“Don’t Cry Joni” is probably the best collaboration Conway Twitty ever did. He recorded it with no other than his then sixteen-year-old daughter Joni Lee.

The song was released as a single in 1975, and it peaked at No. 63 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was one of just two non-Loretta Lynn duets in which Twitty had major success.

The Song’s Unexpected Ending

Written by Conway Twitty himself, “Don’t Cry Joni” is a song that tells the tale of a fifteen-year-old girl who developed a crush on a twenty-two-year-old Jimmy living next door. Joni was begging for Jimmy to wait for her so that they may someday get married.

“Jimmy, please say you’ll wait for me. I’ll grow up someday you’ll see. Savin’ all my kisses just for you. Signed with love forever true,” Joni begs, to which Jimmy answered,” Joni, Joni, please don’t cry. You’ll forget me by and by. You’re just fifteen, I’m twenty-two. Joni, I just can’t wait for you.”

Joni was brought to tears with this realization. Later in the song, Jimmy moved away and tried to find the woman of his dreams, but Joni’s words were etched into his mind. Five years passed, and Jimmy realized that Joni, although seven years younger than him, may be the girl he was looking for all along.

Jimmy decided to go back to his hometown and looked for Joni to ask her to marry him – only to realize his own heartbreak: Joni has married Jimmy’s best friend, John.

Joni Lee’s Short-Lived Career That Started with “Don’t Cry Joni”

All of Conway Twitty’s kids dabbled in country music careers at one point. But after his two other children — Kathy (aka “Jessica James”) and Mike (aka “Charlie Tango”) — found difficulty making headway in country music and failed to achieve notable success, Twitty was really hesitant to let young Joni Lee try her hand at it, too.