With "I Fall to Pieces," Patsy had a major hit on her hands. She also had a new baby: Allen Randolph Dick was born on January 22, 1961. But there was no time for a hiatus this time! Patsy needed some quick cash, and was happy that Jim McCoy had arranged for her to sing at the local drive-in theatre between films. But Winchester still had not accepted Patsy: they booed and honked their horns at her.
"I don't know what's wrong with this town. It's like they don't want a person to make anything of herself."4
"One of these days I'm going to come to Winchester and draw one helluva crowd! One helluva crowd!"4
"Why do people in Winchester treat me like this?"1
"Sonsabitches. I'll show them yet."4
But in Nashville, Patsy had quickly gained a reputation as a wonderful gal with a big heart, and she loved to play mama hen while on the road:
"We ate about thirty minutes
ago, you little bastard, and you were sleeping. Now you can just starve for
awhile!"4
(to Faron Young)
"What the hell y'all worried
about when you got Patsy here? Give me that stuff, I'll take care of it!"1
(assisting one of the boys in
smuggling a little Mexican grass across the border)
courtesy MCA
Patsy Cline, May 1961
But in spite of her hit song, trouble was still ahead for Patsy. On April 22, 1961, she penned a will on a flight from California. She told Don Hecht that she had had a premonition that she was going to be involved in an accident. She was right: in Nashville, on June 14, 1961, with her brother at the wheel, the car in which Patsy was riding was hit head-on by another woman.
"I was just a-yelling, but she gunned her car and tried to get around, then ran smack dab into us. No way at all of getting out of it for us. I went through the windshield and flipped back over the car."1
Patsy's injuries were severe: she sustained an enormous, deep gash that ran from one temple, across her eyebrows (barely missing her eyes), and peeled back her forehead and scalp up into her hairline. Additionally, her right hip was dislocated and she suffered many fractures.
"I never lost consciousness from the time it happened, through the sewing up of my head (saw the other lady die) and until they gave me gas to set my hip. I cut an artery and I lost lots of blood. They thought I was gone twice during the sewing up and had to give me three pints of blood. I don't think I'll ever be able to ride in a car again. I just thank God above that I can see perfect and my babies weren't with me."1
"Hello, Mae. I knew
you'd come."4
(to Mae Axton ~
first words upon awakening in the hospital after the accident)
The flowers and cards poured in.
"I didn't know there was so many people in this world that knew of me. But it sure gives me faith and a wonderful feeling to know how many fans and friends are wanting me well again."1
"I'll get enough out of this to buy a Cadillac, another home, and pay every penny I owe to anyone and have money in the bank, but this sure is a rough way of getting it!"4
While hospitalized and listening to the radio, Patsy caught a tribute to her from a new singer named Loretta Lynn.
"Well, I'll be damned! That was pretty nice of that gal. Charlie, go down to the record store and thank her for me, and tell her I want to meet her."1
Loretta and Patsy became fast friends from their first meeting. Patsy spoke of her new hit record:
"I finally did it, Hoss! I got me a number one. Oh, I never want to record again. I just want to enjoy this one song forever!"1
Undaunted by recent events, Patsy joked in the July 1961 issue of her fan club newsletter:
"I'm having surgery today to have my face cleaned up. But it will take some fancy stitching to make me all beautiful again!"1
In spite of the jokes, Patsy's life had been profoundly changed by her near brush with death. She told her friend Joyce Blair:
"Blair, Jesus has been in my room. He has taken my hand and told me that, 'No. Not now. I have other things for you to do.'"1
July 22, 1961 marked Patsy's return to the Opry. From her wheelchair at center stage, she thanked the crowd:
"Thank you so much, you're wonderful. I'll tell you something, the greatest gift that I think you folks could have given me was the encouragement that you gave me. At the very time that I needed you the most, you came through with the flyingest colors, and I just want to say that you'll never know how happy you made this ole country gal!"1
"Please let's try it one more time!"3
(classic statement
after listening to her playbacks)
Credits: 1-Mark Bego, 2-Trudy Stamper, 3-Joan & Brian Gray,
4-Margaret Jones, 5-Buddy Killen
Copyright © 1998 Patsified! All rights reserved.