Listening to XM6 this evening I heard the favorite version of one of my favorite songs,Silver Threads and Golden Needles, written in 1956 by Jack Rhodes and Dick Reynolds. It was first recorded that same year by Wanda Jackson with a verse missing from most later versions and slightly different lyrics:
Here are the Honky Tonk Angels - Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, and Tammy Wynette - with their rendition:
The song seemed to be a huge favorite among Country & Western female vocalists (Gee, I wonder why?). Versions were recorded by Skeeter Davis, Jody Miller, Emmylou Harris, Crystal Gayle, Lynn Anderson, Martina McBride, et al. But there are also versions by the Grateful Dead, Johnny Rivers, the Everly Brothers, and Johnny Cash, and a truly pathetic version by the Cowsills.
Linda Ronstadt's version is probably the best known. Here she is with the Eagles.
But my favorite is the 1962 version by the Springfields (Dusty and her brother Tom):
"You can't buy my love with money
For I never was that kind
Silver threads and golden needles
Cannot mend this heart of mine."
--Silver Threads and Golden Needles, written by Jack Rhodes and Dick Reynolds (complete lyrics)
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