About The Song
In December 1986 Ray Price placed “Today I Started Loving You Again” on his album *The Heart of Country Music*, released through the independent Step One Records label. The Texas singer, then approaching sixty, had deliberately stepped back from the smoother, string-laden productions of the 1970s to recapture the lean, honest sound that first brought him fame in the 1950s. The album collected well-known country standards, giving Price’s rich baritone a platform to interpret material that had become part of the genre’s foundation.
Price earned the nickname Cherokee Cowboy early in his career with hits such as “Crazy Arms,” whose shuffling rhythm turned dance halls across the Southwest into packed venues. After Hank Williams’ death in 1953 he led the Drifting Cowboys for a time, then scored further successes with “Release Me” and the Kris Kristofferson ballad “For the Good Times.” By the mid-1980s, however, country radio had moved toward newer artists with contemporary production, so Price turned to smaller labels like Step One to record the straightforward ballads that had defined his early audience.
The song was written by Merle Haggard and his then-wife Bonnie Owens. The story of its creation has become part of Nashville lore: Haggard asked Bonnie to pick up a hamburger while they were on the road, and by the time she returned he had most of the lyrics and melody worked out. They finished the piece together and gave her co-writing credit. Haggard recorded it on February 1, 1968, at Capitol Studios in Hollywood as the B-side to his number-one hit “The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde.” Although it never charted as a single, the track quickly became one of Haggard’s most beloved recordings and was later covered by dozens of artists.
An instrumental version by harmonica player Charlie McCoy reached number sixteen on the Billboard country chart in 1972 and earned a Grammy for Best Country Instrumental Performance. Other notable interpretations came from Al Martino, Emmylou Harris, and Sammi Smith, each adding their own shading to the simple three-chord structure. The song’s enduring appeal lies in its quiet honesty rather than dramatic flair.
At its center “Today I Started Loving You Again” captures a moment of reluctant realization. The narrator believed he had finally moved past a lost love, only to discover the feelings had never truly left. The lyrics unfold with gentle resignation: heartache had healed just long enough for the old emotions to return stronger than before. The understated melody and conversational delivery make the confession feel intimate, a quality that suited Price’s mature, world-weary voice perfectly.
Price’s 1986 recording appeared as an album track rather than a single and therefore did not appear on Billboard charts. Still, it sat comfortably alongside other classics on *The Heart of Country Music*, reinforcing his commitment to traditional country at a time when many veteran performers struggled for airplay. The performance also echoed his own earlier 1970 Columbia version, but the later take carried the weight of additional decades on the road. Through Haggard’s original, Price’s interpretation, and the many covers that followed, the song has remained a concise portrait of love that refuses to stay buried.
Video
Lyric
Today I started loving you again now I’m right back
where I’ve really always been
I got over you just long enough to let my heartache mend
Then today I started loving you againWhat a fool I was to think I could get by
with only these few million tears I’ve cried
I should have known the worst was yet to come
And that crying time for me had just begun
Cause today I started loving you again
Today I started loving you again
Yes today I started loving you again