Country Torch Songs s/d

"Fifteen Years Ago" Conway Twitty

"The Grand Tour" George Jones

"These Days (I Barely Get By)" George Jones

"If Drinking Don't Kill Me (Her Memory Will)" George Jones

"I Can't Stop Loving You" Don Gibson or Kitty Wells

"I'm Over You" Keith Whitley

that's off the top of my head.

kind of a broad category, anthony

"Tulsa Telephone Book" Tom T Hall. this is one of my all-time favorite songs. about a guy carrying a torch for a 1-nite stand.

Talking of which..."(Margie’s at) The Lincoln Park Inn" by Bobby Bare (but written by Tom T Hall)- terrific last verse.

Maybe Anthony will clarify but torch songs don't have to be about carrying a torch, do they? Torch songs in general are just sultry, long-and-low burn jazzy ballads. If that's the case, 3/4 of Patsy Cline's catalogue counts. Ditto for Allison Moorer's The Hardest Part (so much better than her new one).

But if it's carrying a torch you want, you can lock the thread with Mike Ireland's "Biggest Torch In Town" (from one of the best country albums of the '90s Learning How to Live).

I admit I'm slightly confused as to what a torch song is.

torch song n. A sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited love

yeah, i was wondering about that too, to be honest. seems like a pretty wide-open category, doesn't it? anyway, the first song that came to my mind when i saw this thread was "something in red" by lorrie morgan, but i have no idea whether it technically qualifies.

also, does "tulsa telephone book" (which i love, a lot more than the lorrie morgan song actually) *sound* like a torch song? i guess i kind of think of torch songs are sounding like they could be sung on broadway or something....so not so much "jazzy" as, i don't know, having *delusions* of jazziness. but i could be completely wrong.

point well taken. we need Stephen Holden or somebody of that ilk to define torch song. I suppose it's like "ballad" there's a technical definition and a vernacular usage.

Lorrie definitely carries a torch, though; honestly, in my mind, this song is definitive, somehow, even if it kinda makes me cringe:

I'm looking for something in red
Something that's shocking to turn someone's head
Strapless and sequined and cut down to there
Stockings and garters and lace underwear
The guaranteed number to knock the men dead
I'm looking for something in red

I'm looking for something i green
Something to out do an ex-high school queen
Jealousy comes in the color of jade
Do you have some pumps and a purse in this shade
And a perfume that whispers "Please comes back to me"
I'm looking for something in green

I'm looking for something in white
Something that shimmers in soft candlelight
Everyone calls us the most perfect pair
Should I wear a vail or a rose in my hair
Well,the train must be long and the waist must be tight
I'm looking for something in white

I'm looking for something in blue
Something real tiny,the baby's brand new
He has his father's nose and his chin
We once were hot lovers now we're more like friends
Don't tell me that's just what old married folk do
I'm looking for something in blue

I'm looking for something in red
Like the one that I wore when I first turned his head
Strapless and sequined and cut down to there
Just a size larger that I wore last year
The guaranteed number to knock the man dead

I'm looking for something
I've gotta have something
I'm looking for something in red