“DON’T WORRY” BY MARTY ROBBINS
Fifty years ago this week, Marty Robbins recorded “Don’t Worry” and inadvertently created a new sound–the fuzz tone. The song idea popped into Marty’s head when he was sitting at a stoplight on Thompson Lane one night, and he wrote the song by the time he reached his house in Brentwood. “I went home and played it on the piano for, probably for an hour,” he once said, “not just to remember the song, but because I liked the song.” He recorded it July 12, 1960, and everyone in the studio was surprised to hear a distorted sound on the playback. Perfectionist Marty wanted to rerecord it, but producer Don Law convinced him to keep the unique sound, which had resulted when the amplifier for Grady Martin’s lead bass guitar malfunctioned. (More on that story when the book is published.) The single was released in December and spent ten weeks at number one. (more…)