Is there a sadder song? Yes, it teeters on wallowing in a swamp of self-pitying sentimentality, but Clarence Carter saves it. As I was just beginning to listen to music, I heard this song and it changed what a song could do. It could make me cry. It could give me hope.
And it helped me understand my father. No sharecropper’s son, but this father died when my Dad was 12 or 13 and he immediately became the man of he family. He took his responsibilities to heart and it shaped the rest of his life as he carried out the obligations of the stand in father and the actual father, even if those responsibilities sometimes deprived him of joy.
The song was written by General Johnson, the lead singer of Chairmen of the Board, and that group originally recorded it. Later, B.B. King and George Jones would do a duet of the song. Both good versions, but Clarnece Carter owns this song.
Patches, I’m depending on you son…
YouTube: https://youtu.be/IvfsfS6NVUc?si=bMyQjmUDwo5KF6qd
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/5vk9PL1tTyWrQY3TqRq2Rg?si=dc409aaabce6419d