“The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A.”
Donna Fargo
Written by Donna Fargo
Billboard
#1 (3 weeks)
June 3 – June 17, 1972
Donna Fargo is one of those singers that you can hear smiling as she sings.
It would be easy to dismiss this record as cotton candy fluff, because it’s easy to miss just how deep a statement of gratitude this is.
That’s a credit to Fargo’s euphoric performance, which soars so high that it’s impossible to think that this woman ever had a moment of sadness or doubt. But she did, and she cops to it, and an allusion to her past provides the necessary contrast with the state of joy she’s currently in:
Skip-a-dee-do-dah, thank you, Lord
For makin’ him for me
And thank you for letting life turn out the way
That I always thought it could be
There once was a time
When I could not imagine
How it would feel to say
I’m the happiest girl in the whole USA
This tale of domestic bliss is a bit ahead of its time too, capturing a scene of gender parity as they fix each other’s lunch for work and both head out the door. Maybe she was looking for love for so long because she wouldn’t settle for less than an equal partner. No wonder she’s so happy. Those are still hard to find a half century later.
I love everything about this record and this artist, and I’m so happy that this is the first of many winning entries that we’ll cover in this series.
“The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A.” gets an A.
Every No. 1 Single of the Seventies
Previous: Conway Twitty, “(Lost Her Love) On Our Last Date”|
Next: Sonny James, “That’s Why I Love You Like I Do”
This is one of my favorite songs of the 1970s. It’s such a positive song about a couple so in love.
Fargo was such an incredible writer. This was all over the radio when it was released. Such an amazing and positive song.
Definitely an A for me.
I agree that this is an “A”. Such a great performance and definitely ahead of its time lyrically (at least in country music). People often think of Donna as a “one-hit wonder” but it’s not even close to true. When reviewing her chart run on Wikipedia her run was impressive.
I agree, this is a great song, one that expressed positive sentiments in a new way for country music. If this song had been released in the UK by a British artist, it would have been described as “Sunshine Pop” – there was a lot of very good British Sunshine Pop that never crossed the Atlantic.
Donna Fargo was the first female country artist to have consecutive million selling singles with “The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A.” and “Funny Face” and she was capable of having hits with covers of older hits. Her version of “Don’t Be Angry” is nearly as good as the Stonewall Jackson original and she had a very interesting take on the old Patti Page/ Les Paul & Mary Ford hit “Mockingbird Hill”. Her LPS were all worthwhile. There will be several more #1 records to follow.
Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with MS in late 1978 which slowed down (but did not completely derail) her career).
And in one of those very frequent things that happened throughout the 70’s, “Happiest Girl” was a big crossover hit on the pop chart as well, peaking at #11 on the Hot 100.