I Fall To Pieces Part 4:The Label

(image courtesy of discogs.com)

Oh sure, they infamously turned away the Beatles in 1962 by saying that, “Guitar music is on the way out.” But don’t let that taint their legacy. Decca Records was a behemoth of hits and music innovation, and “I Fall To Pieces” is just one example of their fortitude.

They started as a company selling Gramophones, specifically, the “Decca Dulcephone.” They made the obvious transition to selling records very easily, and after several minor hits they put out the best selling single of all time, “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby.

Decca also was the first to put out a full cast soundtrack, “Oklahoma,” and they would continue to put out the albums for “Carousel” and “Annie Get Your Gun.”

In 1954, they made their entrance into Rock and Roll with, “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley & His Comets. They distributed Elvis Presley’s recordings in the UK, as well.

They’re the label for Robert Plant, Sting, and Paul Simon, among many others, and they were perhaps the best thing that happened to Patsy Cline.

I Fall To Pieces Part 3: The Studio

(image courtesy of patsified.com)

When you consider how many big names were associated with the creation of “I Fall To Pieces,” it’s almost insulting that the song wasn’t the number one hit of 1961.

First off, it was the first song written by the duo of Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard. It was Cochran’s debut song, which launched him into a career of number one hits, included more for Patsy Cline, Burl Ives, George Strait, and Mickey Gilley. Howard was already an established songwriter who would go on to write for Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, and the Kingston Trio, and would eventually be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1997.

Then there was the team that surrounded Patsy  in the studio November 16, 1960. The Pianist that played for Patsy was Hargus "Pig" Robbins, a blind pianist who was one of the most sought after session players in Nashville, playing for Bob Dylan and Conway Twitty. Her backup singers were none other than The Jordanaires, the Gospel Quartet originally founded by the sons of an Assemblies of God evangelist in Springfield, MO (which just so happens to be where I live). They would eventually catch the eye of Elvis Presley, and they helped create his signature sound, singing on every one of his recordings for 14 years, starting with “Heartbreak Hotel.”

It almost makes me wonder, was the label trying to create a female Elvis? Maybe, but regardless, they did create a musical sensation with this song.

I Fall To Pieces Part 2: The Singer

(image from patsified.com)

Before Beyonce or Whitney Houston turned a church choir singing career into a pop music career, before Taylor Swift or Shania Twain dominated the charts as crossover country artists, there was Patsy Cline.

She was born as Virginia Patterson Hensley in Winchester, Virginia in 1932 to a poor, humble family. She sang in church growing up, as well as in bars and local talent shows. She wore the cowgirl outfits her mother made for her every time she performed, up until a fateful day in 1957, when she donned a cocktail dress and wowed the world on the CBS Show “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts” with her rendition of “Walkin’ After Midnight.”

“I Fall To Pieces” was a major turning point in Patsy’s career. It was her first major hit since “Walkin’”, a span of four years in which she’d gotten married to her second husband and had a baby. It was her first recording away from her original label, Four Star Records, and on her new label, Decca Records (which I’ll talk  about later). It was a whole new sound for her, not firmly bound to the jangly instrumentation of Country-Western  music, but instead establishing herself as a pop superstar.

She wasn’t sure how the song would come across, or how it would be accepted, but she did like the way it sounded. Apparently, so did everybody else.