About The Song
Gene Watson had an extraordinary career, chock full of hits throughout the seventies and eighties. However, he only had one No. 1 hit on each chart. “Paper Rosie” topped the Radio & Records listing in 1977, and “Fourteen Carat Mind” topped the Billboard chart in 1982.
“Fourteen Carat Mind” is representative of everything that he did best in the recording studio. Released in the peak of the Urban Cowboy era, Watson remained stubbornly country, with the track being driven by honky tonk piano and top notch steel guitar.
The song about a gold digging woman breezes right by, as Watson recounts everything that he’s bought for her with his sawmill salary. He should be bitter, but he sounds like he’s getting a kick out of her sheer audacity, while also enjoying that she moved on to bankrupting someone else after all of his money was gone.
It’s possible that Watson was underappreciated because he changed labels so many times, despite his remarkable consistency: he released top ten records for Capitol, MCA, Epic, and Warner Bros. over the course of fourteen years.
Still, he’s maintained enough popularity that even some of his independent records on his own Fourteen Carat label sold well enough to chart in the 2010s, and he received critical acclaim for his collaborative album with Rhonda Vincent, Your Money and My Good Looks.
Video
Lyrics
I still recall the morning that I met you
Standing out in front of Wilson’s five and dime
Staring through the window at the jewelry
Hungry for the things you couldn’t buy
Just like a fool I thought that I could please you
I saw you had an eye for things that shine
I paid seven saw mill dollars for a bracelet
Just to satisfy your fourteen carat mind
Layin’ by these railroad tracks in Denver
With a hurtin’ head and a half a pint of wine
Everything except my soul has been surrendered
Just to satisfy your fourteen carat mind
The cabin that I built in West Virginia
Was not enough to keep you satisfied
‘Cause a man that’s got a saw mill occupation
Can’t afford to feed a rich girls’ appetite
I wonder if you’re still with Willie Jackson
Sometimes I wonder if he’s still alive
Ol’ Willie he gave up his wife and children
Just to satisfy your fourteen carat mind
Layin’ by these railroad tracks in Denver
With a hurtin’ head and a half a pint of wine
Everything except my soul has been surrendered
Just to satisfy your fourteen carat mind
Just to satisfy your fourteen carat mind
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