She Thinks I Still Care

"She Thinks I Still Care"
Single by George Jones
from the album Hits by George
B-side "Sometimes You Just Can't Win"
Released April 14 1962
Format 7" single
Recorded March 3, 1962
Genre Country
Length 2:34
Label United Artists
Writer(s) Dickey Lee, Steve Duffy
Producer(s) Pappy Daily
George Jones singles discography chronology
"Achin', Breakin' Heart" (1962) "She Thinks I Still Care" (1962) "Beacon In the Night" (1962)
"He Thinks I Still Care"
Single by Connie Francis
A-side "I Was Such a Fool (To Fall in Love with You)"
Released September 1962
Format 7" single
Recorded June 18, 1962
Genre Country
Length 3:17
Label MGM
Writer(s) Dickey Lee, Steve Duffy
Producer(s) Danny Davis, Jim Vienneau
Connie Francis US singles chronology
"Vacation"/ "The Biggest Sin of All"
(1962)
"I Was Such a Fool (To Fall in Love with You)"/ "He Thinks I Still Care"
(1962)
"I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter/ Al di là"
(1962)

"She Thinks I Still Care" is a country music song written by Dickey Lee and Steve Duffy. The song was recorded by multiple artists, including George Jones, Connie Francis, Anne Murray, Elvis Presley and Patty Loveless.

"He Thinks I Still Care"
Single by Anne Murray
from the album Danny's Song
A-side "You Won't See Me"
Released April 1974
Format 7"
Recorded September 1972
Genre Country, pop
Label Capitol 3867
Writer(s) Dickey Lee, Steve Duffy
Producer(s) Brian Ahren
Anne Murray singles chronology
"A Love Song"
(1974)
"He Thinks I Still Care"/"You Won't See Me"
(1974)
"Son of a Rotten Gambler"
(1974)

George Jones version

According to Bob Allen's book George Jones: The Life and Times of a Honky Tonk Legend, Jones first heard the song when Jack Clement played it for him at Gulf Coast Studio in Beaumont, which Clement owned with Bill Hall. The song had been written by Dickie Lee Lipscomb and Steve Duffy, two professional songwriters under contract to Clement's publishing company, so Clement was eager for Jones to record it. According to Allen, Jones had little interest, responding, "I don't like it too much. It's got too many damn 'just becauses' in it. I don't think nobody really wants to hear that shit, do you?"[1] Undeterred, both Clement and Hall continued to pitch the song to Jones. Raymond Nalley, brother of Gulf Coast session musician Luther Nalley, later recalled:

"They had this ole, wornout, rinky-dink tape recorder layin' around the studio...Everytime they'd try to lay that song on George, he'd just look at that damn tape recorder and ask 'em, 'How much you sell me that thing for?' One day, Bill Hall finally told him, 'Hell, George, if you'll record the song, I'll give ya the damn tape recorder!'"[1]

In his essay for 1994 Sony retrospective The Essential George Jones: The Spirit of Country, Rich Kienzle also states that Jones was underwhelmed by the song after Clement had "decided not to play George the tape but to sing him the song, altering the melody as he sang it to give it a stronger country feel." Jones himself always insisted he had no doubts about the song. Recalling his first impression of the tune, he insisted in the 1989 documentary Same Ole Me, "Boy, I just flipped! I said, 'Golly, lemme have this thing.'" In the 1994 video retrospective Golden Hits, he added, "It knocked me out. I couldn't wait to get into the studio." The song was released in April 1962, his first single release on United Artists after leaving Mercury, and it remained on the Billboard survey for twenty-three weeks, six of them at #1. In his autobiography I Lived to Tell It All, the singer wrote, "For years after I recorded it, the song was my most requested, and it became what people in my business call a 'career record,' the song that firmly establishes your identity with the public."[2] The B-side, "Sometimes You Just Can't Win", reached No. 17 on the C&W chart.[3] "She Thinks I Still Care" was one of seven records George would chart in 1962, and in the fall of 1963 he would travel to New York City and perform the song on Jimmy Dean's ABC network show.

Cover versions

Chart performance

George Jones

Chart (1962) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles 1

Connie Francis

Chart (1962) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Easy Listening 18
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 57

Anne Murray

Chart (1974) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles 1
Canadian RPM Country Tracks 11

References

  1. 1 2 Allen, Bob 1996, pp. 139.
  2. Jones, George; Carter, Tom 1995, pp. 67.
  3. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944–2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 180.
  4. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944–2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 242.

External links

Preceded by
"(I'd Like to Be In) Charlie's Shoes" by Billy Walker
Billboard Hot C&W Sides number-one single (George Jones version)
May 19, 1962 - June 23, 1962
Succeeded by
"Wolverton Mountain" by Claude King
Preceded by
"Room Full of Roses" by Mickey Gilley
Billboard Hot Country Singles number-one single (Anne Murray version)
July 6, 1974 - July 13, 1974
Succeeded by
"Marie Laveau" by Bobby Bare
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