JOHNNY PAYCHECK, "THE CAVE" C/W "THEN LOVE DIES" (LITTLE DARLIN' LD-0032, REL. 8/1967)

As Donny Young, today’s musical guest made a slew of excellent hard-country singles from 1958 to ’64 with zero success. With star songwriters like Don Gibson and George Jones feeding him material—in addition to his own excellent efforts—Donny couldn’t get arrested despite the sky-high quality of his releases.

In protest of what he felt was a rigged system, he reinvented himself. With the sarcastic alias of ‘Johnny Paycheck,’ the disgruntled chirper-cleffer wrote a series of shock-value songs, reminiscent of the EC Comics stories of the 1950s with their gaudy-on-purpose melodrama and twist endings. This, at last, got him on the country music charts. Paycheck’s singles for Little Darlin’ Records in the mid-1960s are the stuff of country legends.

It’s a pity his sincere early efforts failed—they’re now revered by fans and Bear Family Records issued a definitive CD compilation, Shakin’ the Blues, in 2006—but this outrageous new persona assured the singer’s continued success. He became one of the icons of outlaw country with his all-time shit-kicker classic “Take This Job and Shove it.”

The Little Darlin’ recordings hold a dark fascination. Much like Porter Wagoner’s off-the-wall melodramas of the period—“Rubber Room,” e.g.—they take a deep dive into the madness that colors the high emotions of country music and turn the hue, contrast and saturation sliders up to 100. This was country’s equivalent of psychedelia, and the best examples carry a similar power.

I grew up in the panhandle of North Florida and I recall hearing Johnny Paycheck’s Little Darlin’ singles on the local radio. My single-digit kid brain couldn’t quite fathom the content, but I knew they weren’t like all the other records. These had a stark gravity. One I didn’t hear—for I would have remembered it—is on the A-side of today’s single, issued in 1967.

“The Cave” was penned by Larry Kingston, a D-list country artist success-wise but a gifted songwriter who echoed the classic style of pre-WWII rural music. I don’t wish to spoil the experience of this recording, if you’ve not heard it, so please listen to it before I continue:

Hear it >>>>> HERE. <<<<<

Couched in a dream, “The Cave” teems with earthy detail. In the singer’s remembrance, he relates a narrative of himself as a child as he explores a deep, dense cave out in the wilderness. He loses his way inside the chambers of this inescapable tomb. Exhausted, he collapses and sleeps. Then he is awoken by what seems to be “a great earth-quaking blow.”

He finds his way out of the cave, but the world he knew has been decimated. The song leaves our dream-protagonist frozen in abject shock and fear as he realizes what has happened.

By 1967, when “The Cave” was recorded, fear of Armageddon had eased a bit. The Cuban Missile Crisis of ’62 brought the earth its closest to destruction. It was the first of a series of upending events—JFK’s assassination, the arrival of The Beatles, the civil rights protests, the Vietnam War—that made the 1960s the most anxious decade of the 20^th century. “The Cave” was a grim reminder that the doomsday clock remained a few minutes shy of midnight. Its folk ballad approach, with such lyrical density that it exceeds three minutes, still packs a punch. The first time I heard this song, via The Country Music Foundation’s excellent 1996 compilation The Real Mr. Heartache: The Little Darlin’ Years, I was floored. I searched for this single ever since and was both pleased and disturbed when I obtained a copy last month. I pass on this mixed bag of feelings to you!

It’s impossible that the B-side could live up to this A. “Then Love Dies,” co-penned by Paycheck and Aubrey Mayhew, is of a piece with Charlie Rich’s material of this period. Its down-to-earth melodrama serves as a welcome chaser to the spookiness of “The Cave.” As with much of Paycheck’s output, there’s a slight sense of self-parody, as if he knew he was pushing things a touch too far over the line. His vocal performance exudes utter sincerity.

Hear it >>>>> HERE. <<<<<

Either of the CDs cited are must-have items if these two songs at all grab you. Grab ‘em while there’s no interest in the CD format! It will make a comeback later in this decade—of this I’m sure.

Tomorrow: Larry Birdsong, with his Larryettes, delivers a pair of powerful proto-soul ballads for Memphis label Home of the Blues. Both sides are credited to Celia G. Camp, who also penned songs for The “5” Royales and may be a pen-name for one of my favorite songwriters. Great soulful stuff from 1962. Don’t miss this one!