Jim Reeves: "He'll Have to Go"

February 8, 1960 (6 weeks)

The great British music critic Stuart Maconie once stated that Emmylou Harris can only be country, much the same as Ray Charles could only be soul. No matter how much she tried to stretch out — which, honestly, never seemed like much — her music would inevitably still be classified as country. Maconie is correct but I don't think Harris is special in this regard, especially within her genre. Yes, there has been the odd k.d. lang or Taylor Swift (the former of which was a university performance artist who morphed into the second coming of Patsy Klein with next to no prior C&W background) but the vast majority remain tethered to country — even when they've ditched the pedal steel guitars, fiddles, cowboy hats and buxom lasses in bikinis and holsters. Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Buck Owens: they were never anything but country. Gram Parsons attempted to create a hybrid he called 'Cosmic American Music' and only ended up becoming more of a country artist. It took Wilco a decade before they were able to shake the 'alt-country' tag.

"He'll Have to Go" is indeed classified as a country number but what is especially country about it? I suppose Jim Reeves' chewy baritone had been the kind favoured by more mainstream types in Nashville at the time but otherwise? The relaxed pace, those classy vibes and the Anita Kerr Singers all give it a country-ish flavour but how are any of those prerequisites? That said, Elvis Presley couldn't transform it into a rock 'n' roll ballad (and, if anything, his recording manages to sound even more country than Reeves') so maybe there's something I'm missing. Nevertheless, I maintain that it's country because it's Jim Reeves and that's all there bloody is to it!

One thing that is indisputably country about it is the maudlin nature. But as opposed to your typical country song of tragic heartbreak, it's the premise of "He'll Have to Go" that depresses most. Jim is on the phone with his special lady friend trying to engage her in a little phone sex sweet talk her while fully aware that there's another gentleman there with her. He has a deal for her: he'll get them to lower the volume of the jukebox (even though that will surely allow others to listen in on said phone sex sweet talk) if she agrees to get her other beau to hit the bricks. A tempting offer, no doubt, but I don't see her going along with it.

Being a traditional man from the Greatest Generation, Gentleman Jim must have known that this scenario was nonsense in any case. If a couple — assuming these two talking on the telephone even are a couple — back then had indeed been separated for any length of time, it's obvious that the man would have been far more likely to have ended up in the company of other females. Indeed, Jeanne Black's reply song "He'll Have to Stay" — which we'll be getting to soon enough — suggests that good ol' Jim isn't as lonely and as lovelorn as  been letting on.

I've been pointing out a couple of minor problems but "He'll Have to Go" is a more than respectable CHUM number one and a good deal better than Reeves' posthumous UK chart topper, the horribly boring "Distant Drums". I'm beginning to see why my Grandpa Roy was such a big fan of Gentleman Jim. That voice is amazingly intimate and is probably justification enough for further investigation. On the other hand, the music backing him can be samey after a while. Had Reeves survived past the age of forty perhaps he would have gone in a more thrilling direction, away from the Nashville straightjacket and towards Austin or Bakersfield. He couldn't not be country but it wouldn't have killed him to have tried out the fun and lively side.

Score: 7

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Can Con

Q: What do Paul Anka's "Lonely Boy", Bryan Adams' "Heaven", Alannah Myles' "Black Velvet" and Snows' "Informer" have in common?

A: They all suck?

Wrong! "Heaven" is awesome. Just because Bryan's music would quickly become unbearable doesn't mean it always was. (But, yeah, the rest are all a load of crap) No, the correct answer is that they are all Canadian singles that managed to make it to number one on the US Hot 100 but failed to do so north of the border. In the majority of cases, Canadians who manage to top the charts down in the States are able to do likewise back home. But none of them can compare with "Theme from 'A Summer Place'" which managed to spend a gargantuan nine weeks at the top spot but could get no higher than number four in Percy Faith's native Canada. It might as well have flopped. This memorable instrumental from a film very few people have seen (rather stupidly, I used to think it was taken from South Pacific in spite of the whole 'Theme from...' in the title) managed to hold off "He'll Have to Go" but it had no such luck up in Canada. For that I applaud my countrymen for making the right choice. "Summer Place" is okay but I'd never go out of my way to give it a listen but I might just do so when it comes to Gentleman Jim.