Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story

16. From Severed Tongue to Number One

16 From Severed Tongue to Number One “It was hanging there, about a quarter inch, and one blood vessel on it.” That’s how Faron described his tongue after the accident. The emergency room doctor thought an amputation might be necessary , and Faron said the doctor told him, “I wanted to wait ’til you became conscious again before I told you about it, so you wouldn’t wake up without a tongue, go into shock, and die on us.” Johnny Cash wrote him a letter, which Faron quoted as saying, “I told you if you didn’t quit cussin’ so much, the Lord’s gonna cut your tongue off.” After three operations on his “moneymaker ,” therapy to keep from lisping, and a “lot of good prayers by a lot of people,” Faron said, “I got to where I could sing halfway decent again. Even live fast, love hard 1 at that time, I told Billy, if I can’t hack it singing, we’ll start promoting new talent. I’ll find them and we’ll make some stars out of them.” The tongue never completely healed. “It don’t have any feeling on the end of it,” Faron remarked. “If I drink hot tea, I have to be very careful because I’ll burn my tongue.” Even in later years the tongue would go numb when people asked about it. “It’s certain words that throw me,” Faron said. “S’s. Sometimes when someone puts a microphone in front of my face, I’ll start lisping, especially if I start thinking about it.”1 He didn’t know if he’d ever be able to record again, but he resumed touring within a month after the accident. His album releases and string of hits filled the recording gap. Following the 1969 success of “Wine Me Up” and “Your Time’s Comin’,” 1970 provided two new albums and three more top-ten hits. First came The Best of Faron Young, which was followed by an another album that listed its two singles in the title: Faron Young Sings “Occasional Wife” and “If I Ever Fall in Love with a Honky Tonk Girl.” Both singles peaked in the top ten of Billboard’s and Cash Box’s charts before Faron’s accident. Record World, another major music chart, ranked “If I Ever Fall in Love with a Honky Tonk Girl” as number one. The re-recording of Faron’s 1953 hit “Goin’ Steady” was in Billboard’s and Cash Box’s top ten by late 1970. Although Faron performed live shows and made at least eight television appearances after the accident, returning to the studio took courage. Jerry Kennedy postponed scheduling a session until Faron felt confident about singing, and they practiced for three weeks before deciding to go ahead. “I could tell he was a little hesitant about saying some words,” Kennedy recalls. “I could see frustration on his face.” Faron didn’t acknowledge difficulty, though. “He would never admit to any insecurity,” Kennedy adds. Faron did say later, however, “When I went in to cut, I was nervous as I was, I think, the first [time I ever] recorded. I still had a lisp from the accident.”2 They recorded in March 1971, nine months after the collision. Kennedy could hear the lisp because he looked for it, but he thought the session turned out well.3 Faron recorded and released three albums in 1971, and their title tracks became his next three top-ten hits. The March session produced “Step Aside,” which went to number one on Record World’s chart, number six on Billboard’s, and number four on Cash Box’s. Songwriter Ray Griff had pitched “Step Aside” and another song to Faron almost a year earlier. Faron loved both and said he would record them. “If he said yes,” Griff states, “he always recorded the song. His word was his bond.” Because the 1 accident prevented Faron from recording, Griff held the songs exclusively for him. They were the first two he recorded when he went back into the studio, despite the S’s in “Step Aside.” “When I record, I have to be very careful about slurring words,” Faron commented to Ralph Emery. “I tell you one thing, I cut the soberest sessions you ever saw. I can’t take any of that grape soda pop and sing with it. Then I’ll...