1. Steve Youn… Read Full Bio ↴There are multiple artists using the name Steve Young.
1. Steve Young (July 12, 1942 – March 17, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter and guitarist, known for his song "Seven Bridges Road" (on Rock Salt & Nails & Seven Bridges Road). He was a pioneer of the country rock, Americana, and alternative country sounds, and also a vital force behind the "outlaw movement" that gave support to the careers of Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams, Jr. and more. Young was also featured in the 1975 Outlaw Country documentary Heartworn Highways. He was the subject of the song "The All Golden" by Van Dyke Parks. Young's first album, Rock Salt & Nails, on A&M, was performed on and supported by Gram Parsons, Gene Clark and other musicians from the 1969 musical community in Southern California.
Steve Young has never fit comfortably into categories. He follows his own musical and spiritual quest, weaving together Southern roots with a wide experience of life, and creating new traditions in American music.
Young was born in Georgia and grew up in Alabama, Georgia and Texas in a family which moved frequently in search of work. By the time he had completed high school in Beaumont, Texas, he was playing guitar and writing songs which incorporated influences of folk , country , gospel, and blues musicians and people like Hank Williams , Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and others. Once as a teenager he was blown away by seeing Carlos Montoya , a Flamenco Guitarist. He managed to use that too!
By his late teens, Young was back in Alabama, where he established some reputation on the local music scene. However, the wandering spirit soon took over again. He immersed himself briefly in the Greenwich Village folk scene, at a time when Bob Dylan and others were just being noticed.
Returning to Alabama, Steve found that "my New York folk-protest songs didn't fly in the South." Searching for more receptive audiences, he made short forays to California and other locations before moving to the West Coast in 1964.
In California, he worked with musicians like Van Dyke Parks and Stephen Stills, at one point holding a day job as a mailman. A major-label record deal led to a short-lived stint with a psychedelic country-folk band, Stone Country.
Settling into a solo career, Steve Young became an integral part of the movement which defined the California country-rock sound. Appearing on Steve's 1969 classic album, Rock, Salt & Nails were fellow pioneers like Gene Clark, Chris Hillman, Bernie Leadon and Gram Parsons.
Through 12 albums and countless live performances, Steve Young's music has remained fresh and aggressive, with a sense of deepening spirituality, and a consistent intellectual and artistic challenge, to himself and to his audience.
Many of the stars of the music industry have recorded Steve Young songs, and in some cases forged a career image around them. "Lonesome, Orn'ry & Mean," for example, became the signature tune for 'Outlaw' Waylon Jennings. Hank Williams Jr.'s cover of "Montgomery In The Rain" remains a classic.
Certainly the most-covered Steve Young song of all is "Seven Bridges Road," which has been recorded at various times by artists like Joan Baez, Rita Coolidge, Ian Matthews, the Eagles, Ricochet, and, most recently, Dolly Parton.
While Steve Young songs have brought commercial success to others, Young has never been close enough to the mainstream to sustain his occasional brushes with stardom . He has been unwilling to accept the loss of artistic control that the industry expects of its stars.
And while Steve has lived in country music towns like Nashville and Austin, and his songs have had a strong impact on the direction of country music, he rejects the country label for himself. Young is in many ways a cultural dynamic in himself.
Part Cherokee (from his father) by birth, steeped in Baptist fundamentalism as a child, yet attracted to a Zen spirituality, the young man from the South with a nomadic spirit went on to create a unique form of American roots music with a truly global perspective.
Steve Young has literally toured the world. He has performed in many countries of Europe, in Australia and New Zealand, in Micronesia, China and Mongolia, in Egypt and East Africa and beyond. Wherever he has gone, he has filled the dual role of ambassador for American music and student of the cultures of others.
Young's live performances express the depth and power of his vision. He draws on his own songs, on Southern folk songs from varied traditions, on collaborations and on the best of contemporary songwriters such as J.D. Loudermilk, David Olney and others.
Steve passed away on March 17, 2016 at age 73
2. 'Steve Young' is also a pseudonym of Peter Friel, ambient tape musician.
Sweet Thing
Steve Young Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Your name will be blotted with tears
Please read it and answer and tell me it's true
Your love will remain through the years.
Sweet thing I love you, you know that it's true
Don't you remember that day
As we grow older I know you'll forget
--- Instrumental ---
I want to be loved but only by you
That's why tonight I'm so sad
I know that another has gained that reward
Your love that I wanted so bad.
Sweet thing I love you, you know that it's true
Don't you remember that day
As we grow older I know you'll forget
That's why I'm writing this way...
The lyrics of Steve Young's song "Sweet Thing" describe the pain of unrequited love. The singer, who is never explicitly identified, writes a letter to a woman he loves but who does not return his affections. His handwriting is blotted with tears, reflecting the deep sadness he feels. He implores her to read the letter and respond, hoping against hope that she will reassure him that her love for him will endure over time.
In the second verse, the singer reminisces about a day when the two of them were together and presumably happy. He notes sadly that as they grow older, she may forget that day and the love that they shared. This thought haunts him, and he is writing the letter in an attempt to hold onto that memory and that love, no matter how futile it may be.
The instrumental section that separates the two verses provides a moment of reflection and gives the listener an opportunity to contemplate the singer's feelings. Ultimately, the song is a moving testament to the power of unrequited love and the pain it can cause.
Line by Line Meaning
Sweet thing I'm writing this letter to you
My love, I am pouring my heart out to you through this letter
Your name will be blotted with tears
I am crying so much that my tears are blotting your name on this paper
Please read it and answer and tell me it's true
Please read my letter and acknowledge my love for you and let me know if you feel the same way
Your love will remain through the years.
Our love for each other will stand the test of time and endure forever
Sweet thing I love you, you know that it's true
My dearest love, you know that I love you with all my heart
Don't you remember that day
Do you still remember that day when we fell in love?
As we grow older I know you'll forget
I am afraid that as time passes, you will forget the love we shared
That's why I'm writing this way.
That's why I am expressing my love to you through this letter in the hope that it will be forever remembered
I want to be loved but only by you
I desire to be loved, but my heart only beats for you
That's why tonight I'm so sad
That is why I am feeling so sad tonight, as the love that I long for is with someone else
I know that another has gained that reward
I am aware that someone else has won your love and affection
Your love that I wanted so bad.
I craved your love so much, but it was not meant to be.
Contributed by Anthony F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Kim Young
on Lonesome, On'ry and Mean
The lyrics posted here are not actually correct and I don't understand why they are not. If you listen to Steve's vocal you will hear what they should be. This song is truly about getting clean and sober, according to what Steve told me!