About The Song
One of the more ironic events of Ray Price’s career was a live appearance with the Dallas Symphony in the early 1970s. Price turned to the musicians during the show and told them they were the best country band that had ever accompanied him.
Ray’s use of strings had long been a point of controversy. He had first used symphonic enhancement on a gospel album called “Faith,” released in 1960. It was more successful than anyone had predicted and Price used strings again in later years on his secular country singles. “Burning Memories,” a 1964 release written by Mel Tillis and Wayne Walker, was the first, and it spent four weeks at #2 on Billboard’s country chart.
Even more dramatic was his recording of “Danny Boy” in 1967. Ray was not only having to fight the Nashville establishment over his new sound, but he was actually having to deal with hecklers at his concerts, who were upset with Price dropping his trademark fiddle and steel-driven traditional style for a more progressive, urban approach. “Danny Boy” did manage to nudge Billboard’s Top Ten at #9, but it was certainly not the big record that Ray wanted or expected. It failed to achieve the desired chart numbers due to the strong opposition to his updated sound. However, by 1970 most of the unrest had quieted down, and his recording of Kris Kristofferson’s “For the Good Times” was a blockbuster, giving Price his first number one single in 11 years.
Cam Mullins was an arranger at Columbia Records, first working with Ray on “Danny Boy.” Mullins arranged the string parts on all of Price’s records after that, his fine work being showcased on the top 20 singles “Take Me As I Am (Or Let Me Go),” “She Wears My Ring,” “Sweetheart of the Year,” “Raining in My Heart,” “April’s Fool,” “You Wouldn’t Know Love,” and the aforementioned chart-topper “For the Good Times.”
For the follow-up, Mullins branched out and co-wrote “I Won’t Mention It Again,” using “For the Good Times” as a pattern. When Cam’s composition shot to the top of Billboard’s “Hot Country Singles” chart, it amazingly marked the first time in Price’s long career that he had achieved back-to-back number one singles.
Surprisingly, “I Won’t Mention It Again” was a far bigger country hit than “For the Good Times,” staying in the #1 position for three weeks and peaking at #4 on the “easy listening” chart (now called “adult contemporary”), but “For the Good Times” is the more-enduring of the two because of its tremendous success on Billboard’s all-encompassing “Hot 100” pop chart, peaking at #11, marking Ray Price’s strongest showing out of his 11 appearances on that chart.
Video
Lyric
I know you’re tired of being of all I ever wanted
You’ll no longer feel the love I have for you
What happens now, what will I do with all the memories
And the dreams of all the things we’ll never do?
But I won’t mention it again, I won’t think about tomorrow
Just let it happen, live each hour, day by day
But let me tell you before you go how much I love you
Then I won’t mention it again, I won’t mention it again
I feel my life has reached an early sign of autumn
In my heart the leaves are falling, love is cold
And everything that once was warm and new is gone now
Leaving nothing but this hunger in my soul
But I won’t mention it again, I won’t think about tomorrow
Just let it happen, live each hour, day by day
But let me tell you before you go how much I love you
Then I won’t mention it again, I won’t mention it again