Welcome to Music Friday when often feature throwback tunes with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, country legend Emmylou Harris pledges eternal devotion to a noncommittal beau in her 1975 hit, “If I Could Only Win Your Love.”
In the very first verse, Harris makes the case for why her love interest should take the plunge.
She sings, “If I could only win your love / I’d make the most of everything / I’d proudly wear your wedding ring / My heart would never stray one dream away.”
Originally written and performed by The Louvin Brothers in 1958, “If I Could Only Win Your Love” became a country hit 17 years later when Harris included it on her critically acclaimed Pieces of the Sky album. The song shot to #4 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and earned the #1 spot on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada.
Throughout a stellar career that has spanned 55 years, Harris has reserved a soft spot in her heart for The Louvin Brothers’ tune. While introducing the song in the video, below, Harris calls it her “first single.” This is significant because Harris would go on to release 70 singles, 26 studio albums, three live albums and 11 compilation albums.
She has won 14 Grammys and, in 2008, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2018, she earned a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2022, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Harris as one of the “200 Greatest Singers of All Time.”
Now 77 years old and still touring, Harris was born in Birmingham, AL, to a Marine Corps officer dad and wartime military mom. Her dad endured 10 months as a prisoner of war in Korea when Emmylou was just five years old.
She spent her childhood in North Carolina and was the class valedictorian of her high school. Later, she dropped out of college to pursue a music career in New York City. She worked as a waitress during the day and performed in Greenwich Village coffeehouses in the evening. She recorded her first album, Gliding Bird, in 1969.
According to her official website, Harris been a vocal advocate for many causes, including animal welfare. In 2004, she established Bonaparte’s Retreat with the goal of rescuing shelter dogs in the Nashville area and adopting them into forever homes.
She is currently touring, with dates scheduled in Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia, Colorado, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Rhode Island, North Carolina and Georgia.
Please check out the video of Harris’ performance of “If I Could Only Win Your Love.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along…
“If I Could Only Win Your Love”
Written by Charlie and Ira Louvin. Performed by Emmylou Harris.
If I could only win your love
I’d make the most of everything
I’d proudly wear your wedding ring
My heart would never stray one dream away
If I could only win your love
I’d give my all to make it live
You’ll never know how much I give
If I could only win your love
Oh how can I ever say
How I crave your love when your gone away
Oh how can I ever show
How I burn inside when you hold me tight
If I could only win your love
I’d give my all to make it live
You’ll never know how much I give
If I could only win your love
Oh how (oh how)
can I ever say (can I ever say)
How I crave your love when your gone away
Oh how
can I ever show
How I burn inside when you hold me tight
If I could only win your love
I’d give my all to make it live
You’ll never know how much I give
If I could only win your love
Credit: Image by jess hodge (digboston), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
