Favorite Song No. 344: Ricky Nelson – Lonesome Town

Ricky Nelson - Lonesome Town

Song: Lonesome Town
Artist: Ricky Nelson
Year: 1958
Album: Ricky Sings Again
Genre: Rock
Style: Rock & Roll
Pictured: 7″ Single
Click Here to Play the Song

This is our second time seeing Ricky Nelson on this list, but as you may recall, the first time was actually a Barney Kessel song that appeared on Teen Time, an album that featured several performers, but was credited to its primary performer, Ricky Nelson. This time around we’re getting the real deal, Ricky himself. I first saw Ricky Nelson in the film Rio Bravo, which is one of the best Westerns, no scratch that, one of the best films, of all time. It’s one of John Wayne’s finest performances, and not only do you get singing cowboy Ricky Nelson, you also get Dean Martin as a singing drunkard! How can any film compete with that? Howard Hawks made many masterpieces, and I don’t know how to pick his best film, but I wouldn’t argue with anyone who tabs Rio Bravo as Hawks’ finest hour.

“Lonesome Town,” is the sort of song that finds you when you need it. It’s exactly what its title purports it to be: a melancholy song for the lovelorn and heartbroken. Like any great work of art, it lurks in the background of your life, ready for you to discover it when the moment is right. For me, it was in college, or maybe shortly thereafter, when I had the biggest crush of all crushes ever on the social chair of one of the sororities whose parties I regularly DJ’ed. At that point in life, my primary source of income as a DJ came from U.C. Berkeley Greek events, and when I first started DJ’ing the fraternity and sorority parties I set a rule— no dating the clients. I knew how fast word can spread in a small community like the Greek System, and felt that if I dated a sorority girl and we had any sort of bad or awkward breakup, I’d lose that house, and likely others, permanently as clients. It seemed much safer not to fraternize with the clientele. That was all fine and well until I met Linda, after which many a night was spent wandering the streets of Lonesome Town with Ricky.

Here’s hoping you never feel heartbroken, and you have found true love and happiness that will last you your lifetime, but just in case, you now have Ricky Nelson on your side. All the strength of a dose of Morrissey, but without the ironic side effects. Use as needed.

Some fun things I learned about Ricky Nelson while preparing this post:

  1. He was the son of Ozzie and Harriet! Okay, so truth be told, I barely knew who Ozzie and Harriet were, and I still don’t know much, but I’d definitely heard of them before today. They had a hugely popular radio and TV show in the 1940s and ’50s, and Ricky is their actual son. From the age of 8 he sang on their show, and the video linked below is from said show.
  2. Ricky received a Golden Globe nomination for his role in Rio Bravo. Bravo, Ricky!
  3. He was way more popular than I knew. He had 53 songs chart on the Billboard Hot 100 during his career, including the 1958 song “Poor Little Fool,” which was the #1 song on the first-ever Billboard Hot 100. Now that’s some good trivia to know!
  4. Oakland A’s great Rickey Henderson was named after Ricky Nelson

Im adding another thing to the list of what I learned– teenagers dressed a lot better in the 1950s. What the hell? How can we get back to this?

1 thought on “Favorite Song No. 344: Ricky Nelson – Lonesome Town”

  1. I almost cried listening to this and I’m not even sad. I’m saving this for my next breakup when I’ll really need the tears.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *