RCA label where she worked with Eddy Arnold and Elvis Presley. In 1955, she toured for RCA on the Caravan of the Stars. Davis teamed up with producer, Chet Atkins and scored her first solo country chart hit in 1958 with "Lost To A Geisha Girl." This was during a time when the female acts were surging forward with "response" songs to some of the biggest hits by male artists. As Kitty Wells had answered Hank Thompson's "Honky Tonk Angels," with "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" in 1952, Skeeter Davis put out this answer to Hank Locklin's "Geisha Girl."
A few years later, Davis recorded another answer to a Hank Locklin song and gained another huge hit. Locklin sang "Please Help Me I'm Falling" and Davis' response was, "I Can't Help You, I'm Falling Too."
In 1959, Davis achieved one of her greatest ambitions when she moved to Nashville and became a regular member of the Grand Ole Opry. In 1960, she married WSM personality, Ralph Emery, but the tumultuous marriage ended in 1964.
During the 1960's, Davis was one of RCA's most successful country artists. She harvested 26 U.S. country hits, 12 of which crossed over to the U.S. pop charts. Among these was what was to become her trademark song, the million-selling record "The End Of The World" which peaked at number two in both the U.S. country and pop charts in 1963. She also earned her only UK chart presence with "The End Of The World" which topped out at number eighteen in only thirteen weeks on the chart.
Davis has also acheived songwriting success. Her co-written song "Set Him Free" became her first country Top 10 hit in 1959. She also co-wrote "My Last Date" with Boudleaux Bryant and Floyd Cramer. Cramer, famed pianist and member of the original A-team, recorded it as an instrumental solo and had a million-selling record on it in 1960.
During the 60's and 70's, Davis toured extensively in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Far East. Her solo career started to wane in the 70's, but she still had several more hits such as "Bus Fare To Kentucky," "I'm A Lover, Not A Fighter," and "One Tin Soldier." Her duets with Bobby Bare, George Hamilton IV, and The Bee Gees gave her a few more hits, but by the mid-70's, Davis was reaching the end of her illustrious career. She ended her twenty-two year relationship with RCA in 1974 and charted her last hit for Mercury in 1976 with "I Love Us."
In 1967, Davis recorded a tribute album to Buddy Holly, which featured Waylon Jennings on the guitar. Later in 1972, she also did a tribute album to her friend, Dolly Parton. In 1985, she re-recorded an old Davis Sisters' hit, "May You Never Be Alone," with the group NRBQ. She married Joey Spampanito of NRBQ, but this marriage ultimately ended in divorce as well.
In 1973, Davis was dropped from the Grand Ole Opry's roster due to her strong criticisms of the Nashville Police Department during one of her performances. Her membership was later reinstated.
Davis has also taken to writing about her real life experiences. Her autobiography, "Bus Fare To Kentucky," was published in 1993. Davis pulls no punches in this brutally honest account of her life. She tells how she endured a family history of alcoholism, incest and murder. She also tells her side of the story regarding her four year marriage to Ralph Emery, following the heavy criticism which she received in Emery's autobiography. In 1997, she co-wrote a children's Christmas book, entitled "The Christmas Note," based on her own childhood.
Skeeter Davis passed away September 19th 2004 after a long battle with cancer.
Written by Sherry Anderson. June 2001
* Article appears courtesy of www.countrypolitan.com
Joshua
Skeeter Davis Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And in it lived a man I'd never seen
Folks said he was a mean and vicious man and you better not set foot on his land
But I didn't think nobody could be that mean
So I took me a walking down the railroad track
I was gonna go down to that little old shack
And just find out if all them things I heard was true
There was a big black dog a lying in the yard
And I heard somebody say well who are you
Oh there he stood in the door of his shack
With beer in his hand and with hair long and black
He was the biggest man I'd ever seen
When he spoke his voice was low and mean
But he just didn't frighten me cause somehow I just knew he wasn't mean
He said what you doing snoopin' round my place and I saw a smile come across his face
So I smiled back and I told him who I was
He said come on in and pull you up a chair
You might as well cause you're already here and he said you call me Joshua
Joshua Joshua what you doing living all alone
Joshua Joshua ain't you got nobody to call your own
We talked till the sun went out of sight
And we was still talkin' when it turned daylight
Cause there was just so much we had to say
Now I'd spend my life in an orphan's home and just like him I was all alone
So I said yeah when he asked me if I'd stay
Well we grew closer as time went on and that little old shack was a happy home
And we just couldn't help but fall in love
And that big black dog and that little old shack
A sittin' down there by the railroad track
Was plenty good enough for me and Joshua
Joshua Joshua why you're just what I been looking for
Joshua Joshua we ain't gonna be lonely anymore (yodel)
(It just sounds like Dolly doesn't it)
It's just story of me and Joshua real love story me and Joshua me and Joshua
The song "Joshua" by Skeeter Davis tells a story about a woman who was warned by folks about an old, mean and vicious man named Joshua who lived in a rundown shack down the railroad track. The woman chose to ignore the warnings and went to visit Joshua. Upon arrival, she was greeted by a big black dog who growled at her. Joshua, a big man with long black hair and a low, mean voice, demanded to know what she was doing snooping around his place. However, as they got to talking, they discovered they had a lot in common - Joshua was also all alone in the world. They spent the night together, and eventually fell in love. The woman decided to stay with Joshua, and they made a happy home in their little old shack by the railroad track.
