Torch Songs: Faded Love

Patsy Cline: Faded Love

[purchase]

One of the most influential singers to ever come out of the Nashville sound was Patsy Cline (Virginia Patterson Hensley). Her career lasted only five-and-a-half years before the fateful plane crash that took her life. During those five years she recorded the classic Walkin' After Midnight, I Fall to Pieces, She's Got You, Crazy , and Sweet Dreams. In 1963 she covered the Bob Wills song Faded Love. Her version became a hit on the country charts reaching number seven, but it wasn't released until after her death. It is the title track of her fourth album which was to become her final recording session. It was reported that she cried through most of the session, being taken by many of the song's lyrics. The emotion was carried into most of the songs on the album, but can be heard especially on Sweet Dreams and Faded Love. I first became acquainted with Faded Love, not by Patsy Cline, but by Micky Gilley. It wasn't until years later that I heard Patsy's cover, but as much as I liked Gilley's, I realized then and there that I had been missing out.