My 100 Favorite Charted Country Songs: Easy Loving

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History time! Every now and these a song makes history for the right reasons. That’s not why it’s on my 100 favorite country songs list, though. It’s here because I love the stuffing out of this song. Here’s today’s entry on my list of favorites. Easy Loving - Freddie Hart Three times in the history of the Country Music Association a song has won “Song of the Year” two consecutive years. This was the first time. (The other two songs were “He Stopped Loving Her Today” and “Always on My Mind”…neither of which made this list. [Spoiler.]) And, to say that this revitalized Freddie Hart’s career is an understatement. This song was a major FLOP when it was first released, to the point where Capitol Records dropped Freddie Hart (ne Frederick Segrest, a real country music name ) from the roster. Then a radio station started playing it and it got tremendous response. (Yes, kids, there was a time when you could hear a song on one radio station and not the other…and you could also call that station and request a song!!) The next thing you know, it’s #1 and Capitol Records was tripping over themselves to get Hart back on the label before someone else snagged him! Hart was hardly an overnight sensation: he’d been having mid-sized hits since the late 1950s (I remember his song “The Key’s in the Mailbox” in the 60s). But this song started a streak of six #1 hits in the early 70s that took him out of the songwriter success (he wrote the hit “Loose Talk”) and into the singer success. And oh, that Lloyd Green steel guitar lick. One of the most iconic two-note steel riffs in country music. Easy Loving Written by Freddie Hart Recorded by Freddie Hart From California Grapevine, 1970 Peak chart position: #1 (also charted #17 pop) Today’s rock song: “Here Come Those Tears Again” Life with you’s like living in a beautiful dream: