HE'LL HAVE TO GO
Joe Allison
Put your sweet lips a little closer to the phone
Let's pretend that we're together all alone
I'll tell the man to turn the juke box way down low
And you can tell your friend there with you he'll have to go
Whisper to me tell me do you love me true
Or is he holding you the way I do
Though love is blind make up your mind I've got to know
Should I hang up or will you tell him he'll have to go
You can't say the words I want to hear
While you're with another man
Do you want me answer yes or no
Darlin' I will understand
Put your sweet lips a little closer to the phone
Let's pretend that we're together all alone
I'll tell the man to turn the juke box way down low
And you can tell your friend there with you he'll have to go
Put your sweet lips a little closer to the phone
Let's pretend that we're together all alone
I'll tell the man to turn the juke box way down low
And you can tell your friend there with you he'll have to go
Whisper to me tell me do you love me true
Or is he holding you the way I do
Though love is blind make up your mind I've got to know
Should I hang up or will you tell him he'll have to go
You can't say the words I want to hear
While you're with another man
Do you want me answer yes or no
Darlin' I will understand
Put your sweet lips a little closer to the phone
Let's pretend that we're together all alone
I'll tell the man to turn the juke box way down low
And you can tell your friend there with you he'll have to go
Although
I never particularly liked this song, mostly because it was country and
country was not cool to most of us teen cats of my day, it was
immensely popular. It was known to be the basis marital disagreements,
arguments, fights, brawls, mayhem, and even murder. Even my house wasn't
immune to the persuasive croon of Jim Reeves at his best. When the song
was on radio or TV, my mom would say something like 'hang up on him,
girl' to which my dad would retort 'lady, you know you want 'im so tell
the guy there with you to scram'. For some reason I had a premonition
to keep out of their "discussions" about the lyrics. Being a 14 year-old
country kid, I wasn't supposed to know much about "adult" stuff. My
parents arguments about it were mild, actually. The newspapers, which I
dutifully read while sitting in the outhouse waiting to put them to
their original intended use, had many stories about otherwise normal
couples whose disagreements had led to mayhem of one sort or another.
Women were divorcing their husbands because he happened to agree with
the caller. Men would get "tipsy" in a bar, play the song on the
jukebox, and phone their wives at ungodly hours just to aggravate her.
More than one of these last jokers ended up on a mortician's slab and
their wives were in jail before the night was over. Life, it's all about
the music.
1959 was a very normal year; I got my first handheld transistor radio--a Motorola--for Christmas, I was miserably failing Algebra for the third time in high school, and the rest of my grades were at the C- to D level. I was too shy to talk to girls and too dumb to try to overcome the bashfulness. I still am shy and dumb about it.
1959 was a very normal year; I got my first handheld transistor radio--a Motorola--for Christmas, I was miserably failing Algebra for the third time in high school, and the rest of my grades were at the C- to D level. I was too shy to talk to girls and too dumb to try to overcome the bashfulness. I still am shy and dumb about it.
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