"Let Me Live" is a song written by

Ben Peters Ben James Peters (born Greenville, Mississippi, June 20, 1933; died Nashville, Tennessee, May 25, 2005) was an American country music songwriter who wrote many #1 songs. Charley Pride recorded 68 of his songs and 6 of them went to #1 on the Americ ...

. It was originally recorded 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, ...

artist

Charley Pride Charley Frank Pride (March 18, 1934 – December 12, 2020) was an American singer, guitarist, and professional baseball player. His greatest musical success came in the early to mid-1970s, when he was the best-selling performer for RCA Reco ...

. The song was produced by Jack Clement and was released as a single via

RCA Victor Records 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 1971. The song became a top 40 hit on the ''Billboard'' country chart and in Canada. It was Pride's only

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

recording to become a major hit.

Background and content

Under the supervision and guidance of Jack Clement, Charley Pride became country music's first commercially-successful African-American recording artist. By the early 1970s, he had several number one hits and released several studio albums. In 1971, he would release his first album of gospel music, which would include the song, "Let Me Live." The song was composed by

. The song was recorded on February 2, 1971 at the RCA Victor Studio. Two additional gospel songs were recorded during the same session. Jack Clement would serve as producer for the song.

Release and reception

"Let Me Live" was released as a single via RCA Victor Records in April 1971. It was Pride's sixteenth single released in his music career. "Let Me Live" was actually the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

on the single release. "Did You Think to Pray" was the original A-side but was not played as heavily at radio. It spent a total of nine weeks on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Songs 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 ...

chart and peaked at number 21 on the list in May 1971. The song was Pride's first gospel recording (and only to date) to become a hit on country radio. It was also his first single to miss the country top ten since 1967. In addition, it also became a hit in Canada, also reaching number 37 on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' Country Singles chart in 1968. It was later released on Pride's 1971 gospel album, '' Did You Think to Pray.''

Track listings

7" vinyl single * " Did You Think to Pray" – 3:50 * "Let Me Live" – 3:23

Charts

References

{{Charley Pride singles 1971 singles 1971 songs Charley Pride songs RCA Victor singles Song recordings produced by Jack Clement Songs written by Ben Peters