“I Wonder Do You Think of Me”
Keith Whitley
Written by Sanger D. Shafer
Radio & Records
#1 (1 week)
August 18, 1989
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
September 9, 1989
Garth Fundis can be credited as producer for all six of Keith Whitley’s No. 1 hits. This is the first of the three that he had to complete without Keith by his side.
“I Wonder Do You Think of Me” appealed to Whitley because of its similarities to the Lefty Frizzell classic, “I Never Go Around Mirrors,” which Whitley had wanted to release as a single from Don’t Close Your Eyes. The label was eager for a follow up to that smash album, and Fundis was tasked with working toward a fall release date. The sessions for Don’t Close Your Eyes had gone perfectly, which was a relief to Fundis, who’d received guarantees from RCA that Whitley’s alcohol days were behind him.
The sessions for I Wonder Do You Think of Me were tortured, with Whitley frequently missing recording sessions. Before those sessions were complete, he was gone, and Fundis had to construct his next album from the work they’d completed. Whitley’s widow, Lorrie Morgan, gave her personal approval for “I Wonder Do You Think of Me” to be the lead single.
I can’t imagine them going with anything else from those sessions, given Whitley’s passing. It’s a haunting, heartwrenching listen. He’s a whisper of his former self, no doubt, but the phrasing and emoting are still there. It’s eerily similar to hearing late career albums from great singers who have made into their sixties and seventies. It’s still so sad 35 years after his death that I can’t even imagine how hard this must have hit his fans upon release.
Whitley didn’t have enough in the tank to elevate this to the level of the Don’t Close Your Eyes classics, but you can’t tell his story completely without including this hit.
“I Wonder Do You Think of Me” gets a B+.
Every No. 1 Single of the Eighties
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