singer to record it was Arthur Alexander on the Warner Brothers label in late 1971. Alexander was a fellow songwriter at Combine at the time; his album contained three other Linde compositions. Soon after Alexander's, Elvis Presley released a version which eclipsed it quickly— Presley's making the top ten on both sides of the Atlantic and scarcely missed becoming No. 1 in the U.S. in October 1972. It was Presley's last major hit. The song's worldwide success greatly increased Combine's profitability as well as Linde's stature as a songwriter. Elvis recorded two more of Linde's compositions, "I got a Feelin' in my Body" and "For the Heart". In the 1970s, Linde continued his desire to be a recording artist as well as a writer, doing non-country albums of things that he liked, sometimes experimental. He recorded the album Linde Manor on the Intrepid Label, a short-lived subsidiary of Mercury, but it was not a commercial success. The increased stature he found with "Burning Love" gave him sufficient credibility for a new deal with Elektra to record Dennis Linde in 1973. He then recorded Trapped in the Suburbs on Asylum Records in 1974. His most critically acclaimed album was Under the Eye for Monument in 1977. He was co-leader of the rock band Jubal, consisting of Alan Rush, Rob Galbraith, Terry Dearmore, and Randy Cullers. Their single album in 1972 on Elektra was not successful. In 2000, his song for the Dixie Chicks, "Goodbye Earl", stirred some controversy for its take on spousal abuse. The song is about fictional characters Mary Ann and Wanda, longtime friends who kill Wanda's abusive husband. The issue critics had was that the two women were happy about their committing the murder, unlike any previous songs of that type. Many radio stations refused to play the song when first released, and others played it with a message directing women in such a situation to a hotline number. Linde wrote other songs featuring an undesirable character named Earl; e.g., "Queen of my Double-Wide Trailer" (Sammy Kershaw). Linde had a map on his wall depicting a fictional town where the characters in his songs lived. It includes the water tower referred to in "John Deere Green" as well as the spot where "Earl" finally met his end. In 1994, Linde won BMI's "Top Writer Award" and received four awards as BMI's most-performed titles for that year: "It Sure