Put your sweet lips a little closer to the phone Let's pretend that we're together all alone I'll tell the man to turn the jukebox way down low And you can tell your friend there with you, he'll have to go. Whisper to me, tell me do you love me true Or is he holding you the way I do Though love is blind, make up your mind, I've got to know Should I hang up, or will you tell him, he'll have to go. You can't say the words I want to hear When you're with another man Do you want me, answer yes or no Darling, I will understand. Put your sweet lips a little closer to the phone Let's pretend that we're together all alone I'll tell the man to turn the jukebox way down low And you can tell your friend there with you, he'll have to go.
Jim seemed to have the help of a "guiding" hand in the selection of all his songs.Taken from the notes accompanying "Jim Reeves - A Legendary Performer" (CPL1-1891). © 1976 RCA Records - Submitted by C.B. Dixon."Four Walls"-and how it came to be recorded is just one example. Another is Jim's biggest selling record in the United States: "He'll Have To Go."
The song was the B-side of a tune called "In A Mansion Stands My Love" which was written by Johnny Russell and went into the charts soon after its release in November 1959.
Three months later, listeners were requesting-and deejays playing-the B-side. The song's popularity caused the record to be a two-sided hit.
Though people remember the record, many cannot remember the title. Mary Reeves observes, "A lot of people call it 'Put Your Sweet Lips'-which perhaps it should have been called. But I think the writers, Joe and Audrey Allison, would agree with me that one cannot argue with success! It's a fantastic song."
Reeves was driving in the car one day and heard the song on the radio performed by Billy Brown on Columbia Records-the first person to record it. Reeves instantly fell in love with it and commented, "That guy has a hit."
He watched the song for about six months before recording it because he believed Billy Brown had a great recording of it. Apparently, Columbia didn't realize how strong it could have been because Reeves had difficulty finding one of Billy's records.
Thus, the forgotten record of Brown and the B-side of Reeves became the biggest Jim Reeves record in history. At one of Jim's Grand Ole Opry performances he was presented a certified Gold Record Award-the first gold record he received from U.S. sales for a single record.