"Just to Satisfy You" is a song written by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singers

Waylon Jennings Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music. Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...

and Don Bowman in 1963. Jennings included the song in his performing repertoire, and on radio, where the song became a local hit in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

. The song was later re-recorded and made the title-track of his 1969 album, while in 1982 he once again re-recorded it as a duet version along with

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (197 ...

, that peaked at number one for two weeks on the ''Billboard''

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

. The song was also released in June 1967 by

Glen Campbell Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, actor and television host. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting ''The Glen Campbell Goodt ...

on the Burning Bridges album and in January 1970 by

Jerry Reed Jerry Reed Hubbard (March 20, 1937 – September 1, 2008) was an American singer, guitarist, composer, and songwriter as well as an actor who appeared in more than a dozen films. His signature songs included " Guitar Man", " U.S. Male", "A Thi ...

on his album Cookin'.

Background and recordings

and Don Bowman wrote the song in 1963. The same year, Jennings signed a recording contract with

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

. His releases had little success, because the main releases of the label were

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

rather than country. Despite the low success of his records, the single "Just To Satisfy You" backed with

Ian Tyson Ian Dawson Tyson (September 25, 1933 – December 29, 2022) was a Canadian singer-songwriter who wrote several folk songs, including "Four Strong Winds" and " Someday Soon", and performed with partner Sylvia Tyson as the duo Ian & Sylvia. Ear ...

's "

Four Strong Winds "Four Strong Winds" is a song written by Ian Tyson and recorded by Canadian folk duo Ian and Sylvia. Tyson has noted that he composed the song in about 20 minutes in his then manager Albert Grossman's New York apartment in 1962. A significant compos ...

" were radio hits in

. Singer

Bobby Bare Robert Joseph Bare Sr. (born April 7, 1935) is an American country music singer and songwriter, best known for the songs "Marie Laveau", " Detroit City" and "500 Miles Away from Home". He is the father of Bobby Bare Jr., also a musician. Early ca ...

, who liked Jennings' style, covered both songs and recommended Jennings to producer

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music s ...

, who signed him to

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

in 1965. In 1967, during an interview, Jennings remarked that the song was a "pretty good example" of the influence of his work with

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer and songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas ...

and rockabilly music. Despite that the song was included in Jennings performing repertoire, it was not released as a single, but it was included two years later as the title-track of his 1969 album. In 1982, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson recorded the song again, which became their third number one country hit as a duo. The single spent two weeks at number one and a total of twelve weeks on the country chart. In 1987, Barbara Mandrell, recorded the song for her "Sure Feels Good" album. The song was never released as a single.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 1963 songs 1965 singles 1982 singles Bobby Bare songs Waylon Jennings songs Willie Nelson songs Glen Campbell songs Songs written by Waylon Jennings Song recordings produced by Chips Moman RCA Records singles Male vocal duets Songs written by Don Bowman (singer)