Song:Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young
Album:Live Fast, Love Hard: Original Capitol Recordings, 1952-1962
Faron Young's career spanned over four decades but it's his 50s hits on Capitol Records that you're going to want. Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young was a #1 country hit in 1955. He was born Feb. 25, 1932 in Shreveport, LA the son of a dairy farmer. He was given a guitar as a child and joined the Louisiana Hayride radio program after graduating from high school. That's where he met Webb Pierce and they toured the south together. In 1951 he recorded a couple of singles for Gotham Records but Capitol liked them enough to buy out his contract. That was also when he was invited to be a regular at the Grand Ole Opry. After a two year stint in the Army, Young returned to Nashville. Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young was his first #1 country hit in 1955. The song was written by veteran songwriter Joe Allison after watching John Derek play a juvenile delinquent in the 1949 film Knock On Any Door. Young said he hated the song and legendary Capitol producer Ken Nelson made him record it. He liked it a lot better after it became a hit. Young was already known as The Hillbilly Hearthrob but when he played a lawman in the 1956 film Hidden Guns, he became known as The Singing Sherriff. He appeared in all kinds of films and TV shows and continued to top the country charts. His one crossover to the pop charts was when Hello Walls reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962. That song was written by Willie Nelson. He left Capitol for Mercury in 1962 and remained a regular on the country charts though the music isn't as good. He was still a strong live draw into the 80s. Faron Young went into semi retirement in the 90s and depressed about his health due to emphysema, he shot himself in the head and died on Dec. 10, 1996 at age 64. This comp of his Capitol recordings from The Country Music Foundation is a perfect intro to this country music legend. Here's Faron Young performing Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young on the Grand Ole Opry TV show early 60s.
This is definitely a great CD. His Mercury recordings were wonderful, also. Thanks for keeping Faron's music and memory alive. I'm not sure why you mention his daughter's death. Faron's two daughters are alive and well. I talk about both in "Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story."
ReplyDeleteI've edited out the death reference but it is on Wikipedia. If it's inaccurate, you should probably fix it. This CD was the best of the three Capitol comps that I looked at and except for the Bear Family box set, they're all out of print. And you know how expensive Bear Family is. I try to stay away from el cheapo budget labels as they don't usually have the original recordings. There is no reasonably priced CD of Faron's original 50s recordings. Love the video clip though. Glad you liked the post.
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