Best country song

Subject: Best country song
From: kendall
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 08:08 AM

Enough of the tear jerkers, How about the best country song?
This calls for your OPINION. We are not dealing in facts here.

My vote goes to: Sunday Morning Coming Down. Kris Kristoferson

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,Brian Peters
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 08:30 AM

"Country Life" as sung by the Watersons. Or wasn't that what you meant?

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: fat B****rd
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 08:33 AM

"Seeds and Stems" Commander Cody.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: kendall
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 08:34 AM

I'm asking for opinions. No boundries.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Scrump
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 08:36 AM

"Country Life" as sung by the Watersons.

I prefer the Show of Hands version. :-)

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 08:38 AM

'Didn't he Ramble'

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Scrump
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 08:52 AM

Champion Dung Spreader. Can't get much more country than that :-)

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Tweed
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 09:10 AM

John Prine's "Paradise"

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,Brian Peters
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 09:10 AM

>> "Country Life" as sung by the Watersons.
I prefer the Show of Hands version. :-) <<

Oh ye of little taste.....

How about "Willin'"? Or "Too Late" by Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin?But hell, this category's just too big to choose.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Jim Lad
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 09:42 AM

"Leaving on a Jetplane"
"Back Home Again"
"Goodbye Again"

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: pdq
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 09:45 AM

fat B****rd mentioned "Down To Stems And Seeds Again Blues" by Commander Cody (see "Live From The Heart Of Texas"). The lead singer on that number is Bill Kirchen, probably the most under-appreciated performer in this type of music today. In the last 15 years he made some of the best records around, the songs going from Rockabilly to Western Swing to straight Country to Blues and back to Honky Tonk. Fine singer and one of the greatest Fender-slingers ever.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Scoville
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 09:54 AM

I think of "If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time" by Lefty Frizzell as pretty much the quintessential country song.

(Pardon me for doing this, but I never have a single favorite anything. Completely incapable of thinking in black and white.)

Other favorites include:

"Lost Highway", "Ramblin' Man", and "Cold, Cold, Heart" by Hank Williams

"King of the Road" by Roger Miller

"Billy Gray" & "When the Fields Are White with Daisies" by Norman Blake

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 09:55 AM

The Coming of the Roads - Judy Collins recording
Waltz Across Texas
WAY OUT THERE - Sons of the Pioneers

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Scoville
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 09:58 AM

And I've got a recording of a song called "Hound Dog, Bay at the Moon", which is a fine song but not one I see recorded much (the recording I have is not a big label recording).

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: pdq
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 10:22 AM

The greatest Country song ever is George Jones singing "He Stopped Loving Her Today." Next question, please.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,Jeff
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 10:35 AM

Generally, among country songwriters here in Nashville the ONE song everybody agrees on is George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today". "He kept a letter by his bed. Dated Nineteen-sixty-two. Where he underlined in red. Every single 'I love you'"...awesome.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Midchuck
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 10:35 AM

pdq may very well be right about "He Stopped Loving Her Today," and is definitely right about Bill Kirchen.

Peter

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Scrump
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 10:45 AM

May The Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose - a country classic.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Scoville
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 10:52 AM

Slaid Cleaves is more modern folk/pop/country but "Horseshoe Lounge" is also a great song.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Wesley S
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 11:04 AM

You're all wrong. The best country song is "I Can't Help It If I'm Still In Love With You".

Although "He Stopped Loving Her today" comes in a close second.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Scrump
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 11:15 AM

How about "I Couldn't Spell %#$$£*&" by Wayne Carson Thompson.

(Not sure if I spelt "%#$$£*&" correctly - anyone know the correct spelling?)

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 11:28 AM

"big City" by Merle Haggard

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Midchuck
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 11:39 AM


"big City" by Merle Haggard

Turn me loose...somewhere in the middle of Montana...

At this time of year?

Give me all I've got coming to me...

Getting all I've got coming to me is my greatest fear in life.

And you can keep your... Social Security

The hell with that! I paid a fortune in and I'm determined to live to be 100, whether I enjoy it or not, just to get it back!

Peter.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: greg stephens
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 11:44 AM

Seth Lakeman's "White Hare" stands a good chance of winning in this category, I would think.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: bubblyrat
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 11:44 AM

No doubt about it !----- "Thank God I"m a Country Boy", sung by John Denver & written by his banjo player, John Sommers.There"s even a dobro solo in it !!

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 12:12 PM

Stand By Your Man

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 12:13 PM

Of course it's all subjective, but my current fav is:

I FEEL LIKE HANK WILLIAMS TONIGHT
(Chris Wall)

Well, I could live my whole life, without a phone call
The likes of which I got today.
It was only my wife, said "hello" then "goodbye".
And told me she's going away.

Well I didn't cry, It was all cut and dried.
I hung up before I realized.
Turned up my stereo, I walked to the window,
Stared at the storm clouds outside.

Chorus:
And I play classical music when it rains,
I play country when I am in pain.
But I won't play Beethoven, the mood's just not right –
Oh, I feel like Hank Williams tonight.

There was no explanation, not even a reason,
No talk of the good times we'd had.
Was it me, was it her, I don't know for sure,
And that's why I'm feeling so bad.

Chorus:
Hey, I play jazz when I am confused,
I play country whenever I lose.
But Bird's saxaphone, it just don't seem right
No, I feel like Hank Williams tonight.

Lately I'd been thinkin', I just might quit drinkin'.
But now I don't know all-in-all.
I just might stay home, get drunk all alone,
And punch a few holes in the wall.

