“‘Behind Closed Doors”
Charlie Rich
Written by Kenny O’Dell
Billboard
#1 (2 weeks)
April 28 – May 5, 1973
Sometimes a record is so self-evidently excellent that it belies discussion.
”Behind Closed Doors” is one of those records.
What is there to say?
The gorgeous piano from Hargus “Pig” Robbins that anchors Billy Sherrill’s lush countrypolitan production.
The sophisticated and adult so:writing that says everything without explicitly saying anything.
And a virtuoso vocal performance that comes from the perfect marriage of singer and song. The way he delivers the line, “and she makes me glad that I’m a man,” could only come from the Silver Fox.
It’s perfect. No notes.
“Behind Closed Doors” gets an A.
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This was one of the most important songs in converting me from a genre purist to a proponent of the bigger tent in country music. Because like you said Kevin, what is there to say about this record besides it’s pure countrypolitan perfection? Charlie Rich feels like he is overlooked for hall of fame enshrinement, his 70s records were excellent and Behind Closed Doors and The Most Beautiful Girl are both country standards.
Agreed, there is almost nothing to say except how excellent this song is. One thing I do love is that it’s a positive, romantic love song, one of the first I heard in the country (or any, really) genre that was about the good parts of a relationship, not heartbreak and sadness.
I also have a fondness for Loretta Lynn’s cover, even if I don’t feel it works quite so well from a female perspective, which is rare for me to say.
I’m struggling to come up with things to say about this one too. It was before my time so I don’t have any personal anecdotes. I’d heard this song before Charlie Rich’s mid-90s passing but like a few other of his classics, I only discovered it was from Charlie Rich amidst the tributes to him after his death. Great song, and still not even my favorite in Charlie’s songbook.
One thing I was always curious about, however, is the origin of Charlie setting the card on fire at the CMAs when his “friend” John Denver won Entertainer of the Year? Was it just drunken tomfoolery? Or was he sneering at John Denver at being a “hippie” and not really country? If it’s the latter, it’s especially bewildering as I always considered John Denver more country than Charlie Rich. Of course, it was probably all connected to the Nashville fraternity.
Grade: A
I’m going to cover that when we get to one of his 1975 number ones, but all I’ll say for now is I strongly recommend seeking out the entire clip. It’s clear that he was very unwell that evening. The Denver bit isn’t even the most uncomfortable moment of his presentation.
I’ve always wondered if there was more to that incident and I look forward to seeing the in depth coverage when we get to that number one – and now I am wondering if it might be my other favourite of his, but I will just wait and see on that.
It was the former: “drunken tomfoolery.”
If you actually watch the clip, Rich was talking to–and joking with–John Denver, who was connected in by remote. There was no hint of hostility by Rich toward Denver.
Like so many from the 1970s, I can’t believe he isn’t in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
This was a ubiquitous hit on the radio in 1973, not just on country but also on Top 40 AM radio, where the Silver Fox got played alongside another piano player of, how shall we say, some renown, namely Elton John. “Behind Closed Doors” got up to #16 in the summer.
As to his little “incident” at the 1975 CMA’s involving John Denver winning Entertainer of the Year–well, I think he must have known how embarrassing it was for him and the genre at large, even if most of the crowd agreed (wrongly, in my opinion) with the supposed sentiment.
The crowd was visibly and audibly uncomfortable the entire time he was on stage.
The retroactive fetishization of the event by traditionalists made it all about the Denver piece at the end, but that never made any sense and I’m annoyed with myself for how long I accepted it without critically thinking about it, until I finally saw the whole clip:
CMA Entertainer of the Year 1975
Rich himself was a genre-hopping act, and he’d spent the year leading up to the ceremony vocally defending Olivia Newton-John, who opened for him during this time period. Denver might not have been too country, but she was from an entirely different country on the other side of the world.
Bonus Beats:
Diana Ross recorded a version of “Behind Closed Doors” for her 1973 album Last Time I Saw Him (the title track of which was a Country hit for Dottie West.) Is it good? No. But it is Diana Ross. Other soul versions by Little Milton and Percy Sledge exist. Here’s Ms. Ross’s version:
https://youtu.be/czipTshZH4s
And here’s Joe Diffie’s version from the 1998 various artists album Tribute to Tradition:
https://youtu.be/PmuGRYW_-5A
Finally, here’s the acoustic version Steve Wariner performed for the Forever Country series of covers for the CMA’s 50th anniversary:
https://youtu.be/XnwrlArfTWo
“A+”. I love crossover country when it’s this good. Possibly the best romantic country song ever. Pure country-pop perfection and the piano intro is stunning all in itself.
If words are hard to find to describe why this just might be the perfect country song, I will bring other people’s words about Charlie Rich to the comments section.
In 2000, Chet Flippo wrote, “The album “Behind Closed Doors” makes many country music purists furious because they were unhappy that Charlie Rich’s breakthrough album didn’t sound like Charlie Rich-Memphis-circa-1965.They sometimes forget that country music has always been about its possibilities and not it’s limitations. Charlie Rich sought out its possibilities”
Raul Malo wrote this about Charlie Rich:
“At a time when artists and record companies worried mostly about singles, along comes an album that you can actually listen to from beginning to end. And at the centre of this is that voice, that beautiful, unmistakable voice.”
In 1992, in the liner notes to “Pictures and Paintings,” Rich’s final recording, Peter Guralnick wrote,”You can look at Charlie Rich and know exactly what he is feeling – even on TV, in the plastic greeting of guest and host, his emotions are transparent. Probably that’s why stardom was so difficult for him, but in the music that pain is transmuted – much as in Billie Holiday’s art or Ernest Hemingway’s writing, there is a sense of feelings barely held in check, there is a kind of compression of sensibility in which is offered up the slimmest hope of transcendence.”
As gorgeous and iconic as Robbins’ piano into is, only Nashville would have looked for somebody other than Charlie Rich himself to play that part.