Oct. 11, 1982: Springfield songwriter Wayne Carson shared the award for Song of the Year from the Country Music Association in Nashville. Carson wrote, “Always on My Mind” with Johnny Christopher and Mark James.
It also won the award for Single of the Year, which was accepted by popular star Willie Nelson, who made the song famous.
Always on My Mind is the thirtieth studio album by country singer Willie Nelson. It was the Billboard number one country album of the year for 1982, and stayed 253 weeks on the Billboard Top Country Albums charts, peaking at number one for a total of 22 weeks, as well as spending 99 weeks on the Billboard 200 for all albums, peaking at number two for 3 weeks.
During the recording sessions for Nelson’s collaboration album with Merle Haggard, Pancho & Lefty, the producer Chips Moman and Bobby Emmons suggested that they record Johnny Christopher’s “Always on My Mind“.[2] Haggard had no interest in recording a version of the song for the album, so instead Nelson recorded his own version—the first for the album entitled Always on My Mind. In his autobiography, Nelson stated: “We’ll never know what would have happened if Merle had really heard the song right. ‘Always on My Mind’ bowled me over the moment I first heard it, which is one way I pick songs to record”.[3]
The rest of the album was constituted by adult-contemporary and pop standards, such as “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man” and Paul Simon‘s “Bridge Over Troubled Water“,[4] as well as re-recordings of his own songs including “Permanently Lonely” (originally recorded for 1969’s Good Times LP) and “The Party’s Over” (originally recorded for The Party’s Over released in 1967).
A 2003 re-release of the album included two bonus tracks: “The Man Who Owes Everyone” and “I’m a Memory” (another re-recording of an earlier release).
Track listing[edit]
- “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man” (Chips Moman, Dan Penn) – 2:58
- “Always on My Mind” (Johnny Christopher, Mark James, Wayne Carson Thompson) – 3:34
- “A Whiter Shade of Pale” (Gary Brooker, Keith Reid, Matthew Fisher) – 4:01
- “Let It Be Me” (Mann Curtis, Pierre Delanoë, Gilbert Bécaud) – 3:33
- “Staring Each Other Down” (Chips Moman, Bobby Emmons) – 2:16
- “Bridge over Troubled Water” (Paul Simon) – 4:39
- “Old Fords and a Natural Stone” (Bobby Emmons, Chips Moman) – 2:33
- “Permanently Lonely” (Willie Nelson) – 2:41
- “Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning” (Gary P. Nunn, Donna Sioux Farar) – 4:22
- “The Party’s Over” (Willie Nelson) – 2:52