Lifestyle

Can You Name George Strait’s First No. 1 Single?

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Tony Maples Photography

 

It’s hard to remember a time when George Strait wasn’t a household name, but he broke the radios with this track. Hint: does your memory serve you foolishly?

Released in 1982, “Fool Hearted Memory” immediately became a smash hit and if George Strait wasn’t on your radar before that song, he was certainly on it afterwards. It was released as a single, then featured on Strait from the Heart, an album that saw many a play.

While George Strait has admitted he’s not much of a songwriter, he always acknowledges his writers and the credit for this gem goes to Byron Hill and Blake Mevis. It was so popular, in fact, that it won an American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers award for being one of the most performed country songs in 1982.

The track was one of the first where Strait’s command of the lyrics and the melody took hold, and he owned every word he sang. And don’t even get us started on the fiddle in the song, which could make even the most foolish one among us tap their feet irresistibly.

Where were you the first time you heard Strait’s first Billboard Magazine No. 1 single? Here he is performing it in 1984 on Austin City Limits.