Chorus:
But when I'm real high I play rock'n'roll,
I play country when I'm losing control.
I don't play Chuck Berry quite as much as I'd like,
But I feel like Hank Williams tonight.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: TIA
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 12:14 PM

On the Road Again

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Beer
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 12:36 PM

Kendall, I've been thinking about this since you opened the thread this morning and I have to also go with "Sunday Morning Coming Down". One hell of a powerful song. I also lean toward another of Kris's "Bobby McGee" As he says in one of his recordings, "If it sounds country man, that's what it is. It's a country song".

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 12:48 PM

Hank Williams is the Once and Future King of Country Music, in my opinion, and "I'm so Lonesome I could Cry" is his best song. Following close behind would be Buck Owens' "Together Again", Merle Haggard's "Lonesome Fugitive" and the Louvin Brothers'"My Baby's Gone". Parsons and Hillman's "Sin City" gets an honorable mention.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 12:56 PM

Honky Tonk Angels by Kitty Wells...hands down best ever.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Blindlemonsteve
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 12:58 PM

He stopped loving her today, one of the finest country songs ever, it always makes my spine tingle. i love the verse.
I went to see him just today
though i didnt see no tears
all dressed up to go away
first time i´d seen him smile in years....

Absolutely beautiful.

Also, a newer song, but how about Garth Brooks, If tommorrow never comes. its actually written about his daughter and when you listen to it with that in mind. If your a Dad, you just Know where he´s coming from... a lovely song.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: tenn_jim
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 01:03 PM

I agree that the moguls on 16th avenue in Nashville consider George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today" as the premier country song. And, no doubt, it is absolutely a great song with all of the right stuff.

However, I am from the old school in Nashville. Fred Rose is to me and probably will be till I die, the greatest songwriter ever to live. His "Blues Eyes Crying in the Rain" has to rank up there with the best. After all, this song has been covered by everyone from Slim Whitman to Elvis...and of course everyone knows that Willie has made a fortune off of it.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: M.Ted
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 01:03 PM

Some informed choices here--definitely. My thought is that the best country song is probably is whatever George Jones happens to be singing--and "He Stopped Loving Her Today" is as good as he gets, but.....as to the best country song, the all around greatest--the ones that most perfectly evokes the totality, that would likely be: "Faded Love"--

The opening bars of this song evoke every lost love, and every forgotten shared moment, and everything lost that was found too late--and as the narrative unfolds, and maybe a few tears fall, a catharsis takes place, because the song is about your own life, and not some one else's--the lyrics are simple, there is no lurid melodrama, no pathetic detail, just the a few memories, and the regret we all feel.

If you want to hear any country band at it's best, listen to their cover of this song--the singers and the soloists always give it the best they've got, and the audience always responds--

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: CET
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 01:21 PM

Sunday Morning Coming Down would be on my top 10, but my vote has to go to "Ballad of Pancho and Lefty". Not even Kristofferson wrote better lyrics than that and the tune is sublime. "Me and My Uncle" would be up there somewhere too, but some people wouln' see that as country.

Edmund

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 01:34 PM

I like George Jones a lot, but the line from He Stopped Loving Her Today that goes "first time i´d seen him smile in years...." has always seemed grotesque to me, considering the circumstances.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: SouthernCelt
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 01:42 PM

I saw Merle Haggard mentioned but not his all-time big "country" song: "Mama Tried"
SC

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: SouthernCelt
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 01:49 PM

Oh, I forgot, there are a couple of Ian Tyson songs that never got much attention but they're classic country (not Western like most of his stuff): "Black Nights, Gray Mornings, Blue Days" and "Sorta Together".

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 01:50 PM

George Jones, "He stopped loving her today"

Great song imo, but for George's greatest song, which may or may not be the "best" country song ( in my opinion it probably is)you need to go to "She thinks I still care"

Didn't he look scary back in 1962?

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Bill D
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 02:02 PM

You mean...*gasp* I've been wrong all these years, and it's NOT "Johnny Broke My Heart at Walgreens, and I Cried All the Way to Sears"?

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 02:20 PM

Bob Wills singing the original "Faded Love"

good choice there from M.Ted

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,Ken Brock
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 02:22 PM

I thought it was David Allen Coe's "You Never Even Called Me By My Name".

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: kendall
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 02:27 PM

I thought Willy Nelson wrote Blue Eyes Crying in the rain?

One not well known that is right up there in my opinion, Front Runner by Stan Rogers.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: kendall
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 02:34 PM

I'll post the lyrics if there is any interest.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Blindlemonsteve
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 02:46 PM

Hi Lonesome E.J, hopefully, i can put into words what that line means to me and you will not find it grotesque.

"first time i´d seen him smile in years...." has always seemed grotesque to me, considering the circumstances.

He´s lived a life of regrets. the man telling the story, knows of his pain, he´s watched this man his whole life, he loves this man, maybe his a son, maybe his just a friend, but at last he´s seen him at peace with himself. as if this man has found dignity in death, and the man telling that story has taken something from that. i think it´s beautiful. But then again thats the power of an amazing song like that, it means different things to different people, but you cant deny, it stops you in your tracks and makes you think everytime you hear it.

Second to "He stopped loving her Today" has to be another George Jones number " Good Year for the roses"..... again, From the bedroom the familiar sound of our new born baby's cryin' goes unheard..

