- Included among the Record Descriptions of Favorite Albums (Part 1).
- One Day at a Time presents 18 songs that are performed in a manner similar to that of Cristy Lane’s #1 country song and crossover hit, “One Day at a Time”.
The Greatest Music
Ever Recorded!
Cristy Lane – One Day at a Time (1981): Subtitled “America’s Favorite Songs of Faith and Inspiration”, One Day at a Time presents 18 songs that are performed in a manner similar to that of Cristy Lane’s #1 country song and crossover hit, “One Day at a Time”. Besides his own gospel hit “Why Me, Lord?” (1973), Kris Kristofferson co-wrote “One Day at a Time” (also the motto of Alcoholics Anonymous and other similar organizations) with a Nashville songwriting legend, Marijohn Wilkin. With Danny Dill, Wilkin co-wrote “The Long Black Veil” (1959) for Lefty Frizzell – this standard is such a cultural touchstone that it was even mentioned in an opinion by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1979.
Other songs that Marijohn Wilkin wrote or co-wrote include “Waterloo”, a #1 country hit for Stonewall Jackson, also in 1959; “Cut Across Shorty”, which was recorded by Eddie Cochran, Rod Stewart, Faces, and Freddie and the Dreamers; and “I Just Don’t Understand” that was covered by Ann-Margret and the Beatles. “One Day at a Time” reached the Country Top 20 in the version by Marilyn Sellars in 1974 and also made #37 on the Billboard Hot 100. At the urging of her husband Lee Stoller, Cristy Lane made several attempts to launch a music career from the late 1960’s through the end of the 1970’s, with only minimal success. After releasing her third album in 1979, Simple Little Words, United Artists Records balked at Cristy Lane’s plans to release a remake of “One Day at a Time”, even though Lena Martell had a No. 1 hit in Great Britain with her version of “One Day at a Time” in 1979. Instead, Liberty Records released the song and the accompanying album, Ask Me to Dance. “One Day at a Time” hit #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, and the song became the cornerstone of a television marketing juggernaut for Cristy Lane’s music. The One Day at a Time album that I have is apparently the first to be released, though other versions of the album were issued throughout the rest of the 1980’s.