Always On My Mind

Album

Always On My Mind

Label

Columbia Records

Genre

Country

Composer(s)

Wayne Carson;lMark James;Johnny Christopher

Entered Chart

Mar 6, 1982

Peak Date

Jun 12, 1982

Released

March 6, 1982

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

Columbia 18-02741

B-Side

The Party's Over

This song tells the story of a man who admits he didn't always do the things he should have to show appreciation for his lady, but wants her to know he was always thinking about her. It's a message that transcends genre: Popular versions of the song were recorded by Willie Nelson, Brenda Lee, Elvis Presley and Pet Shop Boys. Wayne Carson, who wrote The Box Tops' 1967 #1 hit "The Letter," came up with "Always On My Mind" when he was working at a recording studio in Memphis. He lived with his wife in Springfield, Missouri, and the trip to Memphis had gone 10 days longer than expected. When he called the missus to tell her he would be there even longer, she let him have it. He tried to assuage her by telling her that was thinking about her all the time - she was "always on my mind." "It just struck me like someone had hit me with a hammer," he told the LA Times. "I told her real fast I had to hang up because I had to put that into a song." Over the next few days, he finished writing the song with two other writers at the studio: Johnny Christopher and Mark James. "All that 'Always' was about was one long apology," Carson added. "I guess there are a lot of people in the world who were looking for a way to say that in a song." Some sources claim B.J. Thomas was the first to record this song, but his version wasn't released until it appeared on a compilation in 1996. Elvis Presley recorded it on March 29, 1972, but his version wasn't released until that November. By then, versions by Brenda Lee and Gwen McCrae (titled "You Were Always On My Mind") were already on the market; Lee's rendition went to #45 on the Country chart September 2, 1972. Elvis had recently separated from his wife, Priscilla, making the song apropos. But it was released as a single with a song that seemed more fitting: "Separate Ways," about a divorced dad. "Always On My Mind" later became a key song in his canon, but it reached just #16 on the Country chart, as "Separate Ways" got most of the airplay. Willie Nelson's 1982 recording became the definitive version and the first to make the Hot 100 (#5; it was also a #1 Country hit). Nelson had never heard the song before the song's co-writer, Johnny Christopher, brought it to him and Merle Haggard, who were busy recording the album Pancho & Lefty (Christopher was playing guitar on the session). "'Always On My Mind,' bowled me over the moment I heard it, which is one of the ways I pick songs to record," Nelson recalled in his 1988 autobiography, Willie. "There are beautifully sad songs that bowl me over... haunting melodies you can't get out of your mind, with lines that really stick." Nelson figured he and Haggard would do the song together, but Haggard didn't care for it. After they finished recording their album, Nelson stayed in the studio and recorded the ballad solo, just to see what it would sound like. Of course, it sounded like a hit, but Nelson wondered, "We'll never know what would have happened if Merle had really heard the song right." The Country Music Association named "Always On My Mind" Single Of The Year in 1982. It also did very well at the Grammys, taking the awards for Song Of The Year, Best Male Country Vocal Performance, and Best Country Song. It was the first country song to take Song Of The Year, and it wasn't until the 2007 ceremonies when another country act got one: The Dixie Chicks for "Not Ready To Make Nice." The Elvis Presley version never made the pop charts in America, but hit the UK singles chart three times. The first release in 1972 made #9. In 1997, it was used in a TV commercial for British Telecom; re-released as a single, it went to 13. In 2007 it reached #17 when it was issued as part of a series of Elvis re-releases. In 1987, the British electronic duo Pet Shop Boys released a dance version of "Always On My Mind" that was a surprise hit, becoming the Christmas #1 in the UK that year and reaching #4 in the US in May 1988. The song entered their universe when they agreed to perform on a BBC Elvis tribute show commemorating the 10th anniversary of his death. Their manager gave them a stack of Elvis cassettes so they could choose a song to cover, and the first one they listened to was the compilation Magic Moments With Elvis. The first track was "Always On My Mind," so they went with it, adding an extra chord and reworking it in their signature style. It went over so well, they released the song as a single. Levi's used this in a 2004 commercial where a guy goes to great lengths to retrieve his jeans. He brings his old girlfriend a flower as a peace offering, then grabs his jeans and leaves while she puts it in water. In the January 2006 issue of Esquire magazine, B.B. King said that this was his favorite song. The Pet Shop Boys rendition was voted the top cover version of all time in a 2014 BBC Music vote. Johnny Cash's interpretation of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" came in second place, followed by The Stranglers' cover of Dionne Warwick's "Walk On By."

Maybe I didn't love you
Quite as often as I could have
And maybe I didn't treat you
Quite as good as I should have
If I made you feel second best
Girl, I'm sorry I was blind

You were always on my mind
You were always on my mind

And maybe I didn't hold you
All those lonely, lonely times
I guess I never told you
I'm so happy that you're mine
Little things I should have said and done
I just never took the time
But you were always on my mind
You were always on my mind

Tell me
Tell me that your sweet love hasn't died
And give me
Give me one more chance to keep you satisfied
I'll keep you satisfied

Little things I should have said and done
I just never took the time
But you were always on my mind (you were always on my mind)
You were always on my mind

You were always on my mind (you were always on my mind)
You were always on my mind