"There's a Honky Tonk Angel (Who'll Take Me Back In)" is a song best known for the 1974 recording by American country music artist

Conway Twitty Harold Lloyd Jenkins (September 1, 1933 – June 5, 1993), better known by his stage name Conway Twitty, was an American singer and songwriter. Initially a part of the 1950s rockabilly scene, Twitty was best known as a country music performer. ...

, who took it to number 1 on the Hot Country Singles chart. The song was written by

Troy Seals Troy Harold Seals (born November 16, 1938, in Bighill, Madison County, Kentucky, United States) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is a member of the prominent Seals family of musicians that includes Jim Seals (of Seals and C ...

and Denny Rice and originally released on Troy Seals' 1973 debut album ''Now Presenting Troy Seals''.

Conway Twitty version

Twitty's version was released in January 1974 as the first single from the album '' Honky Tonk Angel''. The song was Twitty's 10th number one on the U.S. country singles chart as a solo artist and 13th overall. It stayed at number one for one week and spent 12 weeks on the chart in all.

Personnel

— vocals *The Nashville Sounds — vocals *

Harold Bradley Harold Ray Bradley (January 2, 1926 – January 31, 2019) was an American guitarist and entrepreneur, who played on many country, rock and pop recordings and produced numerous TV variety shows and movie soundtracks. Having started as a session ...

— 6-string electric bass guitar * Ray Edenton — acoustic guitar * Johnny Gimble — fiddle * John Hughey — steel guitar *Tommy Markham — drums * Grady Martin — electric guitar * Bob Moore — bass * Hargus "Pig" Robbins — piano

Chart performance

Cliff Richard version

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

, Bruce Welch, a

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 ...

working with British singer Cliff Richard, heard the song and thought that it would make a good "comeback"

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

after disappointing

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performances during the previous two years. A version was arranged for Richard by John Farrar with a

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arrangement by Nick Ingman, and recorded on 20 June, 1974. The single was released in September

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

with 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 ...

"(Wouldn't You Know It) Got Myself a Girl", written by Alan Tarney and Trevor Spencer. While recording the song, Richard incorrectly assumed that the song was about a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

lady from Hong Kong (a.k.a. a "Honky"), unaware that the phrase "honky-tonk angel" was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

slang term for a

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. Some of his fans and friends were aware of the song's actual meaning, and expressed surprise that he had chosen to

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the song, given his

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

beliefs. By the time Richard was made aware of his mistake, the single had been on sale for a short time in the UK, Europe, and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, and he had already made multiple television appearances to promote it. He decided to make a televised announcement which called for EMI to withdraw the record, and declared that he would be refusing to promote it any further. Even though the single was expected to perform well, EMI eventually agreed to withdraw the single at his request. In the decades since its withdrawal, "Honky Tonk Angel" has appeared as a bonus track on the 2001 CD

reissue In the music industry, a reissue (also re-release, repackage or re-edition) is the release of an album or Single (music), single which has been released at least once before, sometimes with alterations or additions. Reasons for reissue New aud ...

of ''

I'm Nearly Famous ''I'm Nearly Famous'' is the eighteenth studio album by Cliff Richard, released in May 1976. The album is considered one of his finest works and is held as the album which brought about Cliff Richard's revival as a major chart act. The lead ...

'', and on the 2002 compilation ''The Singles Collection''. An alternate take from the same recording session appears on 2009's ''Lost & Found (From the Archives)''.

Track listing

7": EMI / EMI 2344 # "Honky Tonk Angel" – 3:03 # "(Wouldn't You Know It) Got Myself a Girl" – 3:03

Personnel

* Cliff Richard – vocals, backing vocals * Terry Britten – guitar, backing vocals * Alan Tarney – bass guitar, backing vocals * Dave MacRae – piano * Trevor Spencer –

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 ...

* Nick Ingman Orchestra – orchestra

Charts

Despite only a thousand copies being sold, "Honky Tonk Angel" did in fact chart in the UK. It peaked at #5 on the "Star Breakers" list, which was an officially-published BMRB list of the most popular records in the UK outside of the Top 50. It entered the chart during the final week of September and spent a total of five weeks on the list before the single was ultimately withdrawn.

Elvis Presley version

Elvis Presley covered the track in 1975 and first released it on his '' Promised Land'' album, however it was released as the

of the posthumous single " I Got a Feelin' in My Body": a posthumous single in 1979, which peaked at number 6 on the Hot Country Singles chart. Along the way, the song titles on the cover sleeve were reversed accordingly. The track was recorded at Stax Records, 15 December 1973.

Other cover versions

*A cover by Dobie Gray is on his 1973 album ''Loving Arms''.

References

{{Cliff Richard singles 1974 singles 1979 singles Dobie Gray songs Conway Twitty songs Cliff Richard songs Elvis Presley songs Songs written by Troy Seals Song recordings produced by Owen Bradley MCA Records singles EMI Records singles RCA Records singles 1973 songs