The Stories Behind The Songs: “I’m Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes” The Carter Family (#10 pop, 1929) “The Great Speckled Bird” Roy Acuff and His Crazy Tennesseans (#10 pop, 1938) The Wild Side Of Life Hank Thompson (#1 country, #27 pop, 1952) It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels Kitty Wells (#1 country, #27 pop, 1952) The tie between American country music and traditional English folk songs is a deep one that goes back centuries. During the New World’s first three hundred years, the American upper class may have continued to listen to the classical music of Europe, but the real pioneers were adapting and revising folk music to fit their situations and tell their stories. Many of the tunes that gave birth to what we now call country music were brought to the New World by men and women fleeing England’s oppression. Music was one of their most powerful links to a faraway homeland. It was the fabric of what they had been, as well as being an oral history of their lives. After several generations of evolution, the instruments and words had dramatically changed. In many cases, there was only a faint hint of the original melodies left intact. Yet, by and large, there was a bit of the feel of the British peasant class in this “original” American music. Country music legend A. P. Carter collected many of these ancient tunes and their new lyrics when he was looking for material for the Carter Family to record. “I’m Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes” was one of the hillbilly folk songs he uncovered. In 1929 it became a big hit for the family. While this hauntingly sad story of a love that had been lost far across the sea was new to most of the listening public, the melody must have seemed familiar to many who had been raised around the English folk music tradition. The fact was that the musical riffs and strains had come across the Atlantic a couple of hundred years before Mr. Carter had collected the tune’s Americanized verses. While “I’m Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes” might have been the first popular use of the tune, it was certainly not the only one. Sara Carter, A. P.’s wife, remembered hearing other versions of it when she was a child. Still, for the purposes of the recording world and country music history, this early version, which climbed to #10 on the national pop music chart, was the initial popular use of the tune. As time would prove, it wouldn’t be the last. ** Transformation to “The Great Speckled Bird” ** In early 1937, Roy Acuff was a former baseball player turned struggling medicine-show singer when he heard The Black Shirts use much different lyrics with the same English folk tune as “I’m Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes.” Acuff was captured by both this new song’s message and symbolism. He paid singer Charlie Swain a very hard-earned fifty cents to transcribe the song’s words. It was probably the best half-dollar Roy ever spent. Within weeks, this new song “The Great Speckled Bird” would become Acuff and His Crazy Tennesseans’ most requested number. He even sang it on his first Grand Ole Opry guest shot. Knowing very little about “The Great Speckled Bird’s” origin, Roy began to dig into its history. Tracing the song’s roots revealed that the religiously framed story had been composed by a minister named Guy Smith. Acuff also discovered that the song’s unusual lyrics had been inspired by the twelfth chapter, ninth verse of the book of Jeremiah: “Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour.” By October 1937, the American Record Company’s William R. Calaway had also heard several different versions of “The Great Speckled Bird.” It was both his and ARC’s belief that this would be a great song in the hands of the right recording artist. Upon listening to Acuff’s version, Calaway knew he had found that perfect match. Roy would later remember that he wasn’t signed because of either his outstanding voice or great fiddle talent, instead the record label used him because they believed that he could deliver “The Great Speckled Bird.” Around the same time that Acuff recorded his first session, ARC was purchased by Columbia. During this period, the merged labels were unsure what to do with their hillbilly acts. Thus, Roy’s recording of “The Great Speckled Bird” was held in limbo. Finally the company decided to record Acuff in early 1938 under its “Vocalion” banner. By this time, Roy had written four additional verses to go with the song’s original six. In order to include all ten, the producer put the first five on side one and the other five on what was usually called the “B” side of the record. In retrospect, it was a very wise move. By the close of 1938, Acuff’s first release had climbed to the #10 position on the national pop music chart (Billboard’s country charts didn’t come into existence until 1944), and Roy had been invited to become a member of Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry. Roy Acuff’s place in country music was thus assured, and his next release “Wabash Cannonball” would make him “The King of Country Music.” ** Transformation to “The Wild Side Of Life” ** Two major national hits with the same tune was a phenomenal accomplishment, but the best days for the old English folk tune were still ahead. Over a decade after “The Great Speckled Bird” hit the charts, William Warren’s wife of eight months left him. A few weeks later, Warren saw his now ex-wife dancing and drinking at a Texas honky-tonk. Devastated, he went home and immediately wrote lyrics about the event which he matched to the same tune used in “I’m Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes” and “The Great Speckled Bird.” Warren then gave the song to Jimmy Heath and the Melody Masters, a local group that played in the honky-tonk his ex-wife regularly visited. As soon as she heard the song, she immediately knew who wrote the lyrics and what inspired them. The Melody Masters cut “The Wild Side Of Life” on a local label and placed it on area jukeboxes. Hank Thompson and his wife Dorothy heard it during one of Thompson’s East Texas swings. Dorothy immediately liked the song and hinted to Hank that he might want to consider recording it. However Hank was of the belief that the tune was worn out, that it had simply been used too many times before. Dorothy Thompson did manage to convince her husband to copy down the lyrics. In doing so, he combined verses two and three, thus simplifying Warren’s original story. Hank Thompson was not a typical country music performer of the day. The Waco, Texas native had studied electrical engineering at Princeton University, and was using this background to create the industry’s first portable lighting and sound systems. He was also rewiring guitars and amplifiers to come up with far better concert sound quality. To say that he was innovative and constantly pushing the envelope was an understatement. Yet his developments in the technical area would eventually pale in comparison to his on-stage showmanship. Hank had first achieved national prominence in 1946 with “Humpty Dumpty Heart.” A series of other top-ten hits had followed but by 1950, Hank Williams and Hank Snow’s surges had left little room in the spotlight for the Texas Hank. By 1952, Thompson needed a hit just to re-launch his flagging career. In the early part of the year, Hank and his band travelled west to cut a new series of records for Capitol. Ken Nelson, a producer assigned to work Thompson’s Los Angeles recording session, asked Hank if he had anything for the “B” side of the singer’s self-penned “Crying In The Deep Blue Sea.” Thompson mentioned “The Wild Side Of Life.” He pulled the scribbled lyrics out of his bag and, without a rehearsal, Hank and his Brazos Valley Boys cut it in one take. Then they packed up and went home. The designated “hit” side “Crying In The Deep Blue Sea” could manage to chart only in the Southwest. Nationally, it went nowhere. After two frustrating months, a few disc jockeys began to turn the record over and play “The Wild Side Of Life.” In one of the more bizarre events in recording history, without any public-relations push whatsoever, this “B” side moved like a tidal wave across the nation and became a huge hit. It reached #1 on Billboard’s Country singles chart and remained there for fifteen straight weeks, making Hank Thompson’s “The Wild Side Of Life” the seventeenth all-time biggest hit in country music history. The Thompson record even topped out at a respectable #27 on Billboards pop listings. Folk singer Burl Ives also landed in the top ten of the pop chart with his version of the tune. Three major hits in 23 years with the old English melody, but it still had more history yet to make. ** Transformation to “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels ** Songwriter J. D. Miller was driving along State Route 90 near Rayne, Louisiana when he heard “The Wild Side Of Life” come on the car radio. He immediately pulled off to the side of the road, grabbed a notepad and pencil and wrote a woman’s response. He called his new song “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.” Even while Hank Thompson was continuing his hold on country’s top spot on the charts, Miller submitted his lyrics to Decca