Oh Lonesome Me
Roy Acuff & His Smokey Mountain Boys Lyrics

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Everybody's going out and having fun
I'm just a fool for staying home and having none
I can't get over how she set me free
Oh lonesome me

A bad mistake I'm making by just hanging round
I know that I should have some fun and paint the town
A lovesick fool is blind and just can't see

Oh lonesome me

I'll bet she's not like me, she's out and fancy free
Flirtin' with the boys with all her charms
But I still love her so and brother don't you know
I'd welcome her right back here in my arms

There must be some way I can lose these lonesome blues
Forget about the past and find somebody new
I thought of everything from A to Z
Oh lonesome me

I'll bet she's not like me, she's out and fancy free
Flirtin' with the boys with all her charms
But I still love her so and brother don't you know
I'd welcome her right back here in my arms

There must be some way I can lose these lonesome blues
Forget about the past and find somebody new
I thought of everything from A to Z
Oh lonesome me

Oh lonesome me
Oh lonesome me

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of "Oh Lonesome Me" convey a sense of loneliness and heartbreak. The singer describes how everyone else seems to be enjoying themselves, going out and having fun, while they are left behind, feeling like a fool for staying home with no one to share their time with. They express their inability to get over the person who set them free, emphasizing their lonesomeness.

The second paragraph suggests that the singer is aware of their mistake of wallowing in their sorrow rather than seeking happiness and adventure outside. They acknowledge that they should be out in the world, painting the town red and having some fun. However, they admit that love has made them blind, preventing them from moving on and seeing other possibilities.

The third paragraph reflects the singer's lingering love for the person who left them. They imagine that the person they still love, unlike themselves, is out, enjoying their freedom and flirting with others. Despite this, the singer declares that they would still welcome the person back into their arms. Their love and longing for this person overshadow their desire to move on or find someone new.

The final paragraph expresses the singer's desperate search for a way to overcome their lonesome feelings. They ponder every possible solution, from A to Z, hoping to forget the past and find someone new. The repetition of the phrase "Oh lonesome me" emphasizes the deep sense of isolation and longing that consumes the singer. Overall, the lyrics illustrate a heartfelt longing for companionship and a struggle to move on from a lost love.

Line by Line Meaning

Everybody's going out and having fun
Everyone is enjoying themselves and socializing

I'm just a fool for staying home and having none
I feel foolish for staying alone at home and not experiencing any fun

I can't get over how she set me free
I am unable to move on from the fact that she broke up with me

Oh lonesome me
I am overwhelmed by my loneliness

A bad mistake I'm making by just hanging round
It is a major error on my part to just stay in one place

I know that I should have some fun and paint the town
I am aware that I should go out and enjoy myself

A lovesick fool is blind and just can't see
Being deeply in love makes me unable to see clearly and make rational decisions

I'll bet she's not like me, she's out and fancy free
I believe that she is different from me, enjoying her freedom and being flirtatious

Flirtin' with the boys with all her charms
She is captivating and enticing other men with her charm

But I still love her so and brother don't you know
Despite everything, I still have strong feelings of love for her

I'd welcome her right back here in my arms
I would gladly accept her back into my life and embrace her

There must be some way I can lose these lonesome blues
I need to find a solution to overcome this overwhelming feeling of loneliness

Forget about the past and find somebody new
I should let go of the past and seek a new romantic partner

I thought of everything from A to Z
I have considered every possible solution or option

Oh lonesome me
I am still consumed by my loneliness

Oh lonesome me
My loneliness is still greatly affecting me

Oh lonesome me
I continue to feel overwhelming loneliness

Lyrics © Kanjian Music, BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Don Gibson

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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Comments from YouTube:

clfhnt

1y↑4

There will always be just one KING of country music. Thank you forever Mr. Acuff. RIP

DA Palmer

2y↑6

I love how Roy always introduced each everyone of his band memebers.

iVenge

11y↑8

...and this clip really has a lot of energy too. Lively crowd, and the boys really come out with a bang.

opryman65

14y↑5

I love it - the true King of Country Music in his element - just like he would have done it at the Grand Ole Opry. I sure do miss this man!!!

Curtis Neilson

10y↑21

He is a national treasure

William Wimer

No one could entertain a crowd like Roy Acuff and His Smoky Mountain Boys. A master showman and entertainer

John Cali

15y↑4

I miss Mr. Acuff (and Miinnie, Porter, Monroe, etc.) when I go to the Opry. Thanks for sharing this great piece of country music. BTW, look how young young Charlie Collins looks. Glad he's still playing for the square dancers at the Opry.

glencoe6305

me too 😂

Billy Plant

14y↑3

Awesome footage. I love how organic it all was. He was the king of country music by then and it still reminded me of times I've played in small community centers. That song can still bring down the house today its so engaging.

phelonyjones

16y↑8

Insanely good - that's as good as it gets!

Aj McD

12y↑2

Jimmie Riddle slapping the bass AND on harmonica?! Love it.

sonnyboygumbo

15y↑4

Jeez! Roy Acuff had both Jimmie Riddle AND Onnie Wheeler in his band! Two of the best... (Any footage of Wayne Raney ?

iVenge

11y↑3

he only ever needed to do this one song, because he did it better than any man alive.