Sheer poetry

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: fat B****rd
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 02:51 PM

Can I choose some more ?? Please.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: tenn_jim
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 02:53 PM

Of course, you might make an argument for Jimmie Rodgers Blue Yodel #1 which was the song that started the whole country music genre.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 03:17 PM

all the closet good ol' boys coming out of the woodshed on this thread imo.

waiting with bated breath to see 'Spaw's nomination ...

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Scoville
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 03:20 PM

Are you kidding? This is my home territory.


Well, I'll second Blue Yodel #1, at least, since I neglected to bring it up the first time.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: SINSULL
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 03:24 PM

I am with LonesomeEJ on this. It has to be a Hank Williams song and his best is "So Lonesome I Could Cry" with "Cold, Cold Heart" and "Your Cheatin' Heart" in close seconds. All tearjerkers - sorry.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: SINSULL
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 03:27 PM

"Mama Tried" has been permanently destroyed for me by Woodchuck's Revenge's "Mama Fried".

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: fat B****rd
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 03:31 PM

Aw ! What the Hayull !!
Jimmie Rodgers "Miss The Mississippi"
Buck Owens "Crying Time Time"

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: frogprince
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 03:48 PM

"Hank Williams is the Once and Future King of Country Music, in my opinion, and "I'm so Lonesome I could Cry" is his best song."
"I am with LonesomeEJ on this. It has to be a Hank Williams song and his best is "So Lonesome I Could Cry"
         
Lonesome EJ called it, Sinsull seconded it, and I "third" it!!

As for "He Stopped Loving Her Today", I personally can't stand it, I have a fairly high tolerance for sad, and for sappy. But the way Jones whines out this profoundly maudlin ode to pathological obsession is way too much for me!!

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Metchosin
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 04:02 PM

Another vote for Hank Williams' I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry. And this Youtube Video sums up what I feel about most of it now.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Kim C
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 04:09 PM

White Lightnin'

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,SeoTaiji
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 05:51 PM

"Redneck Mothers" by Ray Wiley Hubbard

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 06:09 PM

Blindlemonsteve, I appreciate your comments. I think it's a great song, too, and the Possum and Hag are the two greatest living country music writers and singers alive (sorry Willie).

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Amos
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 06:48 PM

Here's Waylon Jennings doing two songs. in 1966.

The second one, "Anita, Come Closer" sounds awfully similar to Mister Dylan's "Ramona" in theme, form and content, seems to me. I'd never heard it before, and it rocked me back on my heels.

Apologies for the thread creep.


A

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 07:28 PM

don't really like the songs, Amos, but I'd kill for the 12-string guitar ...

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,Bubba
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 07:47 PM

16th Avenue, Lacey J Dalton is great

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Uncle Phil
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 09:18 PM

"You Don't Have to Call Me Darling, Darling" is merely the perfect country song, "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" is the best country song ever.
- Phil


I FEEL LIKE HANK WILLIAMS TONIGHT
(Chris Wall)

3/4
Well, I could (D)live my whole (A7)life, (Bm)without a (F#m)phone call
The (G)likes of which (D)I got to(A7)day.
It was (D)only my (A7)wife, said "hel(Bm)lo" then "good(F#m)bye".
And (G)told me she's (A7)going a(D)way. (A7)

And I play (D)classical (A7)music when it (Bm)rains, (F#m)
I play (G)country when (D)I am in (A7)pain.
But I (G)won't play Bee(D)thoven, the (F#7)mood's just not (Bm)right (A7)(G)
(NC)Oh, I (D)feel like Hank (A7)Williams to(D)night.

Bm A7 G in the next to last line are a descending run (Ba – da – dum)
A few bars of "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" at the end are nice, too.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: M.Ted
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 10:20 PM

"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" is not crying in your beer depressing, it's trycyclic depressing--

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,Jeff
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 11:21 PM

I said songwriters not moguls. All the songs named here deserve mention. In being a studio rat from cord winders, producers, pickers, stars, wannabe stars, office people, postal workers @ Acklen Station(37212),food servers, bartenders, cabbies, anglos, chicanos, afro-americans, celts, saxons, Austin wouldratherbethere anti-music biz East Nashville quasi-artistic liberal yuppie-fucks, to Belle Meade Blvd. embarrassed by the scruffian low-brow Broadway honky-tonk gentry set all agree on ONE thing..."He Stopped Loving Her Today" is the best country song ever. Of course your opinion may differ...that's what's so great about questions like this.

Hank Williams is still the once and future king. Kris Kristofferson completely revolutionized songwriting in Da 'ville. Vern Gosdin is the best singer-songwriter you never heard of...check out "That Just About Does It".

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,Scoville
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 11:37 PM

"He Stopped Loving Her Today" is melodrama overkill, so I'm putting in another vote for "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry". George Jones will never hold a candle to Hank.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: catspaw49
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 12:04 AM

I dunno'..........It is really hard to separate some songs from artists. I think "Faded Love" can work for damn near anyone but so much depends on defining a country song. Putting one artist with one song, the greatest combo hands down has already been lauded here and that's George Jones doing "He Stopped Loving Her Today." It may be hokey as all hell but da' Possum can milk the livin' shit out of any song like that.

Truthfully, I always get the same mental image when I listen to George Jones. Some guy in his best urban cowboy attire sitting in the dark at the back of a bar, the neon of the window signs showing occasional flashes off his tears, his glass of beer, and the .357 in his other hand. As George pulls out the last note, the guy blows his brains out. Jones is the best honky tonk singer ever to come down the pike......period.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Andy Jackson
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 05:33 AM

The best country song is the one being sung in another country far from me!!!

