Hit song saw quick success
This week in 1987: a First Class postage stamp cost 24 cents; 156 people died in a Northwest Airlines plane crash in Michigan; Philip Rush of New Zealand sen a record for triple crossing The English Channel; and a singer from Sandy Hook, had his 8th hit Kentucky, record.
A lot of hit songs seem to have taken a simple road to success and Keith Whitley’s 1987 hit “Would These Arms be in Your Way” seems to have been one of those tunes.
Hank Cochran said, “I Love that song! Me and Red Lane wrote that song in one of Willie Nelson’s condos down in Texas. We were down there to see Willie and we were sittin’ in one of his condos that he let us stay in while we were there. And I don’t remember where the idea for the song came from … whether it came from me or from Red … it’s just been too long ago. Vern (Gosdin) kept trying to get in on the song and we finally had to just leave the room cause he kept trying to put those dumb lines in the song. So we left so we could finish the song the way we wanted it.
“Later, I ran into Keith in California. My wife and I were stayin’ in her dad’s place and I read where Keith was playing in this joint about 20 miles from where we were so I told my wife we oughta go down there and see Keith. So we drove down there and I sang the song for Keith and he asked me if he could record it when he got back home and I told him he sure could and he did.”
Whitley’s RCA Victor single “Would These Arms be in Your Way” entered the country music charts August 29, 1987 and peaked at No. 36. It was his 8th charted song and was on the charts for 17 weeks.
Whitley placed 19 songs on the country music charts between 1984 and 1995, including five No. 1’s.
He died in 1989 at age 33.
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