Jackie Wilburn

5y↑3

Wanna know how good country music can get? This Is it

Jason Loveless

2y↑3

Roy Acuff was,the best grandmaster of bluegrass music legend for everybody's favorite song called the Washball Cannonball

Jeff Dillon

7y↑3

Roy Acuff is country music!! Many in the industry owe so much to him and the many other pioneers of his time!! It’s a shame people don’t know facts about country music as they actually happened!! Some of the really stupid comments here are shameful and disgusting!!

opryman65

12y↑5

Acuff died Nov 23 1992 and is buried in the Spring Hill Cemetery in Nashville, TN. He is one the greatest people I was ever honored to know at the Opry - people who knew him know the truth about him. People who want to slander him haven't got a clue.

Steve Card

12y↑2

Love this music because my Dad raised me up on it...

Anekantavad

13y↑2

I've loved this music since the age of 5 :-)

Alice Harper

13y

Roy Acuff was a cousin to my grandpa Roy Acuff.... American values are strong. This is the BEST music ever!

Dalton Coghill

11y↑17

Roy Acuff is my great uncle, I can see a lot in my grandfather that resembles him.

Uncle Packy

5y↑2

How cool....

Matthew Govig

3y↑1

So you must be from union/ anderson county ain’t you? I live a about 10 miles down the road from where he grew up, i know a couple people who used to pick with Roy and his cousin Charlie Acuff

William Hayes

He is my cousin

thamir yousif

GREAT PEOPLE AND GREAT MUSIC

opryman65

13y↑4

Charlie Collins hadn't been with Roy Acuff too long when this was made. Onie Wheeler blowing the whistle came from the fact that Roy himself used to make that sound himself qwhen he was younger but a tonsilectomy took care of that so Onie was enlisted to do it thereafter. Roy was, and is my musical hero and will always be the King of Country Music

newyorkstrip

How did he make that whistle sound, was it just with his mouth?

glencoe6305

@newyorkstrip yes, just his mouth . onie's daughter,Karen Wheeler can do the whistle with her mouth too. look her up on YouTube. She was on 2 episodes of the RFD- TV Marty Stuart Show around 2009 and 2010 doing the train whistle.
they claim they do it from the back of the throat vocal chords.

ernest guess

15y↑1

this is my favorite roy acuff song its the first song i ever herd roy sing when i was a kid

DolphinKarlheinz

15y↑2

Thank you so much for this fantastic video.Greetings from Germany

akfunnyguy

12y

my dad's favorite song. I'm lovin it. Wish he was still here to watch it on YouTube.

Tracy Latham

13y

Earl Snead was a good musician. Somebody probably recommended him at this show on the spot to Roy for banjo but he may have been a bit nervous having just being thrown into the mix...or maybe Earl had too much liquid courage.

William Hutcheson

Thanks for posting this classic.

Banjomountain

16y↑7

This is from the 1971 Camp Springs Bluegrass Festival in Camp Springs, NC. Great video clip!

opryman65

12y↑3

I can tell you, I was a teenager in 1983 when I first met him and befriended him over the next nine years - you have no idea what you are talking about. These men were great people. Acuff had been singing and playing since 1934, and he was named the King of Country Music in 1944 by baseball great Dizzy Dean. He was the first living member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, the first to own a publishing company for country music in Nashville and his name was synonymous with the Grand Ole Opry.

INDY OSKARS

"Roy Acuff, the King of the Hillbillies !"
-Dizzy Dean
"To hell with Roosevelt, to hell with Babe Ruth and to hell with Roy Acuff !"
-Japanese war cry
Well Roosevelt is in hell, don´t know about Babe but Roy is in Hillbilly Heaven.

BirdWife

roy was such a gentleman

hns123192

14y

Very nice. Thanks for posting.

Rose Turcotte

Know that what I call music. Love classic best to dance to.

5jonesville

14y↑2

Hillbilly heaven! With Brother Oswald on dobro.

ringbolt9

15y

great music!

John Backstrom

12y↑3

This is amazing footage! Can anyone tell me what year this was? Is there more of this?

Conductor Jereo Cheerio

I heard from a particular source that this exact performance was from a Bluegrass Festival at Camp Springs, September 1971.

bkleinyt

7y↑3

Those are some exceptional train sounds from Onie Wheeler, eh? (Wheeler wrote, 'Go Home' among others...)

INDY OSKARS

2y↑1

Ah, so he wrote that one, a good one, love it !

