B-side "Ride 'Em Cowboy" Format 45-rpm vinyl single Genre Country, pop | Released October 24, 1981 Recorded 1981 Length 3:58
4:06 (7") | |
"The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)" is a country-pop song written by Otha Young (a.k.a. Robert O. Young). Young (who died August 6, 2009) was the long-time musical partner of Juice Newton and wrote the song for her in the mid-1970s.
History
"The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)" was originally recorded and released in 1975 on Juice Newton's debut album, Juice Newton and Silver Spur (RCA), with Silver Spur being the backup band, which consisted of Otha Young, Tom Keeley and other musicians. The 1975 version was not issued as a single, although it was the B-side of two singles. In the meantime, Dottsy recorded a version in 1976 and took it to No. 86 on the country music charts and used it as the title track to her album The Sweetest Thing.
Newton re-recorded the song on her 1981 album, the career-launching Juice, which was Newton's third solo album and featured three of her five biggest pop hits: "The Sweetest Thing", "Angel of the Morning" and "Queen of Hearts". In early 1982, it reached No. 1 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart, No. 1 on the Billboard country chart, and No. 7 on the Billboard pop chart, where it remained in the Top 40 for eighteen weeks. The single is the only of Juice Newton's to reach the Top 10 on all three charts. On Billboard's year-end Top 40 chart, the song charted at No. 21 of all the singles of 1982.
The first pressings of the Juice album featured a different arrangement of the song, with a more prominent steel guitar part and no oboe. After the unexpected crossover success of "Angel of the Morning" and "Queen of Hearts", a pop version was mixed and replaced the country version on all future pressings of the album. The revamped version was also used for the single (which, somewhat ironically, became her first No. 1 Country Single). (The 1981 country version can be found on the United Kingdom best-of CD Country Classics and BGO's two-CD "Juice/Quiet Lies/Dirty Looks" boxed set.