Introduction:
Every #1 Country Single of the Eighties: Conway Twitty, “Desperado Love”
The thing about Conway Twitty is that he never stopped being a great stylist with good taste in material.
A lot of conversation will go on as we get to the late eighties, and many reliable superstars will fade at country radio. A handful of them, like Twitty, would still be getting airplay into the nineties. In Twitty’s case, it was really his premature death that ended his run at country radio, long after most of his peers had moved on.
“Desperado Love” would be the last time he topped the Billboard country singles chart, but he has another two No. 1 singles on the way that went to No. 1 on Radio & Records. Not that this would’ve been a low mark for his run to end on, because it’s a charming and clever record that plays around with the desperado concept.
Applying desperado imagery to stealing another man’s woman, as he puts it, makes for some playful lyrical moments, as Twitty confesses that law and order be damned, he’s going to follow his heart. Sure, it doesn’t have the smoldering intensity of “You’ve Never Been This Far Before” or the crippling shame and guilt of “Linda On My Mind,” but when you’ve done so many cheating songs before, you have to find some fresh angles to approach it from.
Twitty does that well here, making for another late career highlight. Its parent album, Fallin’ For You For Years, would be his swan song for Warner Bros. Records before reuniting with Jimmy Bowen at MCA Nashville. The title track will appear in this feature toward the end of 1986.