Buck Owens – My Heart Skips A Beat

“My Heart Skips a Beat” is a song recorded by Buck Owens and released as a single in 1964 on Capitol Records. The track is firmly rooted in the Bakersfield honky-tonk style Owens helped popularize and was issued during a period when he and the Buckaroos were producing a string of concise, radio-ready country hits that emphasized band interplay and direct songwriting.

Musically, the recording features the bright, chiming electric-guitar sound and tight rhythmic drive associated with the Buckaroos. Don Rich’s guitar and harmony work are prominent elements in the arrangement, supporting Owens’s clear lead vocal. The production is uncluttered and band-centered, favoring immediacy and punch over orchestral embellishment.

Lyrically, “My Heart Skips a Beat” is a straightforward love song that uses plainspoken images to describe the physical sensation of sudden attraction and romantic surprise. The chorus provides a memorable melodic hook while the short, economical verses keep the focus on the central emotional moment rather than on extended storytelling.

In performance the song lends itself to upbeat delivery and became a practical set piece for Owens and the Buckaroos. Its brisk tempo and catchy chorus made it suitable for both radio play and live shows, where the band’s tight ensemble playing could be showcased in compact form.

Commercially, the single reinforced Buck Owens’s commercial momentum in the mid-1960s and helped sustain his presence on country playlists. The song has been included on subsequent compilations and reissues, so it is widely available today as part of collections that document Owens’s influential Bakersfield-period output.

Critically and historically, “My Heart Skips a Beat” is often cited as a representative example of Owens’s strengths: succinct songwriting, a band-first sonic approach, and an ability to convert everyday emotional detail into an immediately appealing country single. The recording illustrates how the Bakersfield sound offered a direct alternative to the era’s more polished Nashville productions.

Today the track remains part of Buck Owens’s recorded legacy and is commonly encountered on anthologies and streaming playlists that collect his mid-1960s work. For listeners exploring Owens’s catalog, the song provides a clear example of his concise, performance-forward aesthetic and his partnership with the Buckaroos.