On This Day in 1955, Faron Young Got His First No. 1 With a Song He “Detested” Until It Became a Hit

On this day (June 18) in 1955, Faron Young was at No. 1 on the country chart with “Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young.” While he had notched several hits, it was his first to reach the top of the chart. He didn’t choose the song, though. Instead, his label pushed it on him, and he hated it. However, when it became a hit, Young decided it wasn’t so bad, after all.

Young found his first hit in 1952 with “Goin’ Steady,” which peaked at No. 2 on the country chart. He released seven more singles and scored three more top ten hits before he released “Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young” in early 1955. It spent three consecutive weeks at the top of the country chart.

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Joe Allison wrote the song after watching Knock on Any Door (1949), starring John Derek and Humphrey Bogart. In the film, Derek’s character, Nick Romano, lives by the motto “Live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse.” The line struck Allison as a great idea for a song. So, he sat down and penned Young’s first chart-topper.

Faron Young Did Not Like “Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young”

Two decades after “Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young” became a No. 1 hit, Faron Young shared his feelings about it on The Ralph Emery Show.

“This was a tune that I detested,” Young said. “Ken Nelson made me record this. He was my A&R man back then. I put it out, and it was a big, big hit. Then I got to liking it, especially when the check came in,” he added with a laugh.

Young then pointed out that this song and the top 10 hits “If You Ain’t Lovin’ You Ain’t Livin’” and “I’ve Got Five Dollars, and It’s Saturday Night” were “pretty much the same thing.”

By the time he spoke to Emery about his early career, Young had notched 70 top 10 hits. During their discussion, he revealed how he kept his songs in the upper reaches of the charts. “One thing I’ve done, though, is I work at this as a business. I try to keep up with the times,” he explained.

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