Always on My Mind

"Always on My Mind" is an American country music song by Johnny Christopher, Mark James and Wayne Carson Thompson originally recorded by Brenda Lee.

Allmusic lists over 300 recorded releases of the song in versions by dozens of performers.^[1] At the 25th Grammy Awards held in 1983, the songwriters won Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Best Country Song; in addition, Willie Nelson's recording won for Best Male Country Vocal Performance.

Elvis Presley version

Elvis Presley recorded his version of "Always on My Mind" on March 29, 1972. The song was released as the B-side of the Separate Ways single, which reached Gold status in the U.S for sales of over half a million copies. It was listed as a double sided hit reaching number 16 on Billboard magazine's Hot Country Singles chart in November 1972.^[2] In the UK "Always on My Mind" was the hit song and "Separate Ways" was the B-side. Brenda Lee's version had stalled at #45 on the country charts in 1972.

Over 30 years later, Presley's version was played at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and included on that year's promotional compilation album Voices from the FIFA World Cup.

John Wesley Ryles version

In 1979, John Wesley Ryles reached #20 on the U.S. country charts with his rendition, entitled "You Are Always on My Mind," from the album Let the Night Begin.

Willie Nelson version

The song was also recorded by Willie Nelson. Released in the spring of 1982, the song raced to number one on Billboard magazine's Hot Country Singles chart that May, spending two weeks atop the chart. The song also did very well on Top 40 radio, peaking at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was Billboard's number one country song for 1982.

Apart from its three Grammys (including Grammy Award for Song of the Year for the songwriters), "Always on My Mind" earned numerous other awards for Nelson and its songwriters, including the 1982 and 1983 Country Music Association's "Song of the Year" honors and the 1982 CMA Single of the Year.

Willie Nelson performed the number with Johnny Cash on the 1998 release of VH1 Storytellers: Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson.

Chart performance

Pet Shop Boys version

"Always on My Mind"
Single by Pet Shop Boys
from the album Introspective
B-side	"Do I Have To?"
Released	November 30, 1987
Format	7", 12", cassette, CD
Genre	Synthpop
Length	3:56 (7") 8:10 (extended mix) 9:04 (album version)
Label	Parlophone - 6171
Producer	Julian Mendelsohn, Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys singles chronology
"Rent" (1987) "Always on My Mind" (1987) "Heart" (1988)
Alternate cover Cover for the US release

In 1987, Pet Shop Boys performed a version of "Always on My Mind" on Love Me Tender, an ITV network television special commemorating the tenth anniversary of Presley's death, in which various popular contemporary acts performed cover versions of his hits. Their performance was so well-received that the group decided to record the song and release it as a single. This version became the U.K.'s Christmas number one single that year, beating "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl, and topping the charts for four weeks in total. It also reached number one in Germany in 1988, and peaked at number four in the United States on the Billboard Hot 100 the same year, becoming the duo's fifth and last Top 10 hit there. It is their best selling single in the official UK Singles Chart.

The Pet Shop Boys version introduces a harmonic variation not present in the original version. In the original the ending phrase "always on my mind" is sung to a IV-V⁷-I cadence (C-D⁷-G). The Pet Shop Boys extend this cadence by adding two further chords: C-D⁷-Gm⁷/B♭-C-G (i.e. a progression of IV-V⁷-i⁷_b-IV-I).

In November 2004, The Daily Telegraph newspaper placed the version at number two in a list of the fifty greatest cover versions of all time.^[3]

In the video (for Pet Shop Boys' version of "Always on My Mind" (an excerpt from their surreal music film It Couldn't Happen Here) , Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe are seated in the front of a taxi cab, when an odd passenger gets in, played by notable British actor Joss Ackland. At the end of the song, he gets out of the car, which drives away. Standing alone, he mutters: "You went away. It should make me feel better. But I don't know how I'm going to get through", which is part of the lyrics for another Pet Shop Boys track, "What Have I Done to Deserve This?".

In 1988, the duo rerecorded the song for their third studio LP, Introspective, combining it with an acid-house track called "In My House".

Track listing

7": Parlophone / R 6171 (UK)

1. "Always on My Mind" (3:59)
2. "Do I Have To?" (5:14)

12": Parlophone / 12 R 6171 (UK)

1. "Always on My Mind" (Extended Dance Version) (8:10)
2. "Do I Have To?" (5:14)
3. "Always on My Mind" (3:59)

• also released on MC (TCR 6171) and CD (CDR 6171)

12": Parlophone / 12 RX 6171 / 20 2321 6 (UK)

1. "Always on My Mind" (Remix) (5:55)
2. "Do I Have To?" (5:14)
3. "Always on My Mind" (Dub Version) (2:05)

Other versions and notable performances

• Shakira at the 2002 VH1 Divas: Las Vegas, as part of a tribute to Elvis Presley that also featured Celine Dion, Cher, The Dixie Chicks, Whitney Houston and Anastacia.
• Michael Kwan with Tracy Huang performed (Chinese: 常在我心间) in 1987.
• Amanda Lear on her 2009 album Brief Encounters.
• Mary Elizabeth McGlynn and Akira Yamaoka covered the song for the video game Silent Hill Shattered Memories.
• VAGIANT Boston perform a punk cover of this song on their sophomore album, Trash Candy.
• Punk cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes perform the song as part of their live Ruin Jonny's Bar Mitzvah album. Listed in the track listing as "On My Mind", this version more closely resembles the Nelson arrangement, and the band initially attributes the song to him before one member adds "or Big Elvis".

References