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Midchuck
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 07:17 AM

"He Stopped Loving Her Today" is melodrama overkill.....

That's why it's the best. Country music is about melodrama overkill. It's a social class thing. Keeping calm and reserved and not showing your feelings is a mark of being upper middle class and sophisticated. Country music is about "The hell with that! This is how I feel and I'm saying so and f*** anyone who doesn't approve!"

Peter.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 12:52 PM

Two songs recorded by the great Randy Travis spring to mind: "Some of the Reasons I cheat" and " On the other Hand". And why not throw in Randy's "The Box". These songs are most definitely "country songs" - not pop songs with "country" pretensions!

p.s. re. The George Jones' song. It's well sung ( now there's an understatement) but I'd gringe if I had to play it to my rock/folk music friends!

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 01:40 PM

I have so many favourites that one is hard to pick. My all time favourite by the Possum though is "Open Pit Mine." (One of his early hits now long forgotten)

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 01:44 PM

Open Pit Mine
                           (George Jones)


From Morenci, Arizona where the copper mines glow
I could see Clifton in the canyon below
In Clifton lived Rosie; we danced and we dined
From the money I made in the open pit mine

I loved my sweet Rosie and she loved me too
There was nothing for Rosie that I wouldn't do
Her hugs and her kisses, they were something divine
Gave me reason for working in the open pit mine

While I was out walking with my Rosie one day
We passed a store window with rings on display
I bought one she wanted; how they really did shine
Spent the money I'd saved from that open pit mine

Her love would bring heartbreak, that I would soon learn
'Cause she would two-time me when my back was turned
Rosie would go dancing and drink the red wine
While I worked like a slave in that open pit mine

One night I caught Rosie on her rendezvous
She was hugging and kissing with somebody new
It was there that I shot her while their arms were entwined
And I buried her deep in that open pit mine

I took a look at my future and what did I see?
There was nothing but trouble awaiting for me
But on the suns next rising I'll be satisfied
'Cause they'll find me there sleeping by my sweet Rosie's side

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Ferrara
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 08:01 PM

Don't like "He Stopped Loving Her Today." Love Hank Williams. Sinsull's choices are great but there are others of his songs, not great in themselves, that just say "country" to me and I love 'em. Songs like "Hey Good Lookin'" and "He's in the Jail House Now."

Love Kitty Wells. Like many other performers of that era but no one comes to mind as "best." One of my all time favorites for some reason is Kitty Wells "I've Loved and Lost Again." But there are dozens and dozens more. Love Jim Reeves. Love Kris Kristofferson, my favorite is "Sunday Morning Coming Down" but half a dozen others are high on the list. And on and on.

Can't imagine a "best" country song. If I have to stop and listen any time I hear it, it's the "best" to me right then.

Fond memories of our friend Nan Goland singing "Red Necks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer," or "Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You." Doesn't make them "best" but maybe "best loved."

Got to go listen to Mary Cliff's "Traditions."

Rita F

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 10:41 PM

"He Stopped Loving Her Today" is melodrama overkill...."

That's why it's the best. Country music is about melodrama overkill. It's a social class thing. Keeping calm and reserved and not showing your feelings is a mark of being upper middle class and sophisticated. Country music is about "The hell with that! This is how I feel and I'm saying so and f*** anyone who doesn't approve!"

Sorry, between the words and Jones' voice it's too close to parody. Hank knew how to put it up to the line but not over. Jones wallows too much.

Tunesmith--I normally avoid Nashville like the plague but I have to admit I like Randy Travis. I even like "On the Other Hand" even though the premise drives me nuts. He's got a lot of good ones, though--"Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart", "Forever and Ever, Amen", "Heroes and Friends", and a lot of his gospel stuff is really good.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GerryMc
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 08:21 AM


Your wife don't understand you but I do

Lurlene Lumpkin

Gerry :-)

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 10:02 AM

Mission from hank. Aaron Tippin.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Scoville
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 11:40 AM

Oops--GUEST 10:41 p.m. was me at Dad's. Forgot to put in my name.

Lurleen Lumpkin! Ha! That's great.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Cruiser
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 01:26 PM

The following is an excerpt about the song derivation of "He Stopped Loving Her Today"

Jones wrote: "It took us about 18 months to record a song that was approximately three-minutes long." (Because he was rarely sober)

{Quote}
"One thing kind of funny about it was that the melody was so close to 'Help Me Make It Through the Night' [by Kris Kristofferson] that George kept singing the melody to 'Help Me Make It Through the Night.' He couldn't get that out of his head. That gave him a bit of a problem early on, and they took their time to get the narration just right."

The narration part of the song consists of four lines Jones speaks rather than sings: "She came to see him one last time/And we all wondered if she would/And it kept running through my mind/This time he's over her for good."

"Pretty simple, eh?" Jones asks in his book. "I couldn't get it. I had been able to sing while drunk all of my life. I'd fooled millions of people. But I could never speak without slurring when drunk. What we needed to complete that song was the narration, but Billy could never catch me sober enough to record four simple spoken lines. It took us about 18 months to record a song that was approximately three-minutes long." {End Quote}

Songwriters Curly Putnam/ Bobby Braddock: Producer Billy Sherrill

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Cruiser
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 01:52 PM

Of course, "Country" has many subgenres that one would need to say which is best in each of these categories (and more):

Hillbilly
Old-time
Hokum
Appalachian
Country Folk
Western
Honky Tonk
Cajun Country
Rockabilly
Bluegrass
Western Swing
Nashville Sound
Bakersfield Sound
Outlaw Country
Neotraditional Country

And likely more depending on if you are a musicological lumper or a splitter…

I will not even list the contemporary cosmopolitan "Country" music of today.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: M.Ted
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 02:19 PM

One swallow does not a Summer make---and Kendall, a soul or rare wit and insight, certainly wanted more than a discussion of the merits of one song--so let's move on, eh?

