"Just to Satisfy You" is a song written by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singers

Waylon Jennings Waylon Arnold Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He is considered one of the pioneers of the Outlaw country, outlaw movement in country music. Jennings started playing ...

and Don Bowman in 1963. Jennings included the song in his performing repertoire, and on radio, where the song became a local hit in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

. The song was later re-recorded and made the title-track of his 1969 album, while in 1982 he once again re-recorded it as a duet version along with

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

, that peaked at number one for two weeks on the ''Billboard''

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

. The song was also released in June 1967 by

Glen Campbell Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American country musician and actor. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting ''The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour'' on CBS television from ...

on the Burning Bridges album and in January 1970 by

Jerry Reed Jerry Reed Hubbard (March 20, 1937 – September 1, 2008), known professionally as Jerry Reed, was an American country singer, guitarist, composer, songwriter and actor who appeared in more than a dozen films. His signature songs included " Gui ...

on his album Cookin'.

Background and recordings

and Don Bowman wrote the song in 1963. The same year, Jennings signed a recording contract with

A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...

. His releases had little success, because the main releases of the label were

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

rather than country. Despite the low success of his records, the single "Just To Satisfy You" backed with

Ian Tyson Ian Dawson Tyson (25 September 1933 – 29 December 2022) was a Canadian singer-songwriter who wrote several folk songs, including " Four Strong Winds" and " Someday Soon", and performed with partner Sylvia Tyson as the duo Ian & Sylvia. Ea ...

's "

Four Strong Winds "Four Strong Winds" is a song written in 1962 by Ian Tyson and recorded by Canadian folk duo Ian and Sylvia on their 1963 album ''Four Strong Winds''. The song was the first one that Tyson wrote. Tyson has stated that he wrote the song in about 20 ...

" were radio hits in

. Singer

Bobby Bare Robert Joseph Bare Sr. (born April 7, 1935) is an American country music singer and songwriter, best known for the songs "Marie Laveau", " Detroit City", and " 500 Miles Away from Home". He is the father of Bobby Bare Jr., also a musician. Earl ...

, who liked Jennings' style, covered both songs and recommended Jennings to producer

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), also known as "Mister Guitar" and "the Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson (musician), Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nash ...

, who signed him to

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

in 1965. In 1967, during an interview, Jennings remarked that the song was a "pretty good example" of the influence of his work with

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texa ...

and rockabilly music. Despite that the song was included in Jennings performing repertoire, it was not released as a single, but it was included two years later as the title-track of his 1969 album. In 1982, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson recorded the song again, which became their third number one country hit as a duo. The single spent two weeks at number one and a total of twelve weeks on the country chart. In 1987,

Barbara Mandrell Barbara Ann Mandrell (born December 25, 1948) is an American retired country music singer and musician. She is also credited as an actress and author. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, she was considered among country's most successful mus ...

, recorded the song for her "Sure Feels Good" album. The song was never released as a single.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 1963 songs 1965 singles 1982 singles Bobby Bare songs Waylon Jennings songs Willie Nelson songs Glen Campbell songs Songs written by Waylon Jennings Song recordings produced by Chips Moman RCA Records singles Male vocal duets Songs written by Don Bowman (singer)