Credited on the record as John Wesley Ryles, I.
Kay
1968 · Columbia 4-44682 · New York City, New York
- Artist
- John Wesley Ryles
- Credited on the record as
- John Wesley Ryles, I
- Title
- Kay
- Release
- Kay / Come On Home
- Year
- 1968
- Label
- Columbia # 4-44682
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- New York City, New York, USA
- Songwriter
- Hank Mills
- Genre
- Country · Nashville Sound
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
Annotation
Country artist born on 2 December 1950 in Bastrop, Louisiana, USA, he scored a few hits in the late 1960s and 70s, with his most famous song being "Kay" (Columbia Records # 4-44682), an example of anti-war sentiment spreading into the traditionally conservative country genre. It was about a taxi driver in Nashville, who lost his girlfriend, Kay, to music stardom. It contained a single line reference to Vietnam, in which "two young soldiers" told the taxi driver that "they hate that war in Vietnam". It reached # 9 Billboard Country charts, and # 83 Billboard Hot 100.1 An alternative version was released in 1978 - Kay - which had slightly different lyrics: "two young soldiers....told me how they fought a war they never won".Sources1Billboard, 2 December 1950↩
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: Kay with all your singing talent back in Houston / Nashville's all you talked about / I sold everything I owned to bring you here / Now you'll be famous, there's no doubt / Last week you knocked 'em out in New York / Tonight Chicago's going wild / Kay your new record on the jukebox don't sound bad / Kay I'm livin' yet I'm dyin' starin' out at music city from my cab... / Two young soldiers from Fort Campbell told me how they hate that war in Vietnam
Notes
"two young soldiers" told the taxi driver that "they hate that war in Vietnam" Columbia 4-44682 (ZSP 138746), red label, 45 RPM; "Kay" (H. Mills), 3:41; credited to John Wesley Ryles, I; arranged and conducted by Don Tweedy, produced by George Richey. [From the record sleeve and labels]
About the artist
born on 2 December 1950 in Bastrop, Louisiana, USA