About The Song
Released on March 2, 1974, “We Should Be Together” arrived as the second single from Don Williams’ album Don Williams Volume Two on the small independent JMI Records label. Written and produced by Allen Reynolds, the three-minute track featured “Miller’s Cave” on the B-side. The album itself had come out in January of that year, continuing the straightforward recording approach that Williams and Reynolds had developed together in Nashville studios like Jack Clement’s facility, where acoustic guitars and minimal arrangements defined the sessions.
Williams reached this point after a deliberate path through music. Born Donald Ray Williams in Texas on May 27, 1939, he first performed in the folk-pop group Pozo-Seco Singers starting in 1964 alongside Susan Taylor and Lofton Cline. The trio recorded for Columbia Records and scored modest pop hits before disbanding around 1970. After a short period working outside music back in Texas, Williams returned to Nashville in 1971 specifically to write songs for Jack Clement’s publishing company. By 1972 he had signed as a solo artist with JMI, releasing his debut album Don Williams Volume One the following year with early singles that reached the lower end of the charts.
The collaboration with Reynolds proved essential during those JMI years. Reynolds not only wrote material but also shaped the recording process, drawing on musicians who understood Williams’ preference for uncluttered sound. Earlier singles such as “Come Early Morning” had already cracked the top 20, building momentum. When Volume Two was cut, the sessions captured the same relaxed feel, with Williams handling lead vocals and guitar while backing came from a tight group including fiddles, steel guitar, and harmony vocals from The Joyful Noise.
The single climbed to number five on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1974, marking Williams’ first top-five entry and a significant step beyond his previous modest successes. This performance came at a time when JMI was a modest operation, yet the song’s reception showed the growing audience for his style. Shortly after, JMI closed its doors and Williams moved to the larger ABC/Dot Records, where his next single, “I Wouldn’t Want to Live If You Didn’t Love Me,” went to number one and launched a long run of consistent hits through the rest of the decade.
In the song, Williams sings of the simple pull toward companionship and shared routines, emphasizing the satisfaction that comes from walking through days side by side and finding ease in another person’s presence. The message unfolds without dramatic flourishes, relying instead on his steady baritone and the sparse instrumentation to convey a quiet conviction about connection. This directness reflected the everyday tone that listeners connected with, setting the track apart from more ornate country productions common in the early 1970s.
That understated approach had ripple effects across Nashville. Williams’ acoustic-leaning sound, rooted in his folk background yet firmly country, struck many as fresh and contemporary. Producers and artists began seeking a similar clarity, with figures like Charley Pride and Waylon Jennings among those who adjusted their arrangements in the years that followed. Williams himself earned the nickname “Gentle Giant” for his calm delivery and unassuming stage presence, traits that carried through his career until his death in 2017 and his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2010.
The track stood as an early illustration of the formula that defined much of Williams’ work: honest sentiments delivered with warmth and restraint. It bridged his time as a former folk singer and demo vocalist to the major-label success that followed, capturing a moment when a Texas-born artist quietly helped reshape expectations for country recordings.
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Lyric
I think about you
When I don’t want to
Dream about your smiling face
I keep trying not to love you
But I love you anyway
We should be together, together
We should be walking side by side
We should be together, together
Keeping each other satisfied
I have thought to come to know you
I’ve come to need your company
What will I do if I can’t have you
If I can’t have you
What will I do
We should be together, together
We should be walking side by side
We should be together, together
Keeping each other satisfied
We should be together, together
We should be walking side by side
We should be together, together
Keeping each other satisfied