The lyrics convey a message that one should not judge a book by its cover. Despite the warnings about Joshua, the woman chose to look past his exterior and find the good in him. Skeeter Davis uses the story to illustrate that love is blind and that we can find a companion in the most unexpected places. The story also reflects on how, sometimes, the people or places that others may consider to be unworthy or unlovable may turn out to be the most rewarding and fulfilling.
Line by Line Meaning
Well the good ways down the railroad track there was a little old rundown shack
Describes the location of an old shack situated far away down the railroad track
And in it lived a man I'd never seen
The singer has never seen the man who lives in the shack before
Folks said he was a mean and vicious man and you better not set foot on his land
People claim that the man living in the shack is mean and vicious and they warn others not to step on his land
But I didn't think nobody could be that mean
The artist thinks that the man cannot be as mean as everyone claims him to be
So I took me a walking down the railroad track
The artist decides to take a walk down the railroad track
I was gonna go down to that little old shack
The singer plans on heading to the little old shack
And just find out if all them things I heard was true
The singer wants to see for himself whether the rumors he heard about the man living in the shack were true
There was a big black dog a lying in the yard
A large black dog was lying in the yard of the shack
And he growled at me and I swallowed hard
The dog growled at the artist, causing him to feel scared
And I heard somebody say well who are you
The artist heard a voice asking who he was
Oh there he stood in the door of his shack
The man who lives in the shack stood at the door
With beer in his hand and with hair long and black
The man had a beer in his hand and long black hair
He was the biggest man I'd ever seen
The singer saw that the man was the largest person he had ever seen
When he spoke his voice was low and mean
The man had a low and mean tone when he spoke
But he just didn't frighten me cause somehow I just knew he wasn't mean
Despite his mean voice, the singer was not afraid of the man as he somehow knew he was not really mean
He said what you doing snoopin' round my place and I saw a smile come across his face
The man asked the artist why he was snooping around his land and then smiled
So I smiled back and I told him who I was
The artist smiled back and introduced himself to the man
He said come on in and pull you up a chair
The man invited the singer inside and asked him to sit down
You might as well cause you're already here and he said you call me Joshua
Joshua invited the singer to stay since he was already there and introduced himself
Joshua Joshua what you doing living all alone
The artist asks Joshua why he lives alone
Joshua Joshua ain't you got nobody to call your own
The artist asks Joshua if he has anyone or anything to call his own
We talked till the sun went out of sight
The artist and Joshua talked until the sun went down
And we was still talkin' when it turned daylight
They talked so much that they continued the conversation into the next day
Cause there was just so much we had to say
The two had a lot to talk about, which is why the conversation lasted so long
Now I'd spend my life in an orphan's home and just like him I was all alone
The singer was also alone and spent his life in an orphanage
So I said yeah when he asked me if I'd stay
The singer agreed to stay when asked by Joshua
Well we grew closer as time went on and that little old shack was a happy home
As time passed, the two grew closer and the little shack became a happy home
And we just couldn't help but fall in love
The two fell in love and couldn't help it
And that big black dog and that little old shack
The large black dog and little old shack
A sittin' down there by the railroad track
Were situated down there by the railroad track
Was plenty good enough for me and Joshua
The shack and the dog were just perfect for the singer and Joshua
Joshua Joshua why you're just what I been looking for
The artist realizes that Joshua is exactly what he was looking for
Joshua Joshua we ain't gonna be lonely anymore (yodel)
They won't have to be lonely anymore now that they have each other
(It just sounds like Dolly doesn't it)
Comment made by the performer Skeeter Davis during the song
It's just story of me and Joshua real love story me and Joshua me and Joshua
A summary of the story of Joshua and the singer, a real love story
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: DOLLY PARTON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind