Personally, I could never imagine a star of Country Music Kenny Rogers Junior. For me, he was always a blessing prominent man in the years with a gray beard. It is not surprising, if you consider that the singer won his world fame only in 1977-1978, when he was already under forty. About the two most famous songs of Kenny Rogers and will go a story ...
"The Gambler" (1978)
The main "visiting card" of the singer was and remains the song of 1978 "The Gambler" ("Player") - a reference sample of the so-called country-ass.
The song was composed back in 1976. Its author is Don Schlitz - then he was a little-known, novice songrater, so in parallel worked in the cemetery business.
He wrote his future hit in memory of the recently deceased father ("The best person I've ever knew). The action of the song unfolds at night, in the train car, where the hero meets the old player in poker. The latter shares with a young man with his life experience - and uses exclusively card terms for this.
You need to know when to hold, and when to lose. When it is time to leave, and when you need to escape. Never recount your money while sitting at the table. To do this, there will be enough time when it is done. Now every player knows the secret of survival, knows what to reset and what needs to be saved. "Because every player is a winner, and every player is the loser, and the best thing you can hope is to die in a dream."The last desire of the player comes true: he falls asleep in the car and, apparently, quietly goes into the world of others (although it does not say about it).
Schlitz tried to attach his song for a long time, and in 1978 it includes Bobby Ber album, and the author himself produces a single. Above the 65th scene did not rise, but the famous country singers as Johnny Cash and Kenny Rogers drew attention to the "player".
Interestingly, at first Rogers offered to record "The Gambler" to his colleague - Willie Nelson. But Nelson refused, motivating the refusal like this:
I performed a song every night called "Red Headed Stranger", in which 100 versions. I just did not want to record another long song, so he said: "Well, I will write it myself" ... ".
If Johnny Cache recorded a song after the sleeves, Rogers approached her creative. Schlitz himself noted that new musical ideas were added to the "player", which in the original was not (for example, guitar entry).
As a result, the version of Rogers became the Golden Classic Country of Music (No. 1 in Country Chart, No. 16 in the US Pop Chart).
In 1979, the singer performed "The Gambler" in the "Mappa show". Together with puppet characters, he literally reproduced the plot of the songs (in the end it was even possible to see the dancing ghost of the deceased player).
And from 1980 to 1994, a whole series of 4 TV films "The Gambler" was published, inspired by this song, where the role of a gambling player played the singer himself. The most funny all this is that neither Don Schlitz nor his father, nor Kenny Rogers were never fond of gambling games.
Kenny Rogers: - A long time ago, I realized that I could not win enough money to satisfy myself, but I can lose a lot more to fall into depression."Lady" (1980)
The very high achievement of the singer in the National American Chart was the release of the song "Lady". It turned out to be the only hit number 1 in Rogers's solo career (not counting the song "Islands In The Stream" recorded in a duet with Dolly Parton). Interestingly, a romantic ballad, where a man expressed his worship before a woman, displaced the Woman in love women's love ballad from Barbra Streisand from the top of the chait-parade.
It is even more interesting that the "Lady" style did not resemble a typical song from the Country singer repertoire. What is not surprising, if we consider that I composed her black composer Lionel Richie. Such cooperation looked at that time very unusual (Country was considered very white). How Rogers himself joked, "Black guy from R & B and a white guy from Country created a hit for the ranconies."
At that time, Lionel Richie was not yet a superstar that wrote "Truly" and "Hello", but just one of the participants of the Soul-group The Commodores. Actually, the first Lady verse (then the song was called "Baby") he sketched for his group, but the rest of her rejected her. And then just to Richie turned with an unexpected offer - to compose hit for the country's star.
At first, the singer was relaxed - they say, he does not have for this time. But as soon as he found out that his song is planning to include the original track in the collection of the best musical hits Rogers, realized that the game is worth the candle. Holding in the mind unfinished "Baby", Richie flew to the Rogers Studio.
Before proceeding with work, Rogers shared with Richie's impressions about his recent (already 4th) marriage. This time the chief of the singer became the actress Marianna Gordon, which he enthusiastically said: "Lyonel, I married Lady, a real lady. What am I - a rural guy from Texas - with it to do? She has such a taste, such manners ... By the way, how is your song called there? "
Sly Richie immediately uncoupled and quickly renamed "Baby" in "Lady". True, the rest of the text had to add, returned right in ... studio toilet.
Success ballad was awesome. Women just melted from melancholic piano party and elevated lines:
Ladi ... I am your knight in shining armor, and I love you. You made me those who I am, and I'm all - yours. My love ... There are so many ways that I want to say: "I love you." Let me keep you in my hands forever ...The song not only brought the 1st place Kenny Rogers, but also became the most cash record of Lyonel Richie's composer career ("I have a manor, bought, thanks to" Lady "," said Black Singer). But it was not the last hit of Richie - after the first "breakthrough" he began a very successful solo career.
In 1998, Lionel remembered his first successful song and recorded it for his album "Time". And in 2012, executed with Rogers a duet.
Kenny Rogers: - I again and again asked him to compose another song for me. But now, when Lyonel is so successful, I think he feels that if the song is good enough for me, then she is good enough for him.Despite this, both singers continued to be friends - until the death of Kenny Rogers in 2020.
Author - Sergey Kuriy
Source - Springzhizni.ru.