I Fall to Pieces by Patsy Cline

January 1961, Patsy Cline released her single I Fall to Pieces. This song was Patsy’s first number one hit in Country music, and is now considered a Country music standard. I Fall to Pieces was written by Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard, who wrote many songs for Patsy. The song was pitched to many artists but they turned it down. It is to be said that Brenda Lee did not want to record it because it was too country for her style. Roy Drusky was also asked to record it but said no because it was not a man’s song. When Patsy started recording the future hit, she was not sure how it was going to sound, because she thought that the background vocals (The Jordanaires) would drown her voice out. After the recording was done and she heard the song altogether, Patsy liked the song and said that she had finally found her own identity in it.

I Fall to Pieces is a great example of the Nashville sound; the Nashville sound was created to polish country music. Many teens stopped listening to honky-tonk and started listening to Rock and Roll. Country music decided to appeal more to their older listeners by bringing back the jazz styles like Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. But, instead of having an orchestra, they used a country band. The song starts off with a steel guitar riff, a walking bass progression, and right-handed piano notes. When Patsy starts singing her voice is very low and dark. Patsy’s vocals sound very smooth like the jazz singers. Behind Patsy’s vocals are background singers who are The Jordanaires. They sing the oohs, which help make the vocal part stronger. I Fall to Pieces and other songs like this have an orchestrated feel to it, but in a country style. Even though this style of music was supposed to be for older generations, it definitely has techniques that are used for popular music. The background vocals are similar to the background vocals in Elvis’s music. Ironically the Jordanaires also sang behind Elvis, which made it more commercial. I Fall to Pieces started a new wave of country using different aspects from different genres.