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Harlan
Howard
"I
feel I have done about everything in life but die--at least
when it comes to relationships. I don't know if all that is
essential for a writer, but it sure helps because you can
draw upon all those feelings. You remember the guilt, the
regrets, the dreams. But, then, it's like a painter...you
embellish on the emotions. If you were rotten and you
write a song about it, you make yourself 10 times as rotten.
Maybe you did something wrong, say you get drunk and wreck
the car, well, you dramatize it in the song. To me,
a song is like a three-minute movie."
"I'm
a title person. I don't sit around and strum melodies, waiting
for inspiration. I look for a title that intrigues me...something
that will look good on a title strip in a jukebox...like a
book attraction in a bookstore. I think there is a real
attraction in titles. Once you have the title, you have
to figure out a way to make that into a love song of meaning--a
little observation on love that hasn't been beaten to death.
That's why love is such a good subject. You never run
out of things to say about it. I'm fascinated by how
much we'll go through for love...what we'll give up, the mistakes
we'll make, how weak we can be."
"It
takes a certain amount of inventiveness, but I write stories
about people and embellish them. I make them bigger
than life or more than they really are, but there's not really
an emotion I put in a song that I haven't had. I've
been lonesome. I've been rejected. I've been bad.
I've been drunk. I've done all those things so I'm not writing
about something I don't know about. I know the mistakes
I've made and the wrongs that have been done to me--and I
have a real good memory."
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Birth
Name: Harlan Perry Howard
Induction
Year: 1973
Date
of Birth: 9/8/1927
Place
of Birth: Detroit, MI
Place of Death: Nashville, TN
Date
of Death: March 3, 2002
Former
Occupations:
factory
fork lift operator for a printing company
U.S.
Army Paratrooper
Education:
Grade School--Memphis,
MI
High School--Leslie,
MI
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Career Milestones:
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1954--became
serious about songwriting; wrote "Keeper of the Key"
and "You Took Her Off My Hands"
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1955--moved
to Los Angeles
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1956--Johnny
Bond and Tex Ritter began listening to his songs
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1958--first
major cut, "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down" recorded
by Charlie Walker; song became a #2 hit and stayed on the charts
for 22 weeks
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1959--Ray
Price's recording of "Heartaches By the Numbers" stayed
on charts for 40 weeks
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1960--moved
to Nashville
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1961--signed
a publishing contract with Acuff-Rose
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1961--had
15 songs on the country charts at the same time
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1961--received
10 BMI awards
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1965--formed
his own publishing company, Wilderness Music
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1992--formed
Harlan Howard Songs, Inc.
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Awards:
1959--BMI\Heartaches
By the Numbers, Pick Me Up On Your Way Down, Mommy For a Day
1959--BMI
Pop\Heartaches By the Numbers
1960--BMI\Above
and Beyond
1961--BMI\The
Blizzard\Excuse Me\Foolin' Around\Heartbreak USA\I Don't Believe I'll
Fall In Love Today\I Wish That I Could Fall In Love Today\I Fall to
Pieces\Odds and Ends\Three Steps to the Phone\Under the Influence of
Love
1961--BMI
Pop\I Fall to Pieces
1963--BMI\Don't
Call Me From a Honky Tonk\Second Hand Rose\You Comb Her Hair\You Took
Her Off My Hands
1963--BMI
Pop\Busted
1964--BMI\Your
Heart Turned Left
1965--BMI\Tiger
By the Tail\I Won't Forget You
1966--BMI\Evil
On Your Mind\It's All Over\The Streets of Baltimore
1967--BMI\Evil
On Your Mind\The Hurtin's All Over\The Streets of Baltimore
1970--BMI\Yours
Love
1971--BMI\She's
a Little Bit Country
1973--BMI\The
Key's in the Mailbox
1975--BMI\She
Called Me Baby\No Charge
1975--BMI
Pop\She Called Me Baby
1997--Country
Music Hall of Fame induction
1997--National
Academy of Popular Music\Songwriters' Hall of Fame induction
Won 43 BMI
songwriting awards
Catalog
Highlights:
Heartaches
By the Number
I
Fall to Pieces
-
Co-writer:
Hank Cochran
- Artists:
Patsy Cline
The
Chokin' Kind
Busted
I
Won't Forget You
Why
Not Me
Pick
Me Up On Your Way Down
Heartbreak
USA
The
Blizzard
I
Don't Believe I'll Fall in Love Today
When
I Get Through With You
I've
Got a Tiger By the Tail
-
Co-writer:
Buck Owens
- Artists:
Buck Owens
I
Don't Know a Thing About Love
Somebody
Should Leave
Above
and Beyond
Life
Turned Her That Way
She
Called Me Baby
Somewhere
Tonight
Mommy
For a Day
Too
Many Rivers
Streets
of Baltimore
Foolin'
Around
No
Charge
You
Comb Her Hair
Evil
On Your Mind
You
Took Her Off My Hands
Excuse
Me (I Think I've Got a Heartache)
I
Wish That I Could Fall In Love Today
Odds
and Ends (Bits and Pieces)
Three
Steps to the Phone (Millions of Miles)
Under
the Influence of Love
Don't
Call Me From a Honky Tonk
Second
Hand Rose
Your
Heart Turned Left (and I Was On the Right)
It's
All Over
The
Hurtin's All Over
Yours
Love
She's
a Little Bit Country
The
Key's in the Mailbox
No
Charge
Comments:
The
following songs sold over 1 million copies each:
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