Song 5:
“Abilene” by George Hamilton IV
Peak: 15
Year: 1963
Year end position: NA
Alphabetical Songs by Artist: 1/3
Chronological Songs by Artist: 3/3
Video?: No
Spotify?: Yes
For the second day in a row, we are coming up with an artist
that I was pretty unfamiliar with. In
fact, I was so unfamiliar with George Hamilton IV, that I was mistaking him for
the actor George Hamilton (the guy who played Zorro in the early 80s
movie). Turns out I couldn't find any
evidence that these two are even related.
I don't know if there's any controversy here, but the
spelling of the title of the song on Spotify is "Abeline", whereas
everywhere else I have seen it written is "Abilene". My guess is that this is a typo on the album,
and that the real spelling is based on the Kansas town named in the title of
the song (with an "i", not an "e"). This song is often mistakenly thought to be
about Abilene, Texas, but apparently was written about Abilene, Kansas, which
was the railroad head of the Chisholm Trail, which used to be a much bigger
city than it is today.
Because we are really early in this blog, there are a lot of
firsts associated with this song. This
marks the first time a place has appeared in the title of a song, but
unsurprisingly, the only mention of the city of Abilene we will hear. I am kind of fascinated with how many place
names make it into song titles, but I haven't run any numbers on the frequency
yet.
This also marks the first primarily country song we have
heard. Country music has had an
interesting relationship with the Pop charts.
It seems to fade in and out of vogue at various times throughout the last
60 or so years. I'm sure I will expand
on this more as more songs come around, but I think this song marks the tail
end of the first run of country popularity on the pop chart. I think that the watershed moment of the
Beatles helped usher out this run of country popularity.
As for George Hamilton IV, I was unaware of his record on
the charts. This song came out in 1963,
a full 6 years after his last top 20 song.
After this song came out to moderate success, he was never heard from on
the Pop charts again. It turns out he
was a bit of a big deal when Rock music was getting off the ground in the early
50s. He toured with Buddy Holly and Gene
Vincent for a while as something of a teen idol, but then switched to country
music in the early 60's.
The lyrics of the song become more melancholy the more you
listen to them. The song is
written from the point of view of someone that is not currently in Abilene, but
longs to get back there. Where the
singer is and what he is going through you don't ever know. The only thing you have to go on is that he
really wants to go back. My own theory
is that where ever he is, he's having a hard time with a relationship and wants
to go home where "Women there won't treat you mean". Thinking of it that way adds some sadness to
the song.
There is a great video of George singing this song on
YouTube. I have no idea what show it is
from, but it is outstanding. It has a
bit of a Lawrence Welk-y vibe to it. I
particularly like the hobo they have sitting on the floor and George's
contemplative stares off into the distance as he thinks longingly about his
precious "Abilene".
I have a bit of a soft spot for old-school country music (I
also have a soft spot for melancholy songs), so I enjoyed finding out about
this song. It's quite a deep cut, but
one worth checking out.
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