“Fifteen Years Ago”
Conway Twitty
Written by Raymond Smith
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
November 21, 1970
As important as predecessors like Kitty Wells and Patsy Cline were, the true birth of the female country superstar came with the trio of Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, and Dolly Parton.
These three women broke through the intermediaries of Music Row songwriters because they were all brilliant songwriters themselves, and they made careers out of talking directly to different types of women who were navigating societal barriers that my generation will never fully understand as well as our mothers and grandmothers. (And, sadly, our daughters and granddaughters.)
For the women who wanted to stand their ground and give as good as she gets, there was Loretta. For the women who simply wouldn’t acknowledge those societal barriers as legitimate and were ready to fly, there was Dolly. And for the women who genuinely wanted the wife and mother Platonic ideal that had been promised to them as birthright, there was Tammy.
With all three ladies, it was exceedingly rare for their outside material to speak to their target audiences as the self-written material that they performed. But sometimes outside songwriters got it right, and “Run, Woman, Run” is one of the best examples of this from the Tammy catalog.
Having a woman in the writer’s room works wonders because these are real characters who are all acting in good faith, as most of us try to do every day. The husband is loyal and hard-working and comes home every night. The wife is feeling limited by the domestic life that leaves no space for her to make her own mark on the world. And the friend is sharing a good faith warning on how that outside world will crush a woman’s dreams, which has led her to believe that acquiescence to the role of traditional wife is the only real path to a woman’s security in a world hostile to their agency.
There’s a direct line from records like this to nineties records like “Is There Life Out There,” “Do You Know Where Your Man is,” and “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her.” The societal details change with time, but that sense of authentic storytelling with believable characters bonds the generations together.
“Run, Woman, Run” gets an A.
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I love this song and yes, a “B+” is the appropriate grade for a very good song that you love. A’s should be reserved for exceptional in my opinion. Not much else to say but as usual Conway makes you feel every word.
It feels like Conway never gets the love he deserves. He had 40 #1 hits, but almost all of them are totally new to me.
My experience is that, except for a select list of hits that have had cultural staying power, even retro country stations aren’t inclined to play much from before the dawn of the Outlaw era circa 1975. Most people who listen to the oldies country stations I listen to in the Midwest could probably follo along with the “#1 singles of the 80s” feature and knew more songs than not, but the “#1 singles of the 70s” feature is a different story where the majority of the songs are outside my orbit of familiarity. I have a couple of theories as to why this might be the case but rather than making a fool out of myself peddling them, I’d prefer to hear from somebody in the business on why they think even oldies country stations generally stick to the 80s, 90s, and second half of the 70s.
Odd choice indeed to drown Conway out with an Oak Ridge Boys treatment on the chorus. It’s my first time hearing this but it gives me a vibe similar to Randy Travis’s “1982” much more than the similarly named pop-gloss Kenny Rogers hit “Twenty Years Ago”. The lack of recurring airplay for either of them can probably be explained by dated production and the irony that said production dates both songs back much farther than 15 or 20 years ago, respectively.
I always felt that this was a rather maudlin song sung supremely well by a very talented artist. The production does not especially bother me, perhaps because so many of the recordings from the 1970s shared similar production flaws. I would much rather hear 70s production than modern country with its too loud guitar solos and excessive rhythm sections. The B+ seems appropriate – better lyrics would make it worth an A, 70s production notwithstanding.
…too much of everything in this one: too much sentimentality, too much steel, too much conway (making up for a whole string section by himself)… – it’s like country heaven raining down on you with a little piece of hell. just love it.
This is a stellar song, absolutely one of my favorites by Conway! If I had to rank it, I think its probably my third favorite behind That’s My Job and Linda On My Mind. If the drowning out of Conway bothers you here, listen to Charley Pride’s version. His voice is more in the forefront and the background singers harmonize well without taking over. His version in general is stellar too.