Six months after the death of Patsy Cline, Decca released her version of “Faded Love.” Debuting on Billboard’s country singles chart on September 14, 1963, the record climbed to #7 and slightly nudged the pop chart at #96 (it should have gone much higher on both lists). Bob Wills called Patsy’s rendition of “Faded Love” his own favorite, and as time would prove, it was the most-remembered. That same year, Leon McAuliffe, one of Bob’s original Texas Playboys, cut a swing version of “Faded Love” that reached #22 nationally. Eight years later, the tune reappeared by Tompall and the Glaser Brothers. The boys had grown up listening to the music of Bob Wills. By the early ‘70s, as part of the country “outlaw” movement, they often toured with Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. Yet, they never completely separated themselves from country’s old sounds. In fact, the Glasers often embraced them. With their easy harmonies and smooth instrumentation, they re-created old classics as well as anyone in Music City. More than most, the brothers seemed to realize that the power of a good song never dies.
In 1971, Tompall and the Glaser Brothers’ version of “Faded Love” was recorded in a fashion that came close to capturing the sound of John Wills’ lonesome fiddle drifting out across the Texas Panhandle night. By adding just one instrument at a time, the Glasers built their rendition into a heartfelt tribute to Bob, whose health was failing by that time. Their record became a huge favorite in the Lone Star State and it climbed to a respectable #22 on Billboard’s country singles chart (the same peak as McAuliffe’s ’63 version). As the years went by, “Faded Love’s” hit power got even stronger when, in 1980, Willie Nelson and Ray Price teamed up to take the song to #3, its strongest showing yet.
There are some standards whose classic status can never be fully explained. These songs are so great and their sound so peerless that they give off a special aura. Such is the case with “Faded Love.” Bob Wills had a host of songs that were bigger hits than his father’s old fiddle tune, but he never produced another which so captured the beauty of the music once known as “Texas Swing.” Yet, time has proven that “Faded Love” is much more than just a swing tune. It’s more than a fiddle standard. This is one of the rarest of songs that can reach out and touch listeners in any style and in any era.