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‘Heartaches By The Number’ – Johnny Tillotson

Johnny Tillotson Discography | Discogs

About the Song

Heartaches by the Number is a countrypolitan song written by Harlan Howard. It was first recorded by Guy Mitchell in 1959 and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song has been covered by many artists, including Johnny Tillotson, whose version reached number four on the Hot 100 chart in 1965.

The song is about a man who is heartbroken after his girlfriend leaves him. He goes to a bar and starts counting the number of heartaches he has had. He realizes that he has had so many heartaches that he can no longer count them. The song ends with the man saying that he is going to give up on love.

Johnny Tillotson is an American singer and songwriter. He was born in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1939. Tillotson began his career as a songwriter, and he wrote several hit songs for other artists, including “It’s Not for Me to Say” and “Poetry in Motion.” In 1960, Tillotson signed with MGM Records and began his recording career. He had a string of hit singles in the early 1960s, including “Poetry in Motion,” “You Can Never Stop Me Loving You,” and “I’m So Tired.”

Tillotson’s version of “Heartaches by the Number” is one of the most popular versions of the song. His smooth, soulful vocals and the song’s catchy melody have made it a classic. The song has been featured in several films and television shows, including “The Big Chill” and “The Sopranos.”

“Heartaches by the Number” is a timeless song about heartbreak and loss. Tillotson’s heartfelt performance makes the song even more moving. If you’re a fan of countrypolitan music, or if you’re just looking for a good song to cry to, then “Heartaches by the Number” is definitely worth a listen.

Here are some additional details about the song and its recording:

  • The song was written in 1959 by Harlan Howard, who also wrote hits like “I Fall to Pieces” and “Busted.”
  • Tillotson’s version of the song was recorded in 1965 at the RCA Victor Studios in Nashville, Tennessee.
  • The song’s producer was Chet Atkins, who was one of the most successful country music producers of all time.
  • The song’s backing musicians included some of the top session players in Nashville, including Grady Martin, Hank Garland, and Boots Randolph.
  • The song was released as a single in 1965 and reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
  • The song has been covered by many other artists, including Ray Price, George Jones, and Willie Nelson.

“Heartaches by the Number” is a classic countrypolitan song that has stood the test of time. Tillotson’s heartfelt performance and the song’s catchy melody have made it a favorite among fans of country music.

Share a Cuppa Tea with Jane and Johnny Tillotson... - Beat Magazine

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Lyrics: Heartaches By The Number

I’ve got heartaches by the number when you left me
I never knew that I could hurt this way
Oh, how my heart was filled, when you come home again
But you came back an’ never meant to stayNow, I’ve got heartaches by the number
Troubled by the shore
Ever day I love you more an’ more
I’ve got heartaches by the number
It’s a love that I can’t win
But the day you stop lovin’ me
Is the day my world will endGot heartaches by the number
When you called me an’ said
You were coming back to stay
With hopeful heart I waited for you
But you must have lost your way

 

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HIS FATHER TOLD HIM TO PUT DOWN THE GUITAR. NASHVILLE FORGOT HIM. TWICE. HE CAME BACK IN A WHEELCHAIR AND STILL WOULDN’T SHUT UP. Vern Gosdin grew up hauling rocks and chopping cotton in Woodland, Alabama. His father tried music once, failed, and forbade his son from ever touching a guitar. Vern left home and never looked back — never saw his father again. He moved to California. Then Chicago. Then Nashville. Two record labels went bankrupt under him. Nobody called. Nobody came looking. So he quit, moved to Georgia, and sold glass for a living. But he kept a guitar in his truck. In the late ’70s, he crawled back to Nashville — older, broker, and angrier than every pretty boy on country radio. He didn’t sound trendy. He sounded like a man who’d been through hell and could prove it. Then he wrote “Chiseled in Stone” and beat every superstar in town for CMA Song of the Year. Tammy Wynette called him “the only singer who can hold a candle to George Jones.” In 1998, a stroke stole his voice. He kept writing from a wheelchair. 101 songs. Still fighting. They called him “The Voice.” Nashville called him too late. Does knowing how many times Vern Gosdin had to start over make “Chiseled in Stone” hit even harder now?

