(written by Merle Haggard)
Merle Haggard (#1, 1975)
This
is the story of a song in which the performer expresses love for
another person in the storyline. In country music, that’s pretty
ordinary. The big difference here is that Merle Haggard was professing
his real-life love for an artist that he had become infatuated with
while on tour with her: Dolly Parton. He didn’t mention Parton by name
in the song, of course, but it became common knowledge that’s who he was
singing about, and he had no problem talking publically about his
feelings regarding Dolly. She and Merle had toured a lot together during
1974-75, and during that time they spent large blocks of time with each
other. Traveling from show to show, she would ride on his bus or he
would ride on hers, and they talked a great deal about music and their
personal goals. Not only that, Haggard expressed his desires for a more
intimate relationship on several occasions, but Dolly insisted
throughout that it could never work (she was married, but he was between
wives at the time). Although her husband Carl Dean never went on tour
with her, she claimed that she loved only him, and would never cheat on
him. Nonetheless, Merle’s desires persisted.
The situation got to
the point that Haggard literally couldn’t get Dolly off his mind. He
would envision her when he walked out on stage to do a show, when he
went to sleep at night and when he woke up in the morning. He tried
everything to put her out of his mind, but nothing worked. Merle was the
type of songwriter who could be inspired by the least little thing
which might trigger an idea for a song. But this infatuation with Dolly
was big and it completely overwhelmed him. So, of course, there had to
be a song come out of it. He proudly wrote “Always Wanting You”
specifically for the object of his desire. In fact, he was so proud of
his accomplishment that he telephoned Parton at three o’clock one
morning from Reno, Nevada and sang the song to her right over the phone
(hoping this could possibly impress her enough to give in). Once again,
she explained her inability to get involved and eventually, after she
listened to the song and his pleading, he finally allowed her to go back
to sleep.
This episode became a matter of public record after
its inclusion in Merle’s book “Sing Me Back Home: My Own Story.” Haggard
wasn’t embarrassed about it, nor did Dolly claim to be. She handled it
with her usual grace, saying that she was more flattered than anything
about him feeling that way. By withholding her temptation (if she ever
was tempted) and Merle not claiming that they had had an affair (so the
issue of a scandal was avoided), were the two things she says kept the
embarrassment in check. She wrapped it up neatly by simply saying that
Merle is a very special friend to her, and it was very bold and sweet of
him to tell her that he cared that much.
Although written especially for Dolly, “Always Wanting You” was Merle’s first and only number one single to feature Louise Mandrell. She toured with Haggard’s band for six months, and when he recorded the song at Jack Clement’s studio in Nashville, she joined Ronnie Reno as a supporting vocalist. “Always Wanting You” reached the pinnacle of Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart on April 12, 1975, and was strong enough to remain in that position for two weeks. It was Haggard’s sixth number one single in a row, and the 20th of his eventual 38 chart-toppers, the third most in history.
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