The song was considered by Lee Ann Womack and Terri Clark before finding its ideal interpreter in the melodrama-averse Alan Jackson, whose quietly desperate performance suggests that Patty Loveless' backing vocal is all that stands between him and the abyss.ĭeciding which of Jones’ sad songs is sadder than the next is like trying to decide whether coal is blacker than the bottom of the ocean or midnight on a moonless night. Over a simple yet classic Erin Enderlin melody, Baxter applied that metaphor to the heart of an inconsolate widower enraged with God. Lyricist Brent Baxter's mother was an English teacher who used the phrase 'as empty as a Monday morning church' to explain poetry to her students. While the song's restrained honky-tonk beat emanates composure, Cline tries her best to do the same, keeping herself together in the presence of an old love wants her to be just his friend.

Either way, 'I Fall to Pieces' was put to tape in late 1960 and became the biggest country single of the following year. According to Howard's wife Jan, Cline hated the song and refused to record it. 'Drusky, that's a hit song you just let go,' she remarked, 'and I'm gonna get Owen to let me have it.' That's how Drusky tells it, at least. But when the latter left the studio, however, Cline made sure that it wouldn't reach anyone else. Songwriters Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard were sure their new 'I Fall to Pieces' would be a hit, but before it reached Patsy Cline, singers Brenda Lee ('too country') and Roy Drusky ('too feminine') both passed.

Country songs being strong together