“I Loved ‘Em Every One”
T.G. Sheppard
Written by Phil Sampson
Radio & Records
#1 (2 weeks)
May 1 – May 8, 1981
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
May 16, 1981
“I Loved ‘Em Every One” is yet another T.G. Sheppard song about the lusty desires of his tireless libido.
This time around, he’s running down a very descriptive list of the seemingly endless number of women he’s taken to bed, including some that he only encountered in the room where the dirty deed was done. I’m assuming that there was a financial transaction involved there.
That being said, the fact that he’s owning his playboy nature here and that there isn’t an moment where he sounds like he belongs on a registry somewhere already makes this several cuts above his earlier eighties hits in the same vein. The production does wonders here, too. The song has a cool groove that complements the lyrics well, and Sheppard sings well over it, making this the best of his eighties No. 1 singles so far.
A low bar to clear, I know.
We’ll see Sheppard again with the next single from his I Love ‘Em All album.
“I Loved ‘Em Every One” gets a B.
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This is BY FAR my favorite TG Sheppard song. It was all over the radio in 1981. You almost couldn’t help but tap your toes or pat your steering wheel when it played.
In fact, this is probably the only Sheppard song I remember. It does bring back some nice memories.
This is my second favorite T.G. song! It’s groove just gets stuck in your head! The only song I put above this would be Slow Burn!
And just for simple chart matters, “I Loved ‘Em Every One” got up to #37 on the Hot 100 as well.
I sang this song with the fervor of a zealot as a kid. It rivals “Elvira” for airtime on the radio waves of my memory. Probably because production-wise, it does pop and punch well above its weight class, which is the only context in which Sheppard will ever be linked with class.
It is, however. still ten pounds of lothario feces in a five-pound bag. Like I maintained with the Bellamy Brothers, the seeds of bro-country sleaze were sown as early as the ’80s.
All the women Sheppard loved are nameless conquests, identified only by their physical attributes. The anonymous “Hey, Girl” device employed to describe women in songs from the 2010’s by artists like BIlly Currington, Thomas Rhett, and Chris Lane is heir to this tawdry throne which I imagine sits on a certain mountain with these same turds fighting for a fouled crown only they want to claim.
Similar in theme is Willie Nelson’s “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before,” but at least it offers the feintest whiff of mature wisdom and GRATITUDE. Sheppard selfishly sings as though he has just discovered his pecker. His breathless singing about passing through his booty so quickly reminds me of kids tearing through Halloween candy, indiscriminately taking as much as they can get.
And all he can offer these ladies he claims to have loved is the hope they had some fun?
This song is all about possession and domination.
It is putrid.