Alec Marshall

12y

Get em Uncle Roy!!

rosco272002

11y↑4

Country rules!

glencoe6305

2y↑2

Train Whistle Master and Harmonica Wizard,One Wheeler,was stationed at Pearl Harbor in the Army when it was attacked.
Onie was on Sun Records as a Rockabilly Singer in the 1950s and Toured on same Bill as Elvis.
Onie injured his left fingers harming in his guitar picking in WW2 making him play a guitar in open G chord and barring the chords.
In 1984,after leaving the hospital,Onie performed on WSMs Friday Night Grand Ole Gospel Show hosted by Rev Jimmie Snow,son of Hank Snow.
Onie was a guest and in middle of Onie singing a Gospel Song,he collapsed and died standing in the famous Opry Circle spot on the Opry Stage. May 1984.
R.I.P. Onie Wheeler

dewey lou

15y

This is "AWESOME" by the way what year was this?

siralfredramsey

The way the slightguitarplayer is wearing a hat is the way only REAL hobos are goin' to do it!! I like.

jackie harpold

10y↑3

A sun stoked sure make him a star.

jackie harpold

10y↑2

He sounds more like a train than Box Car Willie

INDY OSKARS

2y↑1

Hank Thompson had double steel an ordinary electric Hawaiian Steel Guitar
and a Pedal Steel Guitar both at the same time but this is the first time for me
seeing both a chromatic mouth-organ and a diatonic one used.

todd hall

god damn right love this stuff just like an old stam engine with a minute man missle system from Korean war

mike smith

13y

I can't believe no one else has commented on the bass being completely out in space. How the rest of the band played that well with that fella on the bass I don't know. Out of tune, Out of time....Wow. I can't believe Roy allowed this.

iVenge

mike smith It doesn’t really matter since the upright bass as it is played in popular music is the stupidest and most useless damned instrument there is. Just a bunch of nondescript, barely audible dull thuds. Thank God for Leo Fender.

INDY OSKARS

@iVenge Rubbish, what the debil are you on about ? !
One does not blame a Stradivarus fiddle if the feller cain´t play it.

Judy Swann

11y

Anybody else read "Purt Nigh Gone" by Zell Miller? He tells the history of these songs and the folks who made them famous.

Robert Killebrew

13y↑2

No I'm not 80 . My Uncle worked for Mr. Acuff for years I got to meet him in the early 80 s at Opryland. He was a good man it's a shame you never will know. I don't know where you got your Information but you could not be any more wrong about him.

Gavin Millichip

15y

Superb.

Danny Dine

8y↑5

Somebody said this is gimmicky.Turn on the country music station today.Now that's Gimmicky.

Reva Tucker

5y↑1

I. Love. Roy. And. Smokey. Mountain. Boys. They. Are. The very. Best

Hexs uno

13y↑1

REAL country.

Shirley Harrow

8y↑1

Fantastico

Will Acuff

Roy acuff is one of my ancestors

arlichar11

14y

if that dont make ya feel good theres no hope for ya!

The Tuck

10y

sounds like something out of fallout :)

INDY OSKARS

"Giddy up Sam !"
-Brother Oswald @1:46

TronconesAmigo

15y

I bet Charlie sold that Grammer after He heard it and Oswald playing a ShoBro just to help out ole Shot Jackson

Anne Maddy

14y

what year was this made?

williamanesbitt

11y

Guess ole Roy was rich enough, that might have been a real Strad... probably not.

Mossware Pro Audio

1y↑1

Where and when was this show?

HowDareThey1970

12y

We simply do not know if they were involved in such human rights abuses unless you do some solid research that offers some suggestion that they were.

D'Ascoyne

13y

What pills did he take before this show?

Russell Fowler

10y

Who sung the song, who going out the back door when I was coming in the front door.

DUCK336

14y

I know thats Camp springs.O'l Carlton Haney did the intro.

Ismael Flores

12y

what year is this?

David Miler

6y↑1

Granny's favorite

firstname lastname

14y

KOOL :D

Matteo Ringressi

15y↑1

Recorded in 1971

Oakheart

12y

@wovokanarchy My grandpa is 88 and he uses the internet just fine.

wovokanarchy

13y

@bigtopboss Yeah right. That means you must be in your 80s sitting behind a computer which I highly doubt.

wovokanarchy

12y

@GreensongOakheart The evidence is in the pudding...it's in the pudding.

John Cali

Who was playing bass on this video?

isaiah miller

jackie philips

Jimmy Bradford

isaiah miller no sir it was Jimmy Riddle

Scott Bechler

That's right Jimmy Bradford, Riddle left the bass to do the Chromatic Harp break, then went back to the bass.

Oakheart

12y

@wovokanarchy "its people like you what cause unrest" I would turn the question back to you. You make wild unfounded accusations and then claim that you couldn't possibly be bothered to try to provide any evidence for them.

wovokanarchy

12y

@GreensongOakheart How would you find out about lynchings and the people who participated in the lynchings? Of course people would deny such things. One only has to look at Germany to realize how an entire nation would deny the autrocities of the Second World War.

Curtis Neilson

wovokanarchy you're barking up the wrong tree these are good people

Banjomountain

14y

@MsPerfectsquare summer of 1971.

DUCK336

11y

Camp Springs NC.

Oakheart

12y

@wovokanarchy If you are talking about my Grandpa then I doubt it. I am unsure where you derive your hatred for Mister Acuff. I did some research and I can't find any reason to accuse him of any of the things you have hurled at him. I think you should be ashamed to be spreading libel on a dead man. I looked into your other comments it seems you are somewhat of a troll. I can appreciate that but ...