“My Love”
Sonny James
Written by Tony Hatch
Billboard
#1 (3 weeks)
May 16 – May 30, 1970
A string of sixteen consecutive No. 1 hits is bound to include a few surprises.
“My Love” is one of them, as fifties pop country crooner Sonny James navigates a light bluegrass arrangement surprisingly well. He’s having a lot of fun on this record, and it helps to elevate a pedestrian lyric that reads like a Tin Pan Alley clearing house of WWII-era romantic sentiments.
These are the kinds of records that flesh out a lengthy career, even if they aren’t necessarily the best representation of an artist at their peak. An interesting experiment worth revisiting, “My Love” is atypical Sonny James in so many good ways.
“My Love” gets a B+.
Every No. 1 Single of the Seventies
Previous: Dave Dudley, “The Pool Shark” |
Somehow missed this one. This is very atypical Sonny James, but a welcome surprise for sure.
Even while artistically stretching himself a bit, James still sounds wonderfully comforting and familiar.
What exactly happened here? It seems I’m one of 3 people who didn’t notice this until today. Regardless, were you aware this was a cover? The Petula Clark original was a #1 pop hit.
As for bonus beats, here’s another Petula Clark country cover, one I think is even better than this one, Barbara Fairchild’s version of “Colour My World”:
https://youtu.be/je05sRr8taY
I skipped this one by mistake and had to retroactively add it! Reader Richie caught the mistake.
Sonny was very good at covering lightweight pop hits. I remember well Petula Clark’s version, which I liked as well as Sonny’s. I would rate both versions as a solid “B”