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“Darlene”
T. Graham Brown
Written by Mike Geiger, Woody Mullis, and Ricky Ray Rector
Radio & Records
#1 (1 week)
October 7, 1988
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
November 5, 1988
This is an “All Jacked Up” level of sophomore fumble.
T. Graham Brown previewed his second album with his final No. 1 hit to date, “Darlene.” It’s not just that it’s a dull and meandering record. It doesn’t feel like a finished record at all.
I could hear this as a warmup for Brown and his band to test the guitars and get his voice going for the show. But that’s all. Brown himself isn’t even recognizable, leaving me wondering if he’d made the same mistake as Wanda Jackson before she recorded “Hot Dog! That Made Him Mad,” and drank a glass of milk that eliminated his signature growl.
Forgettable except for its historical distinction of killing the momentum of a promising young artist. Three more top ten hits, and he was done. Thankfully, his brief run at radio has sustained a lengthy road career, and observant CMT viewers fell in love with “Wine into Water,” a late nineties record that should’ve been a massive comeback hit.
“Darlene” gets a D.
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I’ve often referenced how my initiation to country music was largely courtesy of my boyhood babysitter who had the local radio station running for several hours every morning. Her husband was a surly old factory worker who would often be getting ready for work when I arrived early in the morning. I tried to keep my distance because his temperament was unpredictable and at times domineering, and one morning, the radio was playing T. Graham Brown’s “Darlene”. He walked over and turned the radio off. After getting a mousy look of disapproval from his wife, he explained himself, saying that “it would be different if the station played any good music, but I won’t listen to this”. Fifteen minutes later, he left for work and my babysitter quickly proceeded to turn the radio back on.
Granted, he didn’t pick the worst song to turn off, but it has certainly never evoked the level of negative energy that would motivate me to risk marital discord and walk across the room to turn the radio off in a dramatic flourish. The song doesn’t play to Brown’s strength as a vocalist but I’m betting after a lukewarm reception to his second album, the record company pushed him to record “Darlene” as a surefire hit that could get his momentum back. If I’m right, I guess they were at least half right with the calculation. Brown undoubtedly sees it as his signature song all these years later though. When he appeared on “Branson Country USA” last year, that’s the song he led with. I didn’t turn the station or the TV off, but just like in 1988, I thought it was a pretty weak song to make it to the top.
Grade: C-
…the impression “it doesn’t feel like a finished record at all.” may stem from the monotonous drum beat that feels like it could go on forever, as well as the absence of any indication (in his voice) about how his plea to darlene actually comes across. also perhaps, because it sounds a lot like a mashup of elton john’s “nikita” (1985) and frankie miller’s “darlin”. conway twitty most likely would have had a field day with this composition – t. graham brown had a unnecessarily dullish no. 1 that he personally quite liked seemingly. as a pop song “darlene” could be a rather catchy one, albeit not in the way t. graham brown presents it. d for his “darlene” unfortunately sounds rather fitting.
It’s amazing to me how this feature poses questions that it answers itself in time. Hearing his first wave of hits, I couldn’t understand how such a promising career got derailed. Now I know.
This song doesn’t disappointment me as deeply as others have commented it does them, but it is a departure lyrically from his previous hits.
Still, I will admit it is just sort of a dumb song.
It plays like a trifling and playful nothing of a ditty. In some ways, I can hear an early Waylon Jennings taking a stab at this, but he would build it from the bottom up, starting with those listless drums. I can hear it hitting a lot harder to compensate for its lack of lyrical substance.
As the financial stakes got higher on Music Row during this boom, the margin for error was shrinking for Nashville artists and T. Graham Brown was one of the first new stars to discover that.
“Wine Into Water” should be a classic.