Conway Twitty – She Needs Someone To Hold Her (When She Cries) – 1973

In 1973, Conway Twitty released a country album entitled She Needs Someone To Hold Her (When She Cries). Comprised of 11 tracks, it follows the single release of the track of the same name. The single peaked at number one on the US Country chart. Did the album live up to the single’s chart performance?

My Impressions…

At first glance, the track titles are intriguing. They promise the tenderness and sentimentality which Twitty was so brilliant at delivering in his vocal performances. A mood he managed to convey so effectively was the idea of the song’s protagonist’s awareness of his faults and mistakes, and the desire to atone for them. Titles such as I’ve Just Destroyed the World promise this. Some of his previous recordings, such as The Image of Me and How Much More Can She Stand, carry this message more completely and with more satisfying narrative content, however. Perhaps the writing voice of the songwriters, in this case Willie Nelson and Ray Price, doesn’t gel fully with Conway’s delivery.

Side Two of the album feels much more suited to Twitty’s image and strengths. Songs like the pleasingly bouncy I Don’t Believe I’ll Fall in Love Today and the unfussy but heartfelt Each Season Changes You are much more palatable when taken alongside Twitty’s output in the first year or two of the decade.

My Highlights…

As often happens on country albums of this vintage, it is one of the cover songs which caught my ear. Twitty’s version of the song made famous by Merle Haggard, It’s Not Love (But It’s Not Bad), is effective in delivering close to the emotion as well as the vocal drive of Haggard’s version.

Darlin’ feels like the purest Conway Twitty number of the eleven. He imbues it with so much of the aching passion and agony which was such a part of his trademark sound.

Then there is the closing track, Don’t Cry Daddy, featuring one of Conway’s daughters, Kathy. The sentimentality of the song, written by Mac Davis, comes through wonderfully. Anyone who has followed Conway Twitty might have felt they recognised a quality in the female singer’s voice, even without seeing the album credits, which pointed towards one of his daughters. After all, only two years later, Conway would release Don’t Cry Joni with his other daughter, Joni. All three of Conway’s children with his second wife are name-checked in the song, a lyric adapted to fit the Twitty family. It doesn’t pack quite the same punch as the original Elvis Presley release, but Conway and Kathy offer enough sincerity and charm to make it work well.

Track Listing

1. She Needs Someone To Hold Her (When She Cries)
2. Sweet Memories
3. I’ve Just Destroyed The World
4. Even The Bad Times Are Good
5. It’s Not Love (But It’s Not Bad)
6. Dim Lonely Places
7. Darlin’
8. I Don’t Believe I’ll Fall In Love Today
9. Each Season Changes You
10. Why Not Tonight
11. Don’t Cry Daddy

In Conclusion…

She Needs Someone To Hold Her (When She Cries) does not feel quite as authentically Conway Twitty as the albums he released between 1970 and ’72. Perhaps it is due to the slowly shifting landscape in country music. But this feels a little like Twitty treading water. It lacks some of the punch, power and passion of previous and future releases. There is also a shortage of songs written by the man himself. Only one number was written by Twitty, with his regular writing partner L.E. White, Dim Lonely Places.

The album, despite lacking somewhat in the fire and energy departments, is nevertheless very easy and pleasant to listen to. The vocal and instrumental arrangements are lush and full, offering the quintessential early 1970s country sound. If I had bought this album in 1973 upon its initial release, I would have been left hungry for whatever Conway Twitty had to offer next.

She Needs Someone to Hold Her (When She Cries) is currently available as part of a quadruple album release from BGO Records.