I'd have to say that "The Green. Green Grass of Home" is a better song than "He Stopped Loving Her Today" more memorable melody, easier and more fun to sing--and it's about prison--

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 03:55 PM

THE OTHER SIDE OF FORTY.                              
by JACK HUDSON.



On the other side of midnight
is when your thoughts begin to clear.
And the other side of forty
is when you start to lose your fears.
Good guitars and broken hearts,
get better with the years.
You learn to know what's worth the love
and what ain't worth tears.

All those years of misspent youth.
I recall sometimes and grin.
Some mistakes I'm still ashamed of,
especially those I made again.
Ah, but that's the way it goes,
it's what they call the learning curve.
And I've wound up in some ditches
because of those bends and nerve.


Some of my friends mortgaged their future
and got no change from the past.
Spent like there was no tomorrow
but that day breaks all too fast.
I have wasted my share of time,
hanging in for the rock 'n' roll.
But the band went and called in sick
but sick of what we were never told.


All the rocks you write your destiny on
and lay in your foundations.
Get crushed under the wheels
on that road of good intentions.
The road goes on forever.
I thank whoever for not too much harm.
But curse those who waste your time,
crimes of the heart and false alarms.


I've heard most of the best, and Hudson is better than all of them.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: M.Ted
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 04:27 PM

Nice thoughts, but it isn't a country song--it's all reflection, and no action--and there's no pay off--there are a lot of great lines in this song, any one of which could get turned into a country song--but with no disrespect intended to an obviously gifted writer, Mr. Hudson dosn't think like a country songwriter--

Consider this:

"You learn to know what's worth the love
and what ain't worth tears."

He is talking about positive personal growth here--in country music, all the lessons are learned too late--and a country song would never talk about "what ain't worth the tears"--it would be
"She ain't worth the tears"--

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Cruiser
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 05:10 PM

Yeah, to be a real country song theys just gotta be cryin, sighin' lyin' cheatin', hurtin', killin', dyin', and of course, drinkin'

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 05:45 PM

Check out the interview with Jack Hudson in Maverick Country Music Magazine. There are those who would disagree with you.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: fumblefingers
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 06:11 PM

Opinion:

There is no doubt in my mind that George Jones is the best living country singer. Before "He stopped Loving Her Today," his best song (in honky tonk beer joint circles) is "The Window Up Above."

Hank Williams tops the dead guys with Lefty Frizzell right behind him.
"Cold Cold Heart" is my favorite, but there is a dozen others almost as good.

Lefty's best effort, I think, is "Long Black Veil." He has a string of super songs he did in the fifties.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Bainbo
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 06:56 PM

Like others have said ,,, it's so wide and there's so many. Hank defined the genre, and you can hear in his voice that he's lived that pain. Then again, there's Wayne Hancock who, to my ears sounds not unlike Hank and has great lines like "They tried to beat a freight train, but the freight train ran 'em down.

When I first heard Willie Neslon's Opportunity to Cry on the radio, it was such a spine-tingling moment that I thought he must have died and it was being played as a tribute (thank God I was wrong).

But I've been listeniing to Clive Gresgson's We're Not Over Yet. I know Clive's working with Nanci Griffith now, but this isn't an overtly country song. Yet it's so bitter, can't you just hear someone like George Jones singing: "The way you never keep to your side of a bargain; The way you always think of no one but yourself; The way you break all of your promises and turn them into threats; Then I know, we're not over yet."

I think that's the best one. But ask me again tomorrow.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: M.Ted
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 06:56 PM

With due respect, WLD, there is a very different perception in the UK as to what constitutes Country Music --Maverick Country Magazine, for instance, has articles about David Crosby and Jim Croce, fine, even great performers, but not country, not here abouts, anyhow--they come no nearer or further or closer than a country mile---

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: melodeonboy
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 07:15 PM

Great though Hank Williams was, I have to plump for "My Wife Thinks You're Dead" by Junior Brown.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: pdq
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 07:24 PM

It may be time to get past HSLHT by Possum and move on.

I think Bobby Bare's "Detroit City" is classic Country. Pretty sure the writer is Mel Tillis, quite sure that the entro is done by Glen Campbell. He tunes the guitar up and down with the tuning pegs a la Earl Scruggs on banjo.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Richie
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 07:54 PM

Here's several I like:

Jambalaya
Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain
Long Haired Country Boy

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 08:40 PM

Any Harlan Howard song is a contender, no matter who covers it.

Whole albums of Willie's are "my personal best loved" today...and most likely, tomorrow too. Can't get enough of that man and The Family (oooooh, Mickey, play that harmonica!).

IMHO, of course.

