About The Song
In 1966, Twitty re-invented himself as a country act and began a television show based out of Oklahoma City. His half-hour program was an immediate regional hit and the following year, Conway found himself in syndication. For the second time, his star was on the rise.
Liking Twitty’s new sound, Owen Bradley and Decca Records came calling and signed the 34 year old singer to a contract. His first five releases did little, but starting with “The Image of Me,” a #5 hit written by his neighbor in Oklahoma City, Wayne Kemp, Conway would find his niche in the upper positions of the charts. His first #1 record would come in 1968 with another Wayne Kemp composition “Next In Line.”
Twitty met a lot of his old rock ‘n’ roll fans on the country concert trail. It seemed that many of them simply made the move to the genre at about the same time the singer did. With these core fans forming his new support base, Twitty began to roll out hit after hit and build a huge grassroots following. Then, in 1970, after working his way up the ladder for four long years, he landed a monster that would not only make him a country music star, but would also fully establish the sound that defined him as a singer.
Conway had written what later became “Hello Darlin’” way back in 1960 during his rock ‘n’ roll days. The song, like scores of others, had been conceived, composed and then filed away in a cardboard box. At the time, there was no market for country in his repertoire, so the singer had simply forgotten about it. Then years later, needing material to fill country albums in the late ‘60s, Twitty dug out the old box and began going through it. One of the first things he came across was this particular song, as yet untitled. The tune had no discernable chorus or hook line. Conway viewed it as a “left field” number.
Twitty unenthusiastically took the song to a recording session and played it a couple of times for his producer Owen Bradley before an attempt was made to cut it. It was Bradley who came up with the title “Hello Darlin,’” copping the song’s first line, which was heard only once in the entire piece. Owen then had a creative idea to highlight an electric piano on it (played by Larry Butler) for a decidedly different sound, rarely heard on country records at the time. The producer felt that the instrument gave the recording a fuller feel. But in his mind, there was still something missing.
At that point, Bradley developed his crowning innovation regarding “Hello Darlin.’” Owen suggested that Conway speak the song’s first two words instead of singing them. That one little touch is generally regarded as the catalyst which turned “Hello Darlin’” from just a “good song” into the enormous blockbuster that would reach stratospheric proportions in popularity.
“Hello Darlin’” proved to be an immediate favorite on the concert trail. Twitty’s largely female audience really took to the singer’s emotional rendering of the song. When he would begin the tune by speaking those first two words, the crowd would erupt in frenzied applause. This same reaction for “Hello Darlin’” occurred at every Twitty concert for the next 20 years.
Decca Records took note of the audience response and decided to issue “Hello Darlin’” as a single, even as Conway’s “That’s When She Started To Stop Loving You” was still climbing the charts. That one ended up peaking at #3 after Decca’s promotions team switched its focus and began pushing “Hello Darlin’” in earnest, sending it to #1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart on June 6, 1970 after an ascension of only eight weeks. Twitty would own the summit for a solid month, and ride the chart for five months with this classic that he had discarded and forgotten about ten years earlier.
For most of the remainder of his sensational career, Conway would choose songs that displayed the grit and emotion of “Hello Darlin.’” His songs would speak directly to women, and his voice would emphasize words in a way that revealed a softer side of this macho man. No one would ever do this any better than Twitty, and his long line of hit love songs gave proof of the special gifts he brought to a song. “Hello Darlin’” was just the beginning. From there, Conway ruled the charts with songs like “Fifteen Years Ago,” “She Needs Someone To Hold Her (When She Cries),” “Linda On My Mind,” “You’ve Never Been This Far Before,” “I’d Love To Lay You Down,” “Slow Hand” and dozens more, all cut in the same style as “Hello Darlin.’”
Five years after the release of “Hello Darlin’,” the record made history far outside the earth’s atmosphere. It seemed that Brigadier General Thomas P. Stafford, commander of the Apollo spacecraft that would be docking with the Russian Soyuz vehicle, loved Conway’s song and wanted to take a copy of it on his mission. The only catch was that he requested Twitty to re-cut the song in Russian.
Conway met with the chairman of the Russian language department at the University of Oklahoma. They worked together for several days translating the song into Russian and then teaching Twitty the proper pronunciation of each word. When he got it down, he recorded “Hello Darlin’” in Russian and presented it to General Stafford.
Conway was on hand at Cape Kennedy to witness the historic launch on July 15, 1975, and when the U. S. and Soviet crews linked in space two days later, he watched the global telecast from a hotel room in Oakland, California. Playing in the background was the Russian version of “Hello Darlin,’” (called “Privet Radost”). There is no official word if “Privet Radost” made the USSR’s Top Ten, but it did become a part of both U. S. and Soviet space travel history.
After “Hello Darlin’s” original success in 1970, Conway Twitty would go on to release 29 consecutive Top Five singles, none of which would be recognized with a major award. In his country music career, he notched a total of 75 Top Ten hits including the aforementioned 40 number ones. Before he died suddenly of an abdominal aneurysm near Springfield, Missouri on June 5, 1993 at the age of 59, Twitty became the fourth most successful country recording artist of all time, as compiled by Billboard Magazine.
Video
Lyrics
Hello darlin’
Nice to see you
It’s been a long time
You’re just as lovely
As you used to be
How’s your new love
Are you happy
Hope your doin’ fine
Just to know it
Means so much to me
What’s that darlin’
How am I doin’
I’m doin’ alright except I can’t sleep
And I cry all night ’til dawn
What I’m trying to say is I love you and I miss you
And I’m so sorry that I did you wrong
Look up darlin’
Let me kiss you
Just for old time sake
Let me hold you
In my arms one more time
Thank you darlin’
May God bless you
And may each step you take
Bring you closer
To the things you seek to find
Goodbye darlin’
Gotta go now
Gotta try to find a way
To lose these memories
Of a love so warm and true
And if you should ever find it
In your heart to forgive me
Come back Darlin’
I’ll be waitin’ for you…