SHE WAS A BRIDE AT FIFTEEN, A MOTHER AT SIXTEEN, AND THE FIRST WOMAN NASHVILLE EVER HAD TO CALL “ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR” — THEN SHE NAMED HER BABY AFTER THE BEST FRIEND SHE’D JUST BURIED, AND THAT BABY SPENT A LIFETIME MAKING SURE NEITHER VOICE WAS FORGOTTEN. Loretta Lynn came out of Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, with nothing but a coal miner’s last name and a voice that could pin a grown man to his chair. Married before she could drive. Four children by twenty-two. Then she wrote songs that scared Nashville half to death — about cheating husbands, birth control pills, and women who’d had enough. Sixteen number-ones. Presidential Medal of Freedom. The whole world calling her the Coal Miner’s Daughter. In 1963, her best friend Patsy Cline died in a plane crash. The next year, Loretta gave birth to twins. She named one of them Patsy. That little girl grew up backstage, between tour buses and honky-tonks. She formed The Lynns with her twin sister Peggy. Earned CMA nominations. Then she did something quieter and heavier — she stepped behind the glass and co-produced her mother’s final albums alongside Johnny Cash’s son. Loretta died October 4, 2022. That first birthday without her, Patsy woke up reaching for a phone call that wasn’t coming — her mama singing “Happy Birthday,” the way she always had. Does knowing Loretta named her daughter after a ghost she never stopped grieving make “I Fall to Pieces” feel like it belongs to both of them now?

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SHE WAS A BRIDE AT FIFTEEN, A MOTHER AT SIXTEEN, AND THE FIRST WOMAN NASHVILLE EVER HAD TO CALL “ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR” — THEN SHE NAMED HER BABY AFTER THE BEST FRIEND SHE’D JUST BURIED, AND THAT BABY SPENT A LIFETIME MAKING SURE NEITHER VOICE WAS FORGOTTEN. Loretta Lynn came out of Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, with nothing but a coal miner’s last name and a voice that could pin a grown man to his chair. Married before she could drive. Four children by twenty-two. Then she wrote songs that scared Nashville half to death — about cheating husbands, birth control pills, and women who’d had enough. Sixteen number-ones. Presidential Medal of Freedom. The whole world calling her the Coal Miner’s Daughter. In 1963, her best friend Patsy Cline died in a plane crash. The next year, Loretta gave birth to twins. She named one of them Patsy. That little girl grew up backstage, between tour buses and honky-tonks. She formed The Lynns with her twin sister Peggy. Earned CMA nominations. Then she did something quieter and heavier — she stepped behind the glass and co-produced her mother’s final albums alongside Johnny Cash’s son. Loretta died October 4, 2022. That first birthday without her, Patsy woke up reaching for a phone call that wasn’t coming — her mama singing “Happy Birthday,” the way she always had. Does knowing Loretta named her daughter after a ghost she never stopped grieving make “I Fall to Pieces” feel like it belongs to both of them now?

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“YOU MAKE THE COFFEE, I’LL MAKE THE BED.” — GLEN CAMPBELL DIDN’T NEED A LOVE POEM. HE JUST NEEDED AN OKLAHOMA MORNING. In December 1971, Glen Campbell released “Oklahoma Sunday Morning.” It peaked at #15 on the country charts—not his biggest hit by a long shot. But something about this track stuck. It wasn’t about fame or tragedy; it was about coffee, making the bed, and packing a lunch. It was the kind of love that doesn’t make headlines. But the way Glen sang it, you realized he wasn’t just describing a routine. He was singing about the only place that truly felt like home. A kid from a sharecropper’s family of twelve in Delight, Arkansas—who went on to sell 45 million records—poured something deeply personal into this quiet track. Fifty years later, folks across Oklahoma still know every word. Some songs don’t need to reach #1. They just need to be true.