''Invictus (Means) Unconquered'' is an album released by

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

musician

David Allan Coe David Allan Coe (born September 6, 1939) is an American singer and songwriter. Coe took up music after spending much of his early life in reform schools and prisons, and first became notable for busking in Nashville. He initially played mostly i ...

. It was released in 1981 on Columbia.

Recording

With its radio-friendly sound and guest duets, Coe's previous album ''I've Got Something to Say'' was an attempt to reach a wider country audience, and this process is continued on ''Invictus (Means) Unconquered'', with producer

Billy Sherrill Billy Norris Sherrill (November 5, 1936 – August 4, 2015) was an American record producer, songwriter, and arranger best known for his association with country artists, notably Tammy Wynette and George Jones. Sherrill and business partner Gle ...

couching the songs in tasteful instrumentation that put the spotlight squarely on Coe's voice. In his

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

review of the album, Thom Jurek calls the LP "arguably the finest album of his career" and singles out Coe's vocals for particular praise: ''Invitus'' is also noteworthy in that Coe only had a hand in writing just four of its ten songs, although considering the songwriter had produced ten albums of nearly all original material for Columbia in seven years, a creative dry spell was understandable. "

A Boy Named Sue "A Boy Named Sue" is a song written by humorist, children's author, and poet Shel Silverstein and made popular by Johnny Cash. Cash recorded the song live in concert on February 24, 1969, at California's San Quentin State Prison for his ''At ...

" songwriter

Shel Silverstein Sheldon Allan Silverstein (; September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999) was an American writer, poet, cartoonist, singer / songwriter, musician, and playwright. Born and raised in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, Silverstein briefly attended universit ...

contributes three songs, including "Someplace to Come When It Rains", which gets a sensitive reading from Coe, and the parting-of-the-ways tune "If You Ever Think of Me", which the pair composed together. They also collaborated with Karen Brooks on the lustful “The Best Game in Town,” and this song, along with the hopeful “As Far as This Feeling Will Take Us,” is sung by Coe and Brooks as duets in the classic

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song "He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...

Tammy Wynette Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music artist, as well as an actress and author. She is considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta Ly ...

tradition. Coe wrote "Ain't It Funny the Way Love Can Do Ya" with songwriting couple Guy and Susanna Clark, and wrote the

John Dillinger John Herbert Dillinger (June 22, 1903 – July 22, 1934) was an American gangster during the Great Depression. He led the Dillinger Gang, which was accused of robbing 24 banks and four police stations. Dillinger was imprisoned several times and ...

-inspired outlaw anthem “I Love Robbing Banks" with

Guy Clark Guy Charles Clark (November 6, 1941 – May 17, 2016) was an American folk and country singer-songwriter and luthier. He released more than 20 albums, and his songs have been recorded by other artists, including Jerry Jeff Walker, Jimmy Buffet ...

. Whether prompted by commercial aspirations or not, the covers that Coe and Sherrill chose to fill out the album were inspired. The opener, "Rose Knows", is the classic cheating tale filled with the paranoia of a man dreading that his wife is suspicious of his trysts, while the Bobby David-Ray Kennedy tune "The Purple Heart", which Sherrill infuses with the classic "Ray Price shuffle", uses war as a metaphor to show the bitterness and heartbreak of a love gone sour. ("You put me out of action so many times before and left me on the battlefield to bleed...") Coe also covers the outlaw classic "London Homesick Blues", popularised by

Jerry Jeff Walker Jerry Jeff Walker (born Ronald Clyde Crosby; March 16, 1942 – October 23, 2020) was an American country music and folk singer-songwriter. He was a leading figure in the progressive country and outlaw country music movement. He was best ...

, and, more curiously, the Tammy Wynette classic "

Stand by Your Man "Stand by Your Man" is a song recorded by American country music artist Tammy Wynette, co-written by Wynette and Billy Sherrill. It was released on September 20, 1968, as the first single and title track from the album '' Stand by Your Man''. It ...

". Coe plays it straight on the song, which was written by Wynette and Sherrill, and is heartfelt and moving, taking on a new meaning in a man's voice - more of a plea than a declaration. (This would be taken to the extreme the following year when the heavy metal band

Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a precu ...

and

Wendy O. Williams Wendy Orlean Williams (May 28, 1949 – April 6, 1998) was an American singer, best known as the lead singer of the punk rock band Plasmatics. She was noted for her onstage theatrics, which included partial nudity, exploding equipment, firing ...

would also cover the song.) Released as the album's single, Coe's "Stand by Your Man" reached No. 88 on the charts.

Reception

Like many Coe albums of this era, ''Invictus (Means) Unconquered'' was a mediocre commercial success, making it to No. 67 on the country albums chart.

wrote: "From top to bottom, ''Invictus Means Unconquered'' towers above most country records not only of the era, but of all time. It's a quintessential example of everything country music can achieve when it is honest, true, and from the center of a broken heart."

Track listing

#"Rose Knows" (Don Goodman, Mary Ann Kennedy, Pam Rose) – 2:27 #"Ain't It Funny the Way Love Can Do Ya" (Coe,

, Susanna Clark) – 2:40 #"If You Ever Think of Me at All" (Coe,

) – 2:48 #"The Purple Heart" (Bobby David, Ray Kennedy) – 3:11 #"London Homesick Blues" (Gary P. Nunn) – 3:00 #"

" (

) – 3:27 #"As Far as This Feeling Will Take Us" (with Karen Brooks) (Buzz Rabin, Flash Gordon) – 2:55 #"Someplace to Come When It Rains" (Shel Silverstein) – 3:31 #"The Best Game in Town" (with Karen Brooks) (Coe, Shel Silverstein, Karen Brooks) – 3:04 #"I Love Robbing Banks" (Coe,

) – 2:29

Personnel

, Karen Brooks –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* The Nashville Edition –

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

* Billy Sanford, Jimmy Capps,

Tommy Allsup Thomas Douglas Allsup (November 24, 1931 – January 11, 2017) was an American rockabilly and swing musician. Personal life Allsup was born near Owasso, Oklahoma in 1931, and was an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. Allsup had a son, ...

, Phil Baugh –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Pete Drake Roddis Franklin "Pete" Drake (October 8, 1932 – July 29, 1988), was a Nashville-based American record producer and pedal steel guitar player. One of the most sought-after backup musicians of the 1960s, Drake played on such hits as Lynn Anderson' ...

, Dale Seigfreid –

steel guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...

* Henry Strzelecki,

Joe Osborn Joseph Osborn (August 28, 1937 – December 14, 2018bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

Kenny Malone Kenny Malone (August 4, 1938 – August 26, 2021) was an American drummer and percussionist. Life and career Malone was born in Denver, Colorado. From the 1970s onwards, he was a prominent session musician in folk, country and many other acoustic ...

Jerry Carrigan Jerry Kirby Carrigan (September 13, 1943 – June 22, 2019) was an American drummer and record producer. Early in his career he was a member of the original Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and later worked as a session musician in Nashville for over ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Hargus "Pig" Robbins Hargus Melvin Robbins (January 18, 1938 – January 30, 2022), known by his nickname "Pig," was an American session keyboard player. Having played on records for many artists, including John Stewart, Dolly Parton, Connie Smith, Patti Page, Lore ...

–

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

* Farrell Morris –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

–

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

Chart performance

References

{{Authority control David Allan Coe albums 1981 albums Columbia Records albums Albums produced by Billy Sherrill