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Country Music Legend Eddy Arnold Dies At 89

Hondo

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This could almost go any where, my Mom & Dad had his records,
as I kid, I'd listen and enjoyed them, he will be greatly missed,
R.I.P. Mr. Arnold :-(

Country Music Legend Eddy Arnold Dies At 89

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The legendary country crooner that Billboard Magazine ranked the number one country artist of all time, Eddy Arnold, died at the age of 89 at 4:40 a.m. on May 8, 2008, at an assisted living facility in Franklin, Tenn.

Arnold was one of the founding fathers of country music who helped put Music City on the map. The humble, soft-spoken gentlemen, who billed himself as "The Tennessee Plowboy," became a legendary Hall of Fame entertainer well before his death.

Richard Edward Arnold grew up on the family farm in Henderson, Tenn., where he rode a mule to his first singing engagements.

When Arnold turned 11-years-old his dad died, and the family soon lost the farm. In the depression-era South, the boy became a man, and Arnold's golden voice became his ticket to the world.

"I came off the cotton farm never dreaming that I would ever have a long life in this business that I've had," Arnold said during an interview just a few months before his death.

The Tennessee Plowboy's big break came in 1940 when he began singing regularly on the Grand Ole Opry.

Arnold also became the first country music star to host his own TV show, with other shows and top hits following. In his long musical career he had 92 Top 10 hits, including the early classic "Bouquet of Roses."

The country crooner was also a musical maverick, finding a way to keep the hits happening in changing times.

"I got to thinking I like violins. I believe that I could take the same kind of song I'm doing and add the violins and it will obviously make me reach a wider audience," Arnold said

Hits like "Make the World Go Away" followed Arnold's musical change, and his audience never went away. In 2005, at the age of 87, he put out his last album. The album had a reflective song called "To Life."

"I've had a career that I've never in my wildest dreams thought I would have. To have this kind of career, this kind of life, is a dream that I wish every young man could have. I really do," Arnold said.

Arnold was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1966. The following year he won Entertainer of the Year. He was also awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2000, and given a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 2005.

Arnold lost his wife of 66 years in March 2008.

http://www.newschannel5.com/global/story.asp?s=8288748
 

Hondo

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One of many favorites

I never heard Eddy Arnold say a bad thing about anyone,
as a kid I'd spend time listening to his music,
one favorite has and is Mister and Mississppi :)

Mister and Mississippi


(Irving Gordon)

I can't recall my mother
I don't remember dad
Mister and Mississippi
Was all I ever had.


Oh, I was born to wander
Oh, I was born to roam
And Mister and Mississippi
Made me feel at home.

My cradle was the river
My school a river boat
My teacher was a gambler
The slickest one afloat.

He taught me not to gamble
On a petticoat
My teacher was a gambler
The slickest one afloat.

Oh, I was born to wander
Oh, I was born to roam
And Mister and Mississippi
Made me feel at home...

Oh Betty Mae I love you I love you Betty Mae
I love you like a barefoot boy loves a summer day
The way a wand'ring gypsy loves the changing scenes
Just like the restless river loves old New Orleans
Oh I was born to wander...

Oh, I was born to wander
Oh, I was born to roam
And Mister and Mississippi
Made me feel at home.

 

warbird

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He was a class act. Anyone who knew him loved him. Everyone who ever knew him in this town loved him. Just like with Cash, most everyone thought Eddie would go soon after his wife.
 

Tomasso

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The late Dinah Shore once described his voice as like "warm butter and syrup being poured over wonderful buttermilk pancakes."
 

Mike in Seattle

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Another article I read today mentioned, as this story did, that his wife died in March. What the above didn't mention was that a few days later, he had fallen at home, injured (not sure if that meant broke) his hip and had been hospitalized since. One of the quotes from a friend was that, in the friend's opinion, Arnold truly died of a broken heart over the loss of his wife.
 

Miss Crisplock

A-List Customer
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Long Beach, CA
Ah. That's sweet and sad and a litte haunting.

I remember the Cattle Call album. Everybodies parents had that, including mine. What a lovely gentleman; I'm so sorry he's gone.
 

Tomasso

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Mike in Seattle said:
One of the quotes from a friend was that, in the friend's opinion, Arnold truly died of a broken heart over the loss of his wife.
So true. I've seen this scenario played out dozens of times.
 

Hondo

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Northern California
Tomasso said:
So true. I've seen this scenario played out dozens of times.

Right! also think Johnny Cash, June died before him. Some times its not from a broken heart but of a longing to be together, if one goes, soon the other will follow, because whats left?
I feel contented even happy with it, the end.
A peace of mind. Being old, sick and being cared for alone in some hospital sounds awful, I'd also follow my loved one where ever the path may lead.
 

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