"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 Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

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 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 along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart. The song was written by Troy Seals 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 — 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 Bob Moore may refer to: * Bob Moore (musician) (1932–2021), American session musician * Bob Moore (executive) (1929–2024), co-founder of Bob's Red Mill * Bob Moore (American football) (born 1949), American football tight end * Bob Moore (Au ...

— bass * Hargus "Pig" Robbins — piano

Chart performance

Cliff Richard version

In 1974, Bruce Welch, who had previously worked with Richard as part of

the Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters between 1958 and 1959) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the pre-Beatles era from the late 1950s to the early 1960s. They served as the bac ...

and who would go on to produce several of his subsequent albums, heard the song and thought that it would make a good "comeback" single after disappointing chart performances during the previous two years. A version was arranged for Richard by

John Farrar John Clifford Farrar ( ; born 8 November 1946) is an Australian Record producer, music producer, songwriter, arranger, singer, and guitarist. As a musician, Farrar is a former member of several rock and roll groups including The Mustangs (1963 ...

with a

string String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

arrangement by Nick Ingman, and recorded on 20 June 1974. The single was released in September 1975 with the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

"(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 lady from

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

(a.k.a. a "Honky"), unaware that the phrase "honky-tonk angel" was an American

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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 cover the song, given his

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

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, 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 which has been released at least once before, sometimes with alterations or additions. Reasons for reissue New audio formats Reco ...

of '' I'm Nearly Famous'', and on the 2002 compilation ''The Singles Collection''. An alternate

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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 Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...

– vocals, backing vocals *

Terry Britten Terence Ernest Britten (born 17 July 1947) is an English-Australian singer-songwriter and record producer, who has written songs for Tina Turner, Cliff Richard, Olivia Newton-John, Status Quo (band), Status Quo and Michael Jackson amongst many ot ...

– guitar, backing vocals * Alan Tarney – bass guitar, backing vocals * Dave MacRae – piano * Trevor Spencer – drums * 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 number five 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 Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

covered the track in 1975 and first released it on his ''

Promised Land In the Abrahamic religions, the "Promised Land" ( ) refers to a swath of territory in the Levant that was bestowed upon Abraham and his descendants by God in Abrahamic religions, God. In the context of the Bible, these descendants are originally ...

'' 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

chart. Along the way, the song titles on the cover sleeve were reversed accordingly. The track was recorded at

Stax Records Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in September 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt 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 Songs about prostitutes