Ricky Skaggs Mesmerized CMA Viewers With His Version of “There Goes My Everything” 

In 2018, country music and bluegrass legend Ricky Skaggs treated CMA viewers for a performance of “There Goes My Everything” – and it’s a performance you won’t easily forget.

During the celebration of the 50th Annual CMA Awards, some of the biggest names in country music paid tribute to a number of frequently nominated and awarded songs for the last fifty years in the series called “Forever Country Covers.” 

Ricky Skaggs – who has 21 CMA Awards nominations and eight wins, including Entertainer of the Year – chose the former No. 1 country hit to perform. The moment he started singing, the shift in energy inside the Bridgestone arena was palpable, and the audience came alive.

The Story Behind The Song

Written by Dallas Frazier, “There Goes My Everything” tells the tale of a couple who are on the verge of breaking up. The man in the song is starting to realize how much his lover meant to him now that she is leaving him.

“There goes my reason for living. There goes the one of my dreams. There goes my only possession. There goes my everything,” the song goes.

“There Goes My Everything” was best known in a 1966 version by Jack Greene, which reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs and held that position for seven weeks. It remained in the charts for a total of twenty-one weeks.

The song also took home several awards. This includes “Single of the Year” and “Song of the Year” during the first-ever CMA Awards presentation. 

“There Goes My Everything” has since been covered by many artists. In 1967, Engelbert Humperdinck recorded his version, and it hit No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was even a No. 2 hit on the UK Singles Chart as well as in Ireland. Elvis Presley also recorded the song for his 1971 album Elvis Country (I’m 10,000 Years Old), and it hit the top ten on the country charts.

Since then, “There Goes My Everything” has been considered a country music standard.

Impressively, “There Goes My Everything” was the first song Frazier wrote when he came to Nashville. The songwriter revealed that it was actually born out of the divorce of his good friend, country singer Ferlin Husky.

You can listen to “There Goes My Everything” in the video below.