Tag: Keith Whitley

Keith Whitley’s Great Love Song He Never Finished Recording: “Tell Lorrie I Love Her”

Keith Whitley died on May 9, 1989, leaving us with a demo of a great love song to his wife, “Tell Lorrie I Love Her.”

Tell Lorrie I Love Her

On July 1, 1955, Jackie Keith Whitley — who would become known as the country music singer-songwriter named Keith Whitley — was born in Ashland, Kentucky. Whitley died at the age of 33 on May 9, 1989, reportedly from alcohol poisoning. But in his short life he left behind a lot of great songs such as his 1988 country hit recording of “When You Say Nothing at All.” One of my favorite Whitley songs, though, only survived as a demo and was first released after Whitley’s death in 1990 on Greatest Hits, “Tell Lorrie I Love Her.”

The Lorrie in “Tell Lorrie I Love Her” was Whitley’s wife, country singer Lorrie Morgan, who had struggled to help Whitley battle his alcoholism before being left a widow. The song is a strong statement of love with the singer recounting the ways he would try to tell his love about his feelings even in the face of death, whether in the desert or lost on the ocean.

Reportedly, he recorded the demo in his living room around two years before he died.

Jesse Whitley’s Performance of His Dad’s Song

Morgan and Whitley had been married in 1986, about two and a half years before his death. Whitley adopted Lorrie’s daughter, and the couple had their own child, Jesse Keith Whitley in June 1987.

Several years ago, Jesse brought his mom on stage to sing his father’s song. In the video below, you can see how moved Morgan was to hear her husband’s song from her son.

Relation to “Tell Laura I Love Her”?

The title of “Tell Lorrie I Love Her” reminds one of the 1960s hit song, “Tell Laura I Love Her,” which was written by Heff Barry and Ben Raleigh and became a hit in 1960 for Ray Peterson in the U.S. and for Ricky Valence in the U.K. Like “Tell Lorrie I Love Her,” the song is about someone facing death trying to get a message to his love.

Yet, where the “Lorrie” song imagines possible tragic scenarios, the “Laura” song is a specific story, recounting a teenager who wants to earn money for a wedding ring so he enters a stock car race, where he is killed. I do not know the extent that “Tell Laura I Love Her” inspired Whitley, but in some ways his song is the adult counterpart.

There are not many professional covers of Whitley’s “Tell Lorrie I Love Her,” perhaps because the song was so personal between two singers. But if you go on YouTube, you will find numerous amateur covers of the song. Apparently the song that Whitley never professionally recorded still resonates with fans. Rolling Stone lists it as one of Whitley’s ten greatest love songs.

Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Sturgill Simpson Live at Paradiso

    Sturgill Live Amsterdam

    Recently, Sturgill Simpson brought out a horn section for his performance at Paradiso in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Fortunately, rialto1961 did a great job of recording a large portion of the show in black and white before posting it on YouTube.

    In this segment of the show from September 26, 2016, Simpson performs a number of originals and covers. The video includes: “Water in a Well,” “Long White Line,” “When the Levee Breaks” (Led Zeppelin cover), “I Never Go Around Mirrors” (Keith Whitley cover), “The Promise” (When in Rome cover), “You Don’t Miss Your Water” (William Bell cover), “Sea Stories,” and “In Bloom: (Nirvana cover).

    Check out the video below.

    What is your favorite Sturgill Simpson song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Marty Brown’s AGT Las Vegas Performance of “When You Say Nothing At All”

    Marty Brown AGT Las Vegas

    As Chimesfreedom previously reported, country singer Marty Brown advanced to the New York rounds of “America’s Got Talent.” During the Las Vegas rounds, he performed Keith Whitley’s “When You Say Nothing At All.”

    Howard Stern and Howie Mandel noted that they did not like the performance as much as Marty Brown’s San Antonio performance of Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love.” On the other hand, if you saw the entire episode, you would see the show is edited to create drama so it shows the judges saying something negative about everyone. Meanwhile, one of the other competitors noted about Brown, “He makes me like country music.” Most importantly, the judges liked the performance enough to send Brown to the live performances at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. What will Marty Brown do next to win over the judges and America?

    [Update: For a post on Brown’s entire run on America’s Got Talent, check out our post on The Great AGT Rebirth of Marty Brown.]

