Pour One Out for Kenny Rogers

A blog post not on Monday? What is going on?? Special times call for special circumstances, and last night on March 20th, 2020 the music world lost a true legend in the form of 81-year-old country music star Kenny Rogers.

Kenneth Ray Rogers was the fourth of eight children born to Edward and Lucille Rogers in Houston, Texas on August 21st, 1938. In a career we can trace back to the 1950s, Rogers had influences in Rock & Roll, Psychedelic Rock, and finally (and thankfully) Country music. He’s been a part of bands and a solo artist, a vocalist and an instrumentalist, a songwriter, an entrepreneur, and a record producer. The man could play guitar, bass, harmonica, and fiddle. He won 3 Grammys, 7 ACMs, 6 CMAs (including the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award), and 13 AMAs just to name a few. He’s a member of the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame (Class of 2017) and the Country Music Hall of Fame (Class of 2013). He was a man of many talents, and I needed to take a special post to celebrate him.

For me personally, I can clearly remember my first conscious encounter with Rogers’ music. I was about eight years old, living in Colorado, when I heard The Greatest come on the radio while I was in the car with my mom. I was completely enraptured. This man’s voice was so comforting, telling me the story of this little boy playing baseball. Soon after I was introduced to Buy Me A Rose and I decided I loved Kenny Rogers.

To celebrate his life and memory, here’s a highlight of some of Rogers’ greatest hits for you to listen, remember, and enjoy.

The Gambler (written by D. Schlitz) Can you talk about Kenny Rogers without talking about The Gambler? Even people who don’t know him know this song. On a warm summer’s evening, on a train bound for nowhere/I met up with a gambler, we were both too tired to sleep/So we took turns a-staring out the window at the darkness/’Till boredom overtook us, and he began to speak/He said, “Son, I’ve made a life out of reading people’s faces/Knowing what the cards were by the way they held their eyes/So if you don’tmind my saying, I can see you’re out of aces/For a taste of your whiskey, I’ll give you some advice”/So I handed him my bottle, and he drank down my last swallow/Then he bummed a cigarette and asked me for a light/And the night got deathly quite and his face lost all expression/He said, “If you’re gonna play the game, boy, you gotta learn to play it right/You got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em/Know when to walk away, know when to run/You never count your money when you’re sitting at the table/There’ll be time enough for counting when the dealing’s done

Islands in the Stream with Dolly Parton (written by B. Gibb, M. Gibb, R. Gibb) Another staple in the repertoires of both Rogers and Parton. Baby, when I met you there was peace unknown/I set out to get you with a fine tooth comb/I was soft inside, there was something going on/You do something to me that I can’t explain/Hold me closer and I feel no pain/Every beat of my heart, we got something going on/Tender love is blind, it requires dedication/All this love we feel needs no conversation/And we can ride it together, uh huh/Making love with each other, uh huh/Islands in the stream, that is what we are/No one in between, how can we be wrong/Sail away with me to another world/And we rely on each other, uh huh/From one lover to another, uh huh

Coward of the County (written by H. Wheeler, R. Bowling) Such a classic Rogers song, both in musicality and lyrics. Everyone considered him the coward of the county/He’d never stood one single time to prove the county wrong/His mama named him Tommy, but folks just called him yellow/Something always told me they were reading Tommy wrong/He was only ten years old when his daddy died in prison/I looked after Tommy ’cause he was my brother’s son/I still recall the final words my brother said to Tommy/Son, my life is over, but yours has just begun/Promise me, son, not to do the things I’ve done/Walk away from trouble if you can/It won’t mean you’re weak if you turn the other cheek/I hope you’re old enough to understand/Son, you don’t have to fight to be a man

Lady (written by L. Richie) Such an absolutely beautiful love song. You can hear the influences of both Rogers and Lionel Richie blending together beautifully. Lady, I’m your knight in shining armor, and I love you/You have made me what I am, and I am yours/My love, there’s so many ways I want to say I love you/Let me hold you in my arms forevermore/You have gone and made me such a fool/I’m so lost in your love/And oh, we belong together/Won’t you believe in my song

The Greatest (written by D. Schlitz) My favorite Rogers song. My introduction to his music. One of the first music videos I remember watching on CMT. Little boy in a baseball hat/Stands in the field with his ball and bat/Says, “I am the greatest player of them all”/Puts his bat on his shoulder and he tosses up his ball/And the ball goes up and the ball comes down/Swings his bat all the way around/The world’s so still, you can hear the sound/The baseball falls to the ground

Buy Me a Rose ft. Billy Dean & Alison Krauss (written by J. Funk, E. Hickenlooper) My other favorite Rogers song. He works hard to give her all he thinks she wants/Three car garage, her own credit cards/He pulls in to wake her up with a kiss goodnight/If he could only read her mind,she’d say/Buy me a rose, call me from work/Open a door for me, what would it hurt/Show me you love me by the look in your eyes/These are the little things I need the most in my life

She Believes in Me (written by S. Gibb) Another beautiful love song. While she lays sleeping, I stay out late at night and play my songs/And sometimes, all the nights can be so long/And it’s good when I finally make it home all alone/While she lays dreaming, I try to get undressed without the light/And quietly, she says, “How was your night”/And I come to her and say, “It was alright,” and I hold her tight/And she believes in me, I’ll never know just what she sees in me/I told her someday if she was my girl, I could change the world/With my little songs, I was wrong/But she has faith in me, and so I go on trying faithfully/And who knows, maybe on some special night, if my song is right/I will find a way, find a way

Through the Years (written by M. Panzerr, S. Dorff) Ending this nostalgia trip with another beautiful love song. I can’t remember when you weren’t there/When I didn’t care for anyone but you/I swear we’ve been through everything there is/Can’t imagine anything we’ve missed/Can’t imagine anything the two of us can’t do/Through the years, you’ve never let me down/You turned my life around/The sweetest days I’ve found, I’ve found with you/Through the years, I’ve never been afraid/I’ve loved the life we’ve made/And I’m so glad I’ve stayed right here with you through the years

Rest In Peace, Kenny. We’ll miss you.