"I Fall To Pieces" was written by two of music's most successful songwriters, Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard. Both men moved to Nashville in 1960 to begin their separate and prolific song-writing careers.
Hank Cochran's musical career began in the 1950's as half of the pop duo, The Cochran Brothers (with rocker Eddie Cochran). But, he knew that his future was in country music, so he followed his dream and arrived in Nashville in 1960. Cochran got a job writing and pitching songs for the publishing company, Pamper Music, for whom he would soon sign Willie Nelson to an exclusive songwriter's agreement. This was a move which eventually led to Cochran becoming a co-owner of that company. Today, Hank Cochran is still writing hits for today's country artists and makes regular appearances on the Grand Ole Opry. Cochran recently received a BMI award for Two Million Performances of "I Fall To Pieces."
Harlan Howard started out in California co-writing songs with Buck Owens. After two successful hits, Howard and his (then)wife, country singer Jan Howard, moved their family to Nashville in 1960 to pursue a full-time music career. It didn't take long for Harlan Howard to establish himself as Nashville's most sought-after writer. In 1961, he had 15 of his songs on the Top 40 Country charts at one time. No other songwriter had ever achieved this amazing feat before, nor has any achieved it since. With over 4000 songs to his credit, Howard was fittingly dubbed the "The Dean of Nashville Songwriters." Howard passed away in March 2002 and was honored at a memorial concert held at the Ryman Auditorium. This tribute featured many artists including Mandy Barnett performing "I Fall To Pieces."
In 1999, Harlan Howard told about the writing of "I Fall To Pieces":
"In the Summer of 1960, here in Nashville, a friend of mine named Hank Cochran stopped by my house on his way to work as a song-plugger for Pamper Music and asked me to help him write a new song he was working on. He then sang me the first two lines of the song and I liked it. So in the next hour we wrote it.
After Hank left for work, I sang what he had and timed it with my watch and it seemed like it wasn’t long enough, so I wrote another section the same length as the first half and took it to Hank at his office and he liked it and that was about it. Hank took the finished song to Owen Bradley at Decca Records. Owen liked it and started playing it for different singers who were looking for songs. After several rejections, Patsy recorded it and I still love the record as much as I did way back then."
After five restrictive years on Four Star records, Patsy Cline signed an exclusive contract with Decca Records in 1960. "I Fall To Pieces" was recorded in her first Decca session with Owen Bradley on November 16, 1960. The song was just taking off when Patsy was critically injured in an auto accident on June 14, 1961. This would prove to be the first of several number one country hits for Cline.
Legendary producer Owen Bradley tells his story behind the song:
"Hank Cochran did some wonderful favors for me by bringing me some great songs. I remember he brought me a song "I Fall To Pieces," which only had a couple of lines and I said, 'Hank, boy I like that. I want that song when you get it finished.' Sure enough, he saved it and brought it to me and I finally talked Patsy Cline into recording it. I thought she really liked it. But, one day she stuck her head in the door after a terrible accident and said, 'I really don't think I wanna make anymore records. I think I'll just enjoy this one.' But, Hank brought me lots of great songs. He brought me several great songs for Patsy."
Luckily for country music and its fans, Patsy didn't quit recording. Eerily, though, Cline died just two short years later while returning home from a benefit concert in Kansas City. While her life was way too short, she had enough time to record heaps of great music to leave a legacy which will span many more generations and genres to come. She will always be revered as one of the greatest vocalists of all time.
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I Fall To Pieces
Written by Sherry Anderson,Take Country Back, March 2002.