Records and Roots: Remembering the life, lyrics, titles of Harlan Howard

Twenty-three years ago, on a crisp fall morning, I pulled alongside a gleaming Cadillac in a small parking lot near Nashville's fabled Music Row.Dog-eared notebook and cold Diet Pepsi in hand, I walked inside a nondescript building.And was greeted by Harlan Howard. Long heralded as the dean of Nashville songwriters, Howard was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1997. That same year, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. An orphan who grew up in rural Michigan, Howard had ventured far in his unpredictable lifetime, particularly since his move to Nashville in 1960."Harlan Howard didn't get in the Country Music Hall of Fame until the year after I did," said the late Buck Owens during an interview we did in 2000. "Can you believe this guy's got 1,400 cuts on his records — 1,400!"On that fall day in Music City, Howard walked slowly with the aid of a walker. A shock of white hair topped his head; a smile as warm as summer graced his welcoming face.That from the man whose early hits written included country standard "Heartaches by the Number." Ray Price took the song to No. 2 on Billboard's country singles chart in late spring 1959. Pop balladeer Guy Mitchell smoothed out the twang of "Heartaches by the Number" and championed it to No. 1 on Billboard's pop singles chart in December 1959.Price recorded "Heartaches by the Number," which Howard composed as a country shuffle, on Jan. 29, 1959. He recorded a pair of Howard's songs that day, including "Punish Me Tomorrow," which became a top 30 country hit for Carl and Pearl Butler in 1968.Yet by the time of Price's recordings, Howard had already experienced a taste of country songwriting success. Charlie Walker, a former disc jockey from Texas, was newly signed to mighty Columbia Records — which was also the home of Ray Price.In June 1958, 65 years ago this month, Charlie Walker recorded Harlan Howard's "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down." Nearly three years since Walker's one and only hit, he needed another one, quickly. A quintessential country song of lost love, Walker struck upon a career boom with Howard's three-chord country swinger."Tom, 'Pick Me Up on Your Way Down' picked my career right up," said the late Charlie Walker during our interview backstage at the Grand Ole Opry in the late 1990s. "Harlan Howard wrote what became my signature song."Howard struck upon a formula of sorts with "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down," which pedal-steeled and twin-fiddled its way to No. 2 on Billboard's country singles chart in late 1958 and early 1959. He did likewise with "Heartaches by the Number.""I like songs like 'Heartaches by the Number,' with a verse, harmony and chorus," Howard said as he smoked the first of umpteen Marlboros that day. "About all of those Buck Owens songs that he and I wrote were like that. I like that because the audience — not only do you know the title by the time you get done — but they get a chance to sing along, and it kinda drives you crazy. And you might have to go out and buy the (record)."Now, I cannot use the word that Harlan Howard used at the end of the prior comment, but you get the idea. He was every bit as colorful a character as those observed by Tom T. Hall, many of whom became parts of his songs.But Howard punctuated his point by saying that he valued titles."They're the first thing you see when you pick up a record," Howard said. "I've always tried to write songs with strong titles."Consider Howard's song titles. There's "Keys in the Mailbox," "Heartaches for a Dime" and "I Don't Believe I'll Fall in Love Today." Don't forget "The One You Slip Around With" or "I'll Catch You When You Fall."Then there's a trio of songs Howard wrote with Buck Owens: "Foolin' Around," "Under the Influence of Love" and "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail." The latter was inspired by an ad campaign ("Put a Tiger in Your Tank!") by Esso gas stations.For years, he was known to end a day of songwriting by holding court at his favorite bar. Young songwriters, often struggling to write a hit, would seek his counsel.Numerous songwriters still alive and writing songs hobnobbed with the generous Howard. They include Jim Lauderdale, often referred to as today's king of Americana. Ask Lauderdale. Ask anyone who wrote with, wrote about and got to know the famous songwriter: Words meant everything to Harlan Howard."(Today's writers) all like the melodies," Howard said. "I love the words. You see, I still love the words."Howard paused a moment. As one more Marlboro burned down to the filter, he lit another. His ashtray looked as full as his catalog of classics."Three chords and the truth," Howard said of country music. "To me personally, it's my life. I'm an eighth grade boy from Detroit. I'm not even from the right state to be a country songwriter, but I am. It's my life. It's been a wonderful, hectic life."Harlan Howard died less than two years later. And his songs play on.