Alva Review-Courier -

As we noted last week, Wayne Carson eventually became an extremely successful songwriter after moving from Colorado to Tennessee in 1962.

The first four years after his relocation were trying times for him – he did not get one song recorded by anyone. His luck changed, however, when well-known producer Chet Atkins liked one of Wayne’s compositions.

The song was called “Somebody Like Me” in which the narrator warns another man that he had better treat his woman right or somebody – somebody like the narrator, that is – might take her away.

Eddie Arnold recorded the song in 1966 and it rose to the No. 1 position on Billboard’s country charts! Wayne Carson had finally written a song that had become a hit!

Many more song-writing successes soon followed. The next year saw one of Wayne’s songs become No. 1 on the Billboard rock charts. Successful rock and roll songs make lots more money for songwriters than do country hits.

Rock fans – at least back in the 1960s – tended to be younger than country music fans. Consequently, they bought more music than did older folks, who typically seemed to be content to listen to the radio.

Country songs, in fact, quite often became “radio hits” that did not sell much at all! This does not, of course, mean that country hits are not important to the careers of all those involved in the music business. It’s just that rock hits are much more financially lucrative for songwriters.

So, when one of Wayne Carson’s songs topped the rock music charts in 1967 his career really took off. That particular song turned out to be the biggest hit he ever wrote. Which song was it?

Last week we noted that when Wayne left home at the age of 19 his father gave him a piece of paper on which he had written one sentence that he thought Wayne might turn into a song. That sentence became the opening line of Wayne’s greatest songwriting success – as we will see in part 3 of this article.