About The Song
On March 22, 1986, Earl Thomas Conley registered the first number one album of his career when his “Greatest Hits” collection reached the top spot in Billboard. Ironically, Conley didn’t like the album. The early material brought back many unpleasant personal memories and he couldn’t listen all the way through.
Conley added two new songs to the package – “Nobody Falls Like a Fool” and “Once in a Blue Moon.” Co-written with “Holding Her and Loving You” writer Tommy Brasfield, “Once in a Blue Moon” was the first country hit penned by Muscle Shoals musician Robert Byrne, who had recorded a few albums for Mercury in the 1970s. Byrne was also noted as the composer of several songs for such pop acts as Dr. Hook, the Captain & Tennille and Johnny Rivers.
The publisher of “Once in a Blue Moon” tried to get Byrne and Brasfield to rewrite the second line in the chorus. Although they tried, the song didn’t work without that line and they proceeded to shop the original version around town.
Byrne played “Once in a Blue Moon” for Steve Wariner, but Steve didn’t “hear” it, so he turned the song down. That was actually okay with Robert because he noticed that whenever Wariner passed on a song, it usually went to number one for some other artist. Byrne’s superstition prompted him to tell Steve, “Hey, just do me a favor and pass on this thing.”
As with “Holding Her and Loving You,” Brasfield played “Once in a Blue Moon” for Conley’s producer Nelson Larkin, who then forwarded it along to Earl, even though they already had the two new songs needed for the “Greatest Hits” album. One of those songs had to be bumped to make room for “Once in a Blue Moon.”
When Earl heard the song for the first time, he was absolutely blown away. It was the same reaction he experienced upon first hearing “Holding Her and Loving You” nearly three years earlier. Conley instinctively knew that “Once in a Blue Moon” would be a sure-fire number one hit. The May 3, 1986 Billboard country singles chart bore that out when the record sailed into the number one position, marking Earl’s 11th of his 18 chart-toppers. Three years later, his “Greatest Hits” album was certified gold (for sales of 500,000 units) in July of 1989.
Video
Lyrics
Nine times of ten, she’s right and I am wrong,
When I won’t give in she just goes along
Standing by my side, sitting home alone
I’ll never know what keeps her hanging on
When anybody else would be long gone
But once in a blue moon I’ll do something right
And Once in a blue moon I’ll make her feel so fine
I can make her laugh, And make her cry
She hates the way she loves me sometimes
Once in a blue moon I’ll do something right
She’s starving for affection, so hungry for loves touch
But she only hears ‘I love you’ when we’re making love
Lord, I’ll always wonder why she love me so much
And the best I’ll ever do won’t be enough
So I’ll just thank my lucky stars above
But once in a blue moon I’ll do something right
And Once in a blue moon I’ll make her feel so fine
I can make her laugh, And make her cry
She hates the way she loves me sometimes
Once in a blue moon, once in a blue moon
Every once in a blue moon
I’ll do something right
Once in a blue moon…
OldiesSong