CMT Blog: Archive

Valentine’s Day, from a guy’s point of view, is an occasion that’s made up to create guilt. Christmas just ended a few weeks ago, you’re still reeling from the impact of all those gifts on the credit card and — boom! - you’re supposed to spend some money to show you care. Like taking out the trash last night wasn’t enough… A lot more bad tends to come from missing V.D. than the good that comes from observing it. Although in the case of Don Schlitz, almost missing it was a stroke of genius.It was Valentine’s Day 40 years ago that forgetting the holiday started a career. Schlitz had neglected to buy a gift for his girlfriend, so he whipped up a song and sang it to her instead. The resulting hugs and kisses, so the story goes, were better than he could have expected for a box of chocolates and it gave him an idea: maybe he should be a songwriter. Four decades later, it’s safe to say he was correct. Schlitz has authored a number of classics: Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler,” Randy Travis’ “On The Other Hand” and “Forever And Ever, Amen,” Keith Whitley’s “When You Say Nothing At All,” as well as hits for the Judds, Alabama, Lee Ann Womack, Tanya Tucker and Reba McEntire, to name a few.

One of the remarkable things about Schlitz is the variety in his catalogue. “The Gambler” is an extremely literate composition. “Strong Enough to Bend,” “Give Me Wings” and “Deeper Than The Holler” are nicely constructed pieces about the positive attributes of love, while the Mark Chesnutt hit, “Almost Goodbye,” is a chilling account of a relationship on the brink of disaster. In contrast, he has plenty of songs that lean more on infectious melodies or cool grooves: Baillie & the Boys’ “Oh Heart,” the Bellamy Brothers’ “Crazy From the Heart” and Mary Chapin Carpenter’s “I Feel Lucky.”

His prolific volume of hits made him a poster boy for what can happen if you roll up your sleeves and dig in. But while work can hone the craft, songwriting is a gift. If you’re thinking of skipping the box of chocolates this year because writing a song for your girlfriend is cheaper, you might want to consider the value of your time. You’ll probably need to put in a number of hours if you really want to impress her. Not everybody is a Don Schlitz.