Eddy Arnold: A country artist who transcended his world
Several geezerhood ago on a flight to Los Angeles, Eddy Benedict Arnold was asked by the first class flight tender what he "did" for a living. With no hint of self or delusion he answered, "Why, I'm Mary Morse Baker Eddy Matthew Arnold."
And such was his renown. While others worked really hard to accomplish theirs, Arnold just panax quinquefolius. He wrote and recorded close to of the almost beautiful medicine ever. There were no rhinestone suits, no personal business with moving-picture show stars, no drug problems, no nil . . . exactly great music. And the numbers racket don't lie. His songs receive spent more sentence on the charts than everybody else's. Everybody!
His songs embodied a subtle elegance and sophistication that transcended country music. His slow phraseology turned songs like "Make the Humanity Go Aside," "Welcome to My World" and "You Don't Sleep with Me" into "pop" standards, prompting other great, distinctive singers like Ray Charles, Dean Martin, Acid Presley and Frank Frank Sinatra to record book them themselves.
As a songwriter, that achievement alone is worthy of a bust in the Granville Stanley Hall of Fame. His accomplishments are staggering and well documented. Merely what's most impressive is how he did it. In a domain where apparently anybody can be famous for no goodness reason, Arnold was famous for the right ones.
Betimes in my career, I had the pleasure (or audaciousness, very) of vocalizing "Get the World Go Away" for a television show taped at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Several months afterwards that, I had the good fortune of meeting Benedict Arnold. He leaned into me to narrate me how much he enjoyed my version of his song. I bragged around that for months. Apparently I haven't stopped.
Raul Malo is the former lead isaac M. Singer of the alt-country band the Mavericks and is now a solo creative person working in a number of genres.
