They'll Never Take Her Love from Me

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"They'll Never Take Her Love from Me"
Single by Hank Williams With His Drifting Cowboys
A-side "Why Should We Try Anymore"
PublishedAugust 2, 1950 (1950-08-02) Acuff-Rose Publications, Inc. [1]
ReleasedAugust 1950
RecordedJune 14, 1950 [2]
Studio Castle Studio, Nashville
Genre Country
Length2:44
Label MGM 10760
Songwriter(s) Leon Payne
Producer(s) Fred Rose
Hank Williams With His Drifting Cowboys singles chronology
"Why Don't You Love Me"
(1950)		"They'll Never Take Her Love from Me"
(1950)		"Moanin' the Blues"
(1950)

"They'll Never Take Her Love from Me" is a country song popularized by Hank Williams in 1950. In 1961, Johnny Horton also had a hit with the song, and many others have covered it. [3]

Contents

The song was first recorded by singer-songwriter Leon Payne in 1948, but it wasn't released until 1949 on the Bullet label.

Background

Leon Payne wrote hundreds of country songs in a prolific career that lasted from 1941 until his death in 1969. He is perhaps best known for his hits "I Love You Because", "You've Still Got a Place in My Heart," and for the two songs Williams recorded: "Lost Highway" and "They'll Never Take Her Love from Me."

Williams cut the song on June 14, 1950, at Castle Studio in Nashville, with Fred Rose producing and backing from Sammy Pruett (lead guitar), Jack Shook or Rusty Gabbard (rhythm guitar), Don Helms (steel guitar), Jerry Rivers (fiddle), and Ernie Newton (bass). [4] The song was released as the flipside to Williams' own "Why Should We Try Anymore," but Payne's song outperformed the A-side, peaking at number 5, while "Why Should We Try Anymore" rose to number 9. As Williams biographer Colin Escott observes, "The message was clear: the public wanted brisk, up-temp juke joint songs. History might decide that Hank Williams was the finest writer and singer of 'heart' songs in all country music, but that wasn't what radio and jukebox audiences wanted in 1950." [4]

Kentucky historian W. Lynn Nickell asserted in 2012 that Paul Gilley was responsible for the lyrics to "They'll Never Take Her Love from Me," as well as several other country song hits. Gilley supposedly gave the handwritten lyric sheet to a neighbor girl, telling her the song would soon be playing on the radio and that it was proof that he had written it. [5]

Cover versions

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References

  1. ↑ Library of Congress. Copyright Office. (1950). Catalog of Copyright Entries 1950 Published Music Jan-Dec 3D Ser Vol 4 Pt 5A. United States Copyright Office. U.S. Govt. Print. Off.
  2. ↑ "Hank Williams 78rpm Issues". jazzdiscography.com. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
  3. ↑ "Song: They'll Never Take Her Love from Me". Second Hand Songs. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
  4. 1 2 Colin Escott; George Merritt; William MacEwen (2009). Hank Williams: The Biography. Little, Brown. pp. 87–88. ISBN   9780316074636.
  5. ↑ "Songwriter Paul Gilley". Kentucky Life. Kentucky Educational Television (KET). July 29, 2013. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
  6. ↑ Joel Whitburn (2008). Joel Whitburn Presents Across the Charts: The 1960s. Hal Leonard. p. 183. ISBN   9780898201758.
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