    What would you like to hear Marty Brown sing next? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Regular readers of Chimesfreedom know we have been following country singer Marty Brown and his comeback trail for some time. After advancing through the first round on America’s Got Talent, he competed in the Las Vegas rounds tonight as his wife Shellie looked on. And Judges Howard Stern, Heidi Klum, Mel B, and Howie Mandel put him through to the live rounds of the competition in New York City.

    Brown sang Keith Whitley’s “When You Say Nothing At All” tonight. I got the impression the judges’ may not know the great song, but they were sufficiently impressed to put Brown through. He did a great job with the song. His performance on America’s Got Talent is not yet available online, although the episode will be available on the America’s Got Talent website (Update: We posted his Las Vegas performance here). But for now here is a video he posted about two months ago of him singing “When You Say Nothing at All.”

    What did you think of “America’s Got Talent” this week? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Is Shane a Romantic Movie?

    Alan Ladd and Jean Arthur in Shane Many years ago, a newspaper published a list of the top romantic movies for Valentine’s Day, and the writer included Shane (1953) on the list.  At first, the choice surprised me.

    I had always thought of the movie as a great action Western.  But after reading the article, I focused more on the relationship between Shane, played by Alan Ladd, and Marian Starrett, played by Jean Arthur.  And I came to see that the author of the list was right.

    The Unusual Love Story in “Shane”

    The unrequited love between Shane and Marian is something we do not see in modern movies. The relationship is subtle, buried in hidden looks and unspoken feelings. They both are torn, as Marian still loves her husband Joe and Shane is Joe’s friend.

    There are many things to love about the film Shane. It has great scenery, Jack Palance as a villain, the gunfights, and the decent man trying to change his life. But the Shane-Mariann relationship makes the movie more complex than your usual action yarn.

    The Shane-Mariann relationship is so subtle that descriptions of the movie rarely mention it. I suspect that a modern movie version might feature a scene of the two having sex to make the same point made in Shane with a few words and glances.

    When Clint Eastwood made Pale Rider (1985), largely based on Shane, he avoided a similar relationship in his story altogether.  Instead he went for religious overtones, which was probably easier to do.

    Shane’s Ending

    {Spoiler ahead} The final scene of the movie is a classic scene in American film. Shane explains to Mariann’s son Joey: “There’s no living with a killing. There’s no goin’ back from one. Right or wrong, it’s a brand… a brand sticks. There’s no goin’ back. Now you run on home to your mother and tell her… tell her everything’s alright. And there aren’t any more guns in the valley.”

    The wounded Shane rides off into the sunset. And Joey yells after him, pleading for him to return.

    Interpreting the scene with our modern vocabulary, Joey yells the funniest line in the movie for those have picked up on the Shane-Mariann relationship: “Mother wants you. I know she does!” Although the child doe not know exactly what is going on, he has sensed some love.

    Below is the trailer for Shane, although I do not understand why the trailer maker used the final scene of the movie in the trailer.

    Jean Arthur & Alan Ladd

    Another unusual aspect of the movie compared to modern movies is that the female lead, Jean Arthur, was more than a decade older than the male lead. Nowadays, too often producers choose older men to be romantic leads with very young women. But at the time Shane was released, Alan Ladd was 40 and Jean Arthur was 53.

    Arthur had appeared in several great classic movies, including Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, but she was reclusive and did not like the limelight. She had retired prior to the making of Shane, and she made an exception to return to make Shane, which was her final film and the only one where she appeared in color.

    When You Say Nothing at All

    If Chimesfreedom were in charge of music for Shane, we would add “When You Say Nothing at All” to the final credits. The words capture the unspoken relationship between Shane and Mariann.

    The smile on your face lets me know that you need me,
    There’s a truth in your eyes sayin’ you’ll never leave me,
    The touch of your hand says you’ll catch me if ever I fall;
    You say it best when you say nothing at all.

    The version above by Alison Krauss and Union Station appeared on Keith Whitley: A Tribute Album (1994) and on Now That I’ve Found You: A Collection (1995). A live version appeared on Alison Krauss & Union Station – Live.

    “When You Say Nothing at All” was written by Keith Whitley, a singer-songwriter who died at the young age of 34 from alcohol poisoning. Although Whitley only released four albums during his career, he influenced future generations of singer-songwriters.  He wrote some beautiful songs like “When You Say Nothing at All.”

    And yes, contrary to the song, Shane did leave her.

     

    What other movies feature subtle romantic relationships? What about Casablanca? Leave a comment.

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  • Marty Brown’s AGT Las Vegas Performance of “When You Say Nothing At All”
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