#2: Make The World Go Away by Timi Yuro

City: Kingston, ON
Radio Station: CKWS
Peak Month: September 1963
Peak Position in Kingston ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #36
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #24
YouTube: “Make The World Go Away”
Lyrics: “Make The World Go Away”

Rosemary Victoria Yuro was born in Chicago to an Italian-American family in 1941. The family surname had been changed from Aurro to Yuro after they arrived in America. She moved with her family to Los Angeles when she was nine in 1952. Rosemary sang in her parents’ Italian restaurant and, despite their opposition, in local nightclubs before catching the eye and ear of talent scout Sonny Knight. She was signed to Liberty Records in 1959. She became professionally known as Timi Yuro. Her debut single in 1961, a cover of the 1954 Roy Hamilton tune “Hurt”, climbed to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Her album Hurt!!!!!!! reached #51 on the Billboard Pop Album chart. Later that year, she had a minor hit with a cover of the 1936 tune “Smile”, from the Charlie Chaplin film Modern Times.

In 1962, Timi Yuro opened for Frank Sinatra on his tour of Australia. She received a 1962 Grammy nomination for Best New Artist of 1961, but lost to the classical-jazz pianist Peter Nero. In 1962, Timi Yuro had a #12 hit on the Hot 100 with “What’s a Matter Baby (Is It Hurting You?)”. Yuro showed an emotional but elegant vocal style that owed a debt to Dinah Washington and other black jazz singers. Many listeners in the early 1960s thought Yuro was black. Her single “The Love of a Boy” reached No. 44 in 1962. It was arranged and co-written by Burt Bacharach, but Yuro refused to record his suggested follow-up, “What the World Needs Now is Love”. The song was also turned down by Dionne Warwick and Gene Pitney, before Jackie DeShannon agreed to record it in 1965. It became one of only two Top Ten hits for DeShannon.

Later in 1962, Timi Yuro sang “The love of a boy can change a girl into a woman…” in “The Love of a Boy”. It was a minor hit, peaking at #44 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1963, Timi Yuro released a pop-soul version of the country tune titled “Make The World Go Away”.

“Make The World Go Away” was a #2 country hit for Ray Price in 1963. Hank Cochran wrote the song while he was on a date at a movie theater in 1960 when the film inspired him. He left the theater quickly, and by the time he got home fifteen minutes later had composed “Make the World Go Away”. Cochran was born in a small town in western Mississippi in 1935. After his parents divorced in 1944, he was placed in an orphanage and ran away twice. He lived with his grandparents and in his teens hitchhiked to New Mexico to work in the oilfields. He learned to play guitar, and moved to California to pick olives. At the age of twenty, he formed a duo with Eddie Cochran called The Cochran Brothers (though they were not related).

Hank Cochran moved to Nashville in 1959 and began writing songs. In 1961 he had a big hit with “I Fall To Pieces”, recorded by Patsy Cline. Later that year, he had a #1 Adult Contemporary hit with “A Little Bitty Tear” recorded by Burl Ives. In 1962, Patsy Cline had another number-one country hit with “She’s Got You”. (In 1977, Loretta Lynn covered the tune and it charted to #1). While Burl Ives had another Top Ten hit with “A Funny Way of Laughin'”. That year, Hank Cochran recorded two Top 30 country hits that he wrote: “I’d Fight the World” and “Sally Was a Good Old Girl”. In 1965, Eddy Arnold’s cover of “Make the World Go Away” became a number-one hit on both the Hot Country and Adult Contemporary charts.

In 1966, Cochran penned another number-one hit for Eddy Arnold titled “I Want to Go with You”, and a #2 hit for Jeannie Seeley titled “Don’t Touch Me”. Other notable country hits Hank Cochran wrote include “Wish I Didn’t Have to Miss You” (#2 for Jeannie Seeley & Jack Greene in 1969); “It’s Not Love (But It’s not Bad)” a number-one hit for Merle Haggard in 1972. In 1980, Mickey Gilley had a number-one hit with “That’s All that Matters”. And in the mid-80s, Cochran’s “The Chair” and “Ocean Front Property” were both number-one hits for George Strait. In the late 80s, Hank Cochran’s “Set ‘Em Up Joe” was a number-one country hit for Vern Gosdin. While “Did You Ever Get Tired (of Hurting Me)” was a number-one hit for Ronnie Milsap.

It was Hank Cochran who first noticed a new talented performer in Nashville named Willie Nelson, and got him connected to the music business. Hank Cochran was married five times, including his fourth wife Jeannie Seeley. He died of pancreatic cancer at age 74 in 2010.

“Make The World Go Away” is a song about someone recalling a romantic partner who used to love them. She wants to be forgiven for her part in the relationship ending up on the rocks. The singer is “sorry that I hurt you. Let me make it up day by day. Just say you love me like you used to and make the world go away.” The relationship may be about to go over a cliff edge, but the singer begs their sweetheart “say the things you used to say.”

“Make The World Go Away” peaked at #1 in Kingston (ON), #2 in Odessa (TX), and Columbus (OH), #4 in Norfolk (VA), #5 in Endicott (NY), #6 in El Cajon (CA), ad San Antonio (TX), #7 in Milwaukee, #8 in Louisville (KY), #9 in Miami, Calgary, and Cocoa Beach (FL), #10 in New York City, Akron (OH), Toronto, and New Haven (CT), and #11 in Buffalo, Seattle, and Peterborough (ON).

Her followup single was a remake of the 1958 Billy Grammer Top Ten hit “Gotta Travel On”.

Timi Yuro’s last Hot 100 appearance was in 1965 with a remake of the early 60’s hit for Roy Hamilton, re-titled “You Can Have Him”. It stalled at #96. She bubbled under the Hot 100 in 1966 at #118 with a cover of the number-one country hit for Connie Smith in 1964 titled “Once A Day”. But in 1967, Timi Yuro had a Top 40 hit on the Adult Contemporary chart with “Turn the World Around the Other Way”. From 1965 to 1968 she appeared at the Sanremo Music Contest in Italy. However, she left the music business when she married in 1969. Her 1975 single “Southern Lady” stalled at #108 beneath the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1981, Yuro attempted a comeback in the Netherlands, performing as a guest of honor on Dutch national television. She re-recorded a version of “Hurt” that reached No. 5 on the Dutch pop charts. She also signed to the Dutch record label Dureco to record a new album, All Alone Am I. The album climbed to #1 on the Dutch album charts and was eventually certified as a gold record. With these successes, Yuro moved to the Netherlands and continued with a string of hit singles and albums. After her record sales began to decline there in the mid-1980s, Yuro returned to the United States. Her last recording was the vinyl album Today, which was released in 1982.

Timi Yuro died in 2004 at the age of 63 of throat cancer.

January 10, 2025
Ray McGinnis

References:
Bob Dickinson, “Obituary: Timi Yuro,” Guardian, April 9, 2004.
Timi Yuro, “Let Me Call You Sweetheart“, The Ed Sullivan Show, 1962.
Jason Schneider, “Country Music Hero Hank Cochran Dies at 74,” Exclaim.ca, July 19, 2010.

CKWS 960-AM Kingston (ON) Top 20 of 1963