Lin

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Uncle Phil
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 10:17 PM

Hmm, best country album is a whole different thing than best country song. As an album, The Red Headed Stranger rates right up there with Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison. Willie's Phases and Stages album is another good one – a divorce from his point of view on one side and her point of view on the other. (Remember when albums had two sides?)
- Phil

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Scoville
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 10:30 PM

David Crosby, Jim Croce, Judy Collins, etc. are not country in the U.S. Folk or folk-rock, yes. Classic country stations (1950's-1980's) will occasionally play John Denver or Gordon Lightfoot, but that's an exception rather than a rule. Obviously, these are all great performers, but in a different genre.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Slag
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 10:55 PM

It would be difficult to top "Sunday Morning Coming Down", however:

Lefty Frizzel and Dottie West's "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma"
Johnny Burnette "Big Big City"

Yes on "Pancho and Lefty"

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: fumblefingers
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 11:25 PM

The size of this list is such that it's obvious that there is no Best Country Song. I know more country songs than I can count, and I can think of at least two hundred that I think are the best at various times and stages of intoxication.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Slag
Date: 28 Jan 07 - 11:27 PM

Opinions lead to consensus. Let's keep it going.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: number 6
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 12:01 AM

Currently my favourite (my fav's are rather fluid and change like the daily tide) country song is "White Freightliner Blues" by Townes Van Zandt.

Tomorrow it could be back to .. "I'm Moving on" by Hank Snow.

biLL

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: goodpony
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 08:58 AM

"Goodtime Charlies Got the Blues"-Charlie Rich does a great version.
You can sing this tune as slow and mornfull as you'd like,and is a great tune for those all-night sing alongs and jams

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 05:27 PM

One that's really bowled me over in the last few years is Happy Endings by Eric Taylor. Mind you if Jack Hudson isn't country, maybe Eric taylor isn't either. Fabulous song! Off his amazing album Scuffletown.

Whats wrong with you Americans? that bloke Eric Taylor should have some sort of medal for writing something as good as that. I thought you had a meritocracy over there where merit was rewarded.

Over in England we know we're shafted with our class system. Its only a matter of time before they let Prince Charles win the BBC radio 2young folksinger of the year on his first attempt. Might actually be an improvement.....

We expect better things from the New World. I bet some days the Pilgrim Fathers wish they'd settled for a bag of chips and shopping on Union Street, rather than setting sail from Plymouth.

Congressional medal of honour (whatever that is)....at least. Well he's got my vote.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,Jeff
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 09:41 PM

That's DAVID Frizzell and SHELLY West not Lefty and Dottie. Too bad. Would've liked to have heard a pairing of those two.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Scoville
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 09:52 PM

I'm listening to Eric Taylor right now. Folk-rock. Country overtones but little more country than most modern Nashville stuff.

We didn't say he wasn't good, we just suggested that he wasn't country.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: M.Ted
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 11:14 PM

We have our own class system, WLD--the Country audience walks, talks, and dresses different than the folk/rock audience, and God help the troubadour that walks through the wrong door by accident. In America, they play for keeps.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: voyager
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 11:18 PM

It's a PREASURE and a PLIVILEGE to contribute the 100th entry to this
'never-ending thread' -

Well, I was drunk the day my Mom got outta prison.
And I went to pick her up in the rain.
But, before I could get to the station in my pickup truck
She got runned over by a damned old train.

CHORUS:

So I'll hang around as long as you will let me
And I never minded standin' in the rain. No,
You don't have to call me darlin', darlin'
You never even call me, I wonder why you don't call me
Why don't you ever call me by my name.

You Never Even Call Me By My Name

voyager

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 02:07 AM

you don't have to call me Charley Pride

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Slag
Date: 29 Jan 11 - 01:38 AM

correction: David Frizzell, Lefty's little brother and Shelly West, Dotty's daughter, with apologies all around. Still the quintessential Country and Western song, well written, superbly sung.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,Larry Saidman
Date: 29 Jan 11 - 03:21 AM

I'd vote for Irving Berlin is 100 Years Old Today by Ian Tyson.

But various Hank Williams songs are also in the running (I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive, Your Cheatin' Heart, I Heard That Lonesome Whistle Blow, I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry)

Oh....and maybe one of the greatest! Mickey Newbury's "She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye".

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: kendall
Date: 29 Jan 11 - 07:44 AM

I'm not a big country music fan; all that un returned love is boring.
I lean toward The Blizzard by Jim Reeves, and, The Faded Roses of December by Utah Phillips.Ashes on the sea, not sure how to categorize that one.

Tom T. Hall needs to be right up there in the country field too.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: kendall
Date: 29 Jan 11 - 07:50 AM

Now I don't mean to say I don't like country music, it's fun to play with other folks who do. I was raised on it but switched to folk after learning two more chords.:-)(Old inside joke)
It's that type of country music that dwells on unrequited love that gets me. Usually, it's not love at all, but obsession.

Rick Fielding singing John Hartford's Old Time Riverman is neither pop nor folk but I love it. I really miss Rick.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Joe_F
Date: 29 Jan 11 - 06:07 PM

Does Stan Rogers's "Lies" count as country? I am hazy on genres.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: kendall
Date: 29 Jan 11 - 08:21 PM

Don't know that one.
Maybe we should define country music. What is it anyway? Does it have to have broken hearts, dead dogs and swinging doors to qualify?

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: pdq
Date: 29 Jan 11 - 08:45 PM

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Midchuck
Date: 29 Jan 11 - 08:47 PM

Someone in a discussion in another list, about the "Little Musgrave" ballad, said:

Seriously, though...that sort of nonsense is the reason why, although I have no more s*xual morals than an alley cat, I have a strict Rule I follow to the effect that someone actively in a relationship is Off Limits!

Someone responded:

Very good rule. But if everyone had followed it we would have muuuch less literature and no country music at all.

So I put in my two cents worth, saying:

Maybe no _country_, but _bluegrass_ would be fine. A women who wasn't in a relationship would still refuse to marry the guy who loved her madly, so he'd have to kill her; or she'd get pregnant and insist that he marry her, so he'd have to kill her. And bootleggers would still be harassed by revenoors, so they'd have to kill them. And guys' dogs would still get old and sick, so they'd have to kill them.

Plenty of bluegrass.

Peter

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: pdq
Date: 29 Jan 11 - 09:01 PM

In the last few months I replaced the old vinyl versions of "One Day at a Time" and "David's Album" with the new re-matered CDs, both have extra bonus tracks and are very well recorded.

It's amazing how timeless the expert backing by the Nashville regulars including Grady Martin, Hal Rugg, Jerry Reed, Norbert Putnam, Charlie McCoy, Junior Huskey and others is. Joan Baez is in superb voice and the musicians are having fun. The last song on "One Day at a Time" starts of with some outrageous chops by Hal Rugg, whereupon Jerry Reed stops the recording saying he got his fingers all caught up in the strings trying to keep with Rugg.

The people doing these recordings thought they were doing Country Music and so do I.
Not that Vern Gosdin doing heartbreak songs or drinking songs ain't Country. It is, but not all there is to Country Music.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: EllenV
Date: 29 Jan 11 - 10:08 PM

Thank God I'm A Country Boy - John Denver
Pledge Allegiance to the Hag - Eric Church (a.k.a. "Pledge Allegiance to the Flag")
Cowboys Like Us - George Strait
Heartland - George Strait
Three Wooden Crosses - Randy Travis

And my personal fave, which was written/sung by a country singer but is not really "country" at all: Ireland, by Garth Brooks.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: J-boy
Date: 29 Jan 11 - 10:20 PM

Do you know what happens when you play a country song backwards? You get your truck back.You get your dog back.You get your girl back and life is good.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: EllenV
Date: 29 Jan 11 - 10:28 PM

@J-boy: I've heard that song. It's excruciatingly lame, but so true that it's hilarious.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: J-boy
Date: 29 Jan 11 - 10:37 PM

Yeah. It's a really old joke. I can't even remember when I first heard it.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Slag
Date: 30 Jan 11 - 12:34 AM

Well, country gitars have 3 more strings than them little folk gitars! Let's see, ummm?, so that's at least half again times better!

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 30 Jan 11 - 02:56 AM

Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain is a really good song therefore should NOT even be on this thread.

Whereas, An Okie From Muskogie, is absolute shite and should be number 1.

Dave H

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,Desi C
Date: 30 Jan 11 - 08:00 AM

Oh so many! Hank Williams has a few contenders, Cold Cold heart, I'm so Lonesome, Your cheatin Heart. Willie Nelson's, Crazy deserves a mention too. My personal favourite to sing is, Blue Side Of Lonesome,George Jones version, written by Leon Payne, a blind fiddler who also wrote the Jim Reeves htt, I Love you Because, I'll leave it at that or I'll go into hundreds of others

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: kendall
Date: 30 Jan 11 - 08:40 AM

I like to refer to folk music as "Heavy Mental".

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Smedley
Date: 30 Jan 11 - 09:06 AM

Very strange (to me) that there are no Dolly Parton songs here. 'Jolene', 'Down From Dover', plenty more.

A few other favourites of mine:
'Bartender's Blues' - George Jones
'Dusty Skies' - Bob Wills
'Are You Sure Hank Done It That Way' - Waylon Jennings
'Rambling Man' - Hank Williams
'Silver Rings and Golden Wings' - Billie Jo Spears
'Someday Soon' - Suzy Boguss
'Wish I Were Only Lonely' - Reba McEntire

Purists might say not all of these are clasically country, but I don't like purists! So to wind them up even more I'll add:
'Powderfinger' - Neil Young

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Mick Tems
Date: 30 Jan 11 - 10:01 AM

Long Black Veil is my much-loved country song, but how about honouring my favourite country songwriter, Mary-Chapin Carpenter? The Moon And St Christopher and Stones In The Road - absolutely exquisite!

And I have to thank Iain Matthews for pointing out the Steve Gillette song Darcy Farrow - a true, heart-breaking tale of two lovers whose lives were shattered when Darcy was thrown by a horse. All those who have not heard Steve Gillette and Sindy Mangsen playing - you must freakin' see them!

Mind you, my all-time favourite country title was: Take Your Tongue Out Of My Mouth, Babe, I'm Kissin' You Goodbye...

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Bobert
Date: 30 Jan 11 - 10:20 AM

"In some of my songs
I have casually mentioned
the fact that
I like to drink beer..."

Jus' funnin'... I mean, there have been so many great country songs written over the years that it's impossible to pick just one but...

...I kinda like alot of Don Willam's older stuff, "Amanda", "Silver Coins", "Storms Never Last", "Say it Again" (which I still perform on occasion).

...I kinda like Hanks old stuff like "Your Cheating Heart", "Cold, Cold, Heart"

...I kinda like a bunch of Waylon Jennings stuff like "Waymore's Blues", "Did Hank Really Do it this Way"...

... Willie's, "Angle Flying too Close to the Ground"...

...Montgomey Gentry's "Gone"...

...John Prine's "Paradise"

...Dolly Parton's "Coat of Many Colors"

etc., etc...

B~

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Oremus
Date: 30 Jan 11 - 11:15 AM

Best Country song? Depends on which country.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,Gail
Date: 30 Jan 11 - 12:30 PM

This one's a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. I'm not usually a fan of what I (in the UK) think of as mainstream country but, this is such a great performance I love it.

Still Holding On

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: kendall
Date: 30 Jan 11 - 01:07 PM

Darcy Farrow is a very good choice.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,bankley
Date: 31 Jan 11 - 10:13 AM

I'm not sure that there is a best...there are so many and a lot come close
but there are three I'd like to mention, and this can also be tied to the 'forgotten songwriter' thread

"Long Black Veil" sung by Lefty Frizzel written by Danny Dill/Marijohn Wilken

"I Never go Around Mirrors" covered by Lefty Frizzel, Keith Whitly, Merle Haggard, Gene Watson, Mark Chesnut.. written by Whitey Shafer

"Farewell Party" sung by Gene Watson, written by Lawton Williams

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 31 Jan 11 - 11:16 AM

I was at the Birmingham (UK) Symphony Hall last night for 'Transatlantic Sessions Live', and I was absolutely blown away by Alison Moorer's beautiful singing of 'Carrickfergus'. I dunno if it qualifies as Country, but it certainly qualified as 'stunning' AFAIC!

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,ed childrey
Date: 09 Feb 11 - 04:05 AM

Chiseled in Stone....Vern Gosdin

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,Max Johnson
Date: 09 Feb 11 - 06:45 AM

My favourite Commander Cody song has always been 'Momma Hated Diesels'. Here's a part of the spoken bit:

"...one day the county sheriff come up to me
He said they found my mama wandering
All by herself in the middle of the highway crying
She was trying of all things Lord
To flag down one of those big old rigs with a pocket handkerchief
Well that left me on my own..."

And also today, I'm likin' The Stanley Brothers 'Rank Stranger'.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Max Johnson
Date: 09 Feb 11 - 07:12 AM

Sorry - posted that before I saw that there's already a recent thread on Mama Hated Diesels! Don't belieeeeeve it.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 09 Feb 11 - 08:15 AM

I've never been a big fan of mainstream country but I do like Dolly Parton's 'Coat of Many Colours.' Linda Ronstadt singing 'Silver Threads and Golden Needles' and I am not sure of the correct title but it was a song that Crystal Gayle sang in the late 70s (on the Muppett show) 'I'm going down the Road' but I can't remember if it was with a suitacse or a guitar in hand.

It is hard to choose a Willie Nelson song because with his voice he makes most of his songs sound good 'On the Road Again' is a favourite of mine.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: kendall
Date: 09 Feb 11 - 09:26 AM

My taste in country music runs to the old timey stuff...Roy Acuff, Wilma Lee Cooper,Hank Snow etc.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Bobert
Date: 09 Feb 11 - 07:45 PM

BTW, Patsy, first time I ever heard "Silver Threads and Golden Needles" was by the Pozo Seco Singers long before Linda Ronstadt's version and...

...love their version, as well...

B~

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 10 Feb 11 - 09:34 AM

Thanks for letting me know Bobert I thought that there must have been an earlier version somewhere. That's interesting I will have to keep a look-out for it the next time I look around the record shops.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,Larry Saidman
Date: 10 Feb 11 - 12:59 PM

I believe the Springfields (featuring Dusty Springfield) did it originally--before the Pozo Seco Singers--in the early 60's.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: kendall
Date: 10 Feb 11 - 02:02 PM

I think it goes back even further.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: pdq
Date: 10 Feb 11 - 02:12 PM

"'Silver Threads and Golden Needles', a song written by Jack Rhodes and Dick Reynolds, was first recorded by Wanda Jackson in 1956. The original lyrics, as performed by Jackson, contain a verse not usually included in later versions, which also often differed in other minor details."

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: Allen in Oz
Date: 10 Feb 11 - 05:37 PM

" Today I Started Loving You Again"

" Lonely Street"

" The Streets of Baltimore"

" Cold Cold Heart"

" I Walk the Line"

" Faded Love"

And all of the songs quoted on this thread so far

Allen in Oz

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,Clontarf83
Date: 10 Feb 11 - 06:11 PM

Dr Price and Kendall mentioned "Darcy Farrow". It used to be a favourite of mine until my friend steve rewrote it as follows

"Young Bandy in his gall
Put a bullet through his balls
They buried them together
When the snow began to fall"

For me, the ultimate weeper country song is "I gave my wedding dress away"

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,ed
Date: 16 Feb 11 - 11:50 PM

vern gosdin...chiseled in stone. if you're gonna do me wrong, do you believe me now, etc., etc.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 17 Feb 11 - 11:14 AM

Thank you all for the information about 'Silver Threads and Golden Needles' and interested to see Wanda Jackson's name mentioned. She performed on the recent New Year Jules Holland's Hootenanny program this year. I had a feeling she must have been around way back about then, was there any similarity to Brenda Lee out of interest?

Going back when I was little there was a song called 'On Top of Old Smokey' about a meatball that rolled off the table, it was one of those songs that children here in UK liked singing along to. I'm not sure if that is a country song or a novelty song but as children do we slightly altered the words.

Subject: RE: Best country song
From: pdq
Date: 17 Feb 11 - 12:03 PM

It seems quite fair to discuss Wanda Jackson and Brenda Lee at the same time, but perhaps you should add Patsy Cline. All three could rock when they wanted and all had hits that were played on Rock 'n' Roll stations. Wanda Jackson was the real rocker. Brenda Lee did better than Patsy Cline in that department. All did Country well also, but Cline was an alltime great in that field.

Use Mudcat's search box to find "On Top of Spaghetti", I believe the writer is considered a "folkie".