James King – She Took His Breath Away – Poppy Mountain 2005 (With Lyrics)

James King  Live on Poppy Mountain in 2005

Thanks to Allen “Styx” Hicks and James Stiltner for the video.

James Elroy King was an American bluegrass music singer. Tom T. Hall dubbed King the “Bluegrass Storyteller,” for his ability to infuse his story songs with emotion and authenticity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_King_(bluegrass)

She Took His Breath Away Lyrics

He couldn’t catch her eye
No matter how he’d try
If she noticed him at all he couldn’t say
He didn’t know if it was love
Or what the feeling was
He only knew she took his breath away

Call it luck call it smart
Somehow he won her heart
She looked so gorgeous on her wedding day
She whispered I love you
He tried to say it too
But he couldn’t speak
She took his breath away

That night he closed his eyes and dreamed about her
And he swore he’d love her til his dying day
Life just wouldn’t be the same without her
He loved her so she took his breath away

Two people one soul
Two hearts one goal
To be together for eternity

She’s callin for you Joe
And I think you’d better go
She ain’t got long he heard her doctor say
Then kneeling by her bed
The last words that she said
You know you always took my breath away

That night he closed his eyes and dreamed about her
And swore he’d love her til his dying day
He didn’t have the will to live without her
He loved her so she took his breath away

Oh one last time she took his breath away

James King Bed By The Window

Raw, high lonesome bluegrass is the language James King speaks best. King’s road band, recording with him here for the first time, abet his singing ideally, especially the tenor of mandolinist Kenny Prater, who squeezes the heart with his harmonies on the title song.

King’s preference for a wailing, frayed vocal style nicely folds into his noted partiality for 1960s country and folk, represented here by tunes from the pens of Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb, and Stonewall Jackson.

Old-timey bluegrass sprouts are everywhere, too. “Wear a Red Rose” kicks the CD off in high gear, and Damon Black’s “Tall Pines” and Moon Mullican’s lovely “Sweeter than the Flowers” offer a solid one-two succession with the hollering tune being followed by a somber waltz.

King shares with Del McCoury and few others an equally rooted and fresh bluegrass vision. –Andrew Bartlett

Order Bed By The Window from Amazon

More James King albums:

The Bluegrass Storyteller

Thirty Years of Farming

Three Chords And The Truth

These Old Pictures