“Heartaches By The Number” by Ray Price tells a three-chapter story about heartbreak in 2 minutes and 34 seconds that will surely – trust us – bring you to tears. The song was written by Harlan Howard and released by Ray Price exactly on New Year’s Day in 1959 as the 11th track off his album For the Good Times. This was recorded months before the highly popular, chart-topper version by Guy Mitchell was released on August 1959.
Let’s take the song chapter by chapter.
Chapter 1: Abandonment
A wise man once said that true love is excruciating. Especially when you thought that that person would be that someone who would stand by you through thick and thin, but you end up getting left behind. And Ray Price absolutely delivered that agony of getting your heart broken into a thousand little pieces in just two lines.
But that wasn’t the end of it. And then came heartbreak number two.
For You
Chapter 2: Coming Back
Your person comes back, and you’re holding onto the love you once shared, but it’s not giving back anything. They don’t want to be with you anymore. Ray takes you on the journey of heartaches piling up, troubles by the score, yet loving the one that hurt you more than the day before.
Chapter 3: Holding on… for nothing
You have been slowly working your way through when your person reaches out to you again. Despite everything that happened, you are overjoyed, and you open your heart again… only to get it crushed again. And with Ray’s voice, you experience that same heart wrenching pain.
Ray Price has definitely made the “Heartbreaks By The Number” into an experience. And that is something that is not easily replicated, which is why it wasn’t surprising that he reached number two and spent a total of 40 weeks on the Billboard Hot C&W Sides chart. You can listen to the video below, and if you want more, then don’t forget to listen to Ray Price songs available on different streaming platforms.
