Writer shocked by own success

This week in 1969: 100 Columbia students fled two buildings they had occupied after warrants were issued for their arrests; the U.S. Supreme Court voted unanimously to overturn the conviction of drug guru Dr. Timothy Leary; New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller gave his $20 million collection of primitive art to the Metropolitan Museum; and a singer from Friars Point, Miss., had his 9th hit record.

Songwriters make their way into writing a lot of different ways, but L.E. White's story of how he began writing for Conway Twitty is quite unusual.

White commented, "I had studied Conway Twitty and his singing for quite awhile before I ever met him. I became a big fan, and I thought his singing and his style was the kind I could write for. So after about eight months, I wrote 10 songs, recorded demos on them and went to Knoxville, Tenn., where Conway was staying for the night. I introduced myself and played him my 10 songs. He really shocked me when he told me that two of my songs would be his next two single releases."

Twitty invited White to his next recording session, where he recorded his song "I Love You More Today." Conway went on to record more than 65 of White's songs.

Twitty's Decca Records single "I Love You More Today" made the country music charts May 10, 1969 and was in the No. 1 spot the week of July 9th.

The record was produced by Owen Bradley. It was on the charts for 17 weeks.

Twitty (born Harold Lloyd Jenkins) placed 98 songs on the country music charts between 1966 and 2004. He died in June 1993 at age 59.

 

Doug Davis' "Story Behind The Song" is heard weekdays at 6:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. on KPGG-FM 103.9 .

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