Don't Worry by Marty Robbins

Album: More Greatest Hits (1961)

Charted: 3

License This Song

Songfacts®:

Marty Robbins wrote this heartbreaker where he takes a pragmatic view of love and loss, telling his girl to kiss him goodbye because he knows it's over. In his outlook, love is a zero-sum game, with one heart filled every time another breaks.

The song crossed over to the pop chart and was also Robbins' seventh #1 on the Country chart, where it stayed at the peak position for ten weeks.
The song features an early example of guitar distortion, which was a happy accident. An electrical fault in the preamplifier of session musician Grady Martin's 6-string bass created the distortion that was recorded on the track. Although Martin was unhappy with the sound, it was so effective that Robbins' producer, Glenn Snoddy, left it as it was. The distortion starts at the 1:25 mark.

Martin used the same malfunctioning preamplifier to record an instrumental named "The Fuzz" a year later. That song prompted The Ventures to seek out a way to reproduce the sound for their own music, which led to the invention of the fuzzbox by Orville "Red" Rhodes, which then led to the commercially available Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz-Tone. The Maestro appeared on many '60s hits, perhaps most notably on the Rolling Stones "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," and was a landmark tool in the evolution of distortion in music.
Eight-year-old LeAnn Rimes won a round on Star Search when she performed this tune on the talent competition in 1991. Rimes also recorded it for her self-titled album in 1999.

Comments: 5

Dennis Rader from Nashville TnThe channel strip on the console had a component which blew, remember the instrument was a six string bass playing a simple tik tak part to match the upright bass. That is a muffled type of sound, not strong at all. Then Grady Martin hits the break much stronger than the tik tak happens cuz it’s a SOLO. A piece in THE STRIP blew.
They removed and kept the strip then rever engineered the first ever Fuzz Pedal for guitar.
When it happened they all kept playing because that’s what you do in a session. They jumped a bit, looked around, but kept playing.
Finish the chart, let it ring out and when the recorder is stopped, only then do you talk.
If a producer or engineer stops the track he has a reason to do so. True story.
Ann Montgomery from Seymour, TnI don't care whether it was planned, an accident or a figment of my imagination, it absolutely made a great song even more stunning. And a huge attention getter as well! A fantastic arrangement all because of this "distortion!!
Dantheman from Versailles, KentuckyThis comment about the "accidental" guitar distortion doesn't make any sense. Why would the distortion "accidentally" begin at precisely the time the guitar began playing a lead line in the instrumental break, then disappear again until the very end of the song, when it accidentally happens again just as it is supposed to play the very last line? Nope. Both those guitar leads were a planned part of the song, and the distortion - however it was created - was also pre-planned.
Barry from Sauquoit, NyPer: http://www.legacy.com/ {05-27-2018}...
Murfreesboro, Tennessee (AP) — A recording engineer whose invention of a pedal that allowed guitarists to create a fuzzy, distorted sound most famously used by Keith Richards in the Rolling Stones' hit "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" has died...
Glenn Snoddy was 96. His daughter Dianne Mayo said Saturday that Snoddy died Monday, May 21st, 2018, of congestive heart failure at his Murfreesboro, Tennessee, home...
Snoddy was helping record country artist Marty Robbins' song "Don't Worry" in 1961 when a malfunction caused the distortion in a guitar solo. When other musicians sought the same effect, Snoddy couldn't recreate it in the studio but invented a pedal where a guitarist could switch into the sound with a tap of the foot...
Richards' "Satisfaction" riff with the fuzz tone is one of the most recognizable ones in rock history...
May Mr. Snoddy R.I.P.
Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn January 24th 1961, "Don't Worry" by Marty Robbins entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; and on March 20th, 1961 it peaked at #3 (for 1 week) and spent 15 weeks on the Top 100 (and 7 of those 15 weeks were on the Top 10)...
And on February 21st, 1961 it reached #1 on Billboard's Hot Country/Western Sides chart, and as stated above it remained in the top spot for 10 weeks (the record that finally pushed it out of the #1 was the Willie Nelson composed song, "Hello Walls", sung by Faron Young)......
R.I.P. Mr. Robbins, born Martin David Robinson, (1925 - 1982).

see more comments

More Songfacts:

Invisible TouchGenesis

The Genesis song "Invisible Touch" was inspired by the Prince-written Sheila E. track "The Glamorous Life."

Shake It OffTaylor Swift

Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" was inspired by how she'd learned to deal with all the false rumors that circulated about her. She realized she could either let it get to her or "just shake it off."

The ReflexDuran Duran

"The Reflex" became a #1 hit for Duran Duran when Nile Rodgers remixed it using a sampler. Simon Le Bon refuses to say what it's about, but says it's "kind of childish song."

Louie LouieThe Kingsmen

"Louie Louie" was first recorded in 1955 by an R&B singer named Richard Berry, and his lyrics are easy to understand. When The Kingsmen recorded the hit version, their lyrics were indecipherable.

Burning Down The HouseTalking Heads

"Burning Down The House" by Talking Heads was inspired by chant band members heard at a P-Funk show where the crowd yelled, "burn down the house... burn down the house."

She Loves YouThe Beatles

"She Loves You" by The Beatles was the song that convinced Ozzy Osbourne to make music his life. The Beatles were a big influence on him because they were also poor kids from a small town in England.