In The Number Ones, I’m reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart’s beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present.
Connie Francis was already a pop star when she hit #1 with the country ballad “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool.” At least from where I’m sitting, that was a pretty forgettable song, but it did get Francis into the country-music business, and that turned out to be a good place for her. A couple of months later, Francis hit #1 again, with another country song, which also happened to be her very next single. And this time around, it was a really good song.
“My Heart Has A Mind Of Its Own” might not exactly be a canonical country song, though it’s been a hit for different country singers throughout the decades. But it’s a very good song, and Francis’ version remains the definitive one. “My Heart Has A Mind Of Its Own” is a song about falling for someone even when you know better, and Francis does beautiful work at selling the helpless, desperate romanticism of a situation like that. On the multi-tracked harmony (or what sounds like a multi-tracked harmony, at least), she’s crying and sighing at the same time.
The song’s arrangement is state-of-the-art early-’60s country. There’s a lot going on, with the twangy guitars and the mariachi horns and the cooing background vocals. But it still registers as a simple sentiment, presented directly.
GRADE: 7/10
BONUS BEATS: Here’s “Robot Man,” another Connie Francis song from 1960, which I thought was pretty funny:
