The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)
Encyclopedia
"The Sweetest Thing" is a country
-pop
song written by Otha Young
(a.k.a. Robert O. Young). Young (who died August 6, 2009) was the long-time musical partner of Juice Newton
and wrote the song for her in the mid-1970s.
(RCA
), with Silver Spur being the backup band, which consisted of Otha Young, Tom Keeley and other musicians. The 1975 version was not issued as a single, although it was the B-side of two singles. In the meantime, Dottsy
recorded a version in 1976 and took it to #86 on the country music charts and used it as the title track to her album The Sweetest Thing.
Newton re-recorded the song on her 1981 album, the career-launching Juice, which was Newton's third solo album and featured three of her five biggest pop hits: "The Sweetest Thing", "Angel of the Morning
" and "Queen of Hearts
". While "The Sweetest Thing" is often the least-recalled of the three hits from the Juice album, it was arguably the biggest hit at the time. In early 1982, it reached #1 on the Billboard
adult contemporary chart
, #1 on the Billboard country chart
, and #7 on the Billboard pop chart, where it remained in the Top 40 for eighteen weeks. The single is the only of Juice Newton's to reach the Top 10 on all three charts. On Billboard's year-end Top 40 chart, the song charted at #21 of all the singles of 1982.
The first pressings of the Juice album featured a different arrangement of the song, with a more prominent steel guitar part and no oboe. After the unexpected crossover success of "Angel of the Morning" and "Queen of Hearts", a pop version was mixed and replaced the country version on all future pressings of the album. The revamped version was also used for the single (which, somewhat ironically, became her first #1 Country Single). (The 1981 country version can be found on the United Kingdom best-of CD Country Classics, which is, to date, the only CD release of this version.)
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
-pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
song written by Otha Young
Otha Young
Otha Young was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer and the longtime musical partner of Grammy-Award winning country-pop artist Juice Newton....
(a.k.a. Robert O. Young). Young (who died August 6, 2009) was the long-time musical partner of Juice Newton
Juice Newton
Judith Kay "Juice" Newton is an American Pop music and Country singer, songwriter and guitarist...
and wrote the song for her in the mid-1970s.
History
"The Sweetest thing (I've Ever Known)" was originally recorded and released in 1975 on Juice Newton's debut album, Juice Newton and Silver SpurJuice Newton & Silver Spur (album)
Juice Newton & Silver Spur is the debut album by country-rock singer Juice Newton, credited as Juice Newton & Silver Spur. The album contains Newton's first charting single, "Love is a Word," and the original version of "The Sweetest Thing ," which was re-recorded in 1981 and became a #1 hit.-Side...
(RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
), with Silver Spur being the backup band, which consisted of Otha Young, Tom Keeley and other musicians. The 1975 version was not issued as a single, although it was the B-side of two singles. In the meantime, Dottsy
Dottsy
Dottsy Brodt is an American country music singer. Between 1975 and 1981, she recorded as Dottsy for the RCA Records label...
recorded a version in 1976 and took it to #86 on the country music charts and used it as the title track to her album The Sweetest Thing.
Newton re-recorded the song on her 1981 album, the career-launching Juice, which was Newton's third solo album and featured three of her five biggest pop hits: "The Sweetest Thing", "Angel of the Morning
Angel of the Morning
"Angel of the Morning" is a popular song that has been recorded numerous times, and has been a charting hit single for several artists including Juice Newton, Merrilee Rush, Nina Simone, P.P...
" and "Queen of Hearts
Queen of Hearts (song)
"Queen of Hearts" is the title of a country-pop song written by Hank DeVito, who was the pedal steel guitarist in Emmylou Harris' backing group The Hot Band in the early '80s....
". While "The Sweetest Thing" is often the least-recalled of the three hits from the Juice album, it was arguably the biggest hit at the time. In early 1982, it reached #1 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
adult contemporary chart
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...
, #1 on the Billboard country chart
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
, and #7 on the Billboard pop chart, where it remained in the Top 40 for eighteen weeks. The single is the only of Juice Newton's to reach the Top 10 on all three charts. On Billboard's year-end Top 40 chart, the song charted at #21 of all the singles of 1982.
The first pressings of the Juice album featured a different arrangement of the song, with a more prominent steel guitar part and no oboe. After the unexpected crossover success of "Angel of the Morning" and "Queen of Hearts", a pop version was mixed and replaced the country version on all future pressings of the album. The revamped version was also used for the single (which, somewhat ironically, became her first #1 Country Single). (The 1981 country version can be found on the United Kingdom best-of CD Country Classics, which is, to date, the only CD release of this version.)
Dottsy version
| Chart (1976) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 86 |
Juice Newton version
| Chart (1981-1982) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 7 |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Top Singles | 25 |
| Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks | 1 |
External links
- U.S. 7" single release info Discogs