Disc One:
"You're Gonna Be": This is the song I wish I had written for my son, Shelby. It says everything a parent wants to say to their child and so beautifully illustrates all of the emotions a parent goes through.
"Can't Even Get the Blues": This one is really special to me because it was my very first #1 record. It was the early 80's and I was meeting with Jerry Kennedy, who was my producer at the time. He was playing me some songs he was about to play for Jacky Ward to record, and I asked him why he never played songs like that for me. He said, 'You mean you like songs like that?' I had been recording pretty much ballads and waltzes up to that point. I said, 'Sure I do. I'm playing in all these clubs and honky tonks, and that's the kind of music they want to hear.'
I can remember the exact circumstances surrounding the moment I found out it was my first #1 record. I was at a bus barn in DeSoto, Texas, the left front wheel of our bus was about to fall off. This was in the days before cell phones, so I got on the phone there in the bus barn and called Don Williams, who was my manager at the time. He said, 'Reba, I've got some news.' He told me the song had gone #1. There I was screaming in this greasy, old bus barn, but I didn't care. That's a feeling you'll never forget. Mama was the first person I called.
"You're the First Time": I have always loved waltzes, and this is just a wonderful song. I absolutely fell in love with it the first time I heard it. Jerry Kennedy called me "The Queen of Waltzes."
"How Blue": Harold Shedd, my producer at the time, found this song and I was really tired by the time he played it for me at the end of the day. I told him I didn't like it and he suggested that we continue the next day. When I came back the next morning and listened to it again, I agreed it was a great song. I sure was glad he hung in there for the song. It goes to show that you should quit working when you're tired!!!! I love songs that have the opportunity for great harmony vocalizing and this is definitely one of those songs.
"Somebody Should Leave": Bill Carter was my manager during this time. He had arranged for me to meet with Harlan Howard and have him play me some of his songs. He played the first one and I was a little let down with it. So I said, 'No, that's not for me.' Then he played a second song and it was the same thing. Man, here I thought I was going to Harlan Howard's and I was going to hit the mother lode with a monster hit, but I didn't like anything he was playing for me! Then he grinned really big and said he wanted to play me another song - it was "Somebody Should Leave." I remember sitting in his leather, wing back chair with tears welling up in my eyes and chills all over me. I said, 'Can I have that one?' He said, 'Yeah you can'..and told me he wasn't even going to play it for me if I had taken either of the first two songs. He said he didn't want to waste a good song on someone who didn't know a good song when they heard it. So I passed the test and got one of Harlan's great songs. That was another lesson for me. Go with your gut feeling!
"Whoever's In New England": Jimmy Bowen had told me if I wanted to cut my kind of country songs, I needed to go find those songs myself. He sent Don "Dirt" Lanier, who was his right hand song man, along with me to help me learn the process. We made the rounds of the publishing companies together and I remember the day we heard this one. "Dirt" always wore a baseball cap and when we listened to this song, his eyebrows just completely disappeared up under that cap, and once again, I got goose bumps.
To me, this song was one of those where you actually feel like you're moving up to the next level in your career. We went all the way with it. I shot my first music video in Boston. We'd heard the naysayers telling us people in New England didn't care for country music. Well, they do care and this song was proof. It was as big a hit in Boston as it was in Tulsa.
One afternoon during our tour after the video was out, I was in a Holiday Inn watching movies on HBO. In between movies, they were showing videos. They aired an Aretha Franklin video and right after that they showed "Whoever's in New England"!!!!!! I almost DIED!!!!! Right behind Aretha Franklin!!!!! On HBO!!!!!! The redhead from Oklahoma had finally hit the big time.
