About The Song
In 1975, the Nashville Songwriters Association inducted Bill Anderson into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Unlike the Pro Football Hall of Fame or the Baseball Hall of Fame, Music City’s hall for composers doesn’t recognize its constituents only when a career is over. Often, induction comes while the writer is still enjoying the fruits of his/her labor. Such is the case with Bill Anderson. A year after that honor, he started a new series of successful recordings with producer Buddy Killen. Four singles, including “Peanuts and Diamonds,” “Liars One, Believers Zero” and “Head To Toe,” reached Top Ten status. “I Can’t Wait Any Longer,” which peaked at #4 in 1978, earned the distinction of being the first country record played in American discotheques.
Anderson’s friendship with Buddy Killen went back more than two decades. Killen originally came to Nashville as a bass player (that’s him slapping the standup bass on the intro of George Jones’ “White Lightning”). He was working sessions during the week and the Grand Ole Opry on weekends. Jack Stapp, president of Tree Publishing, brought Buddy into the company as a full partner in 1953. Roger Miller, one of Killen’s discoveries, had introduced him to Bill Anderson and Bill wrote several songs with Buddy including “I May Never Get To Heaven.” Anderson had composed the lyrics to the song in 1959, inspired by his breakup with a girlfriend. Bill was hanging out at Tree Publishing one afternoon and showed the lyrics to Killen, who immediately sat down at the piano and fashioned a melody. Don Gibson quickly recorded “I May Never Get To Heaven,” but relegated it to the flip side of his single “Just One Time” which reached #2 in 1960, blocked from the top spot by Hank Locklin’s mega-hit “Please Help Me I’m Falling.” Over the next several years, “I May Never Get To Heaven” was cut by no less than a dozen artists (even a version by R & B star Aretha Franklin surfaced), but the song didn’t become a hit until Conway Twitty took it to the summit of Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart on September 8, 1979, marking Conway’s twenty-seventh #1 country single.
Twitty had become aware of “I May Never Get To Heaven” when he heard Don Gibson’s original version back in 1960. At that time, Conway’s livelihood was in the rock music field, but he always knew that someday he would get his country career going, so whenever he heard a new country song that he especially liked, he would file it away for future use. Such was the case with “I May Never Get To Heaven.” Nearly twenty years went by when Twitty decided to dust off the old number and record it. Buddy Killen had almost forgotten about the song and was excited when he found out that Conway was going to release it as a single. Buddy had always felt that “I May Never Get To Heaven” had tremendous potential, and he was puzzled and disappointed when the tune didn’t become a hit for someone back when it was first written. Additionally, Killen thought Conway’s version was perfect – the song finally being performed the way Buddy had envisioned it (he wasn’t too enamored with Don Gibson’s cut, or any of the others).
Bill Anderson continued on with his sensational career as a recording artist, performer, songwriter, TV host, pitchman, author and entrepreneur. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001 and still performs regularly at the Grand Ole Opry. With his promotion to president and chief operating officer of Tree Publishing Company in 1974 (after Jack Stapp moved up to board chairmanship), Buddy Killen became one of the country music industry’s most powerful executives. He assumed sole ownership of the company (by then known as Tree International) upon Stapp’s death in 1980, which further strengthened his already mighty influence. Killen’s own death came on November 1, 2006 when he lost his battle with pancreatic cancer.
Video
Lyric
I walked with you and talked with you
And held your lovin’ hand
We loved a while, and I lived a while
And I thought that fate had it planned
Then someone stole my angel
And I lost what I loved most
I may never get to Heaven
But I once came mighty close
I may never play a golden harp
Or spread celestial wings
Or walk (or walk) a golden (a golden) staircase
While a distant chorus sings (ah-ah-ah-ah)
But once, I held your sweet love
And felt your tender touch
I may never get to Heaven
But I didn’t miss it much
I may never get to Heaven
But I once came mighty close