Larkin’s wife Mary had gotten the idea for the song and passed it along to Conley. He worked on it for a couple of years, finally deciding it was “written wrong” and, after his move to Nashville, took another shot at it. This time the song came out just right.
Earl recorded a demo on “This Time I’ve Hurt Her More Than She Loves Me,” called a “spec track.” At this point, Conley still wasn’t real comfortable in the studio, so he took his song over to Conway Twitty’s office.
Twitty, still living in Oklahoma, heard the song on a trip to Nashville where L. E. White of Twitty Bird Publishing had set it aside. Conway listened to Earl’s demo over and over that day. He told White how much he loved the song, but he was particularly enamored with Conley’s singing voice on the demo. Twitty was so impressed that he personally made some calls and tried to help get Earl a recording deal. Nothing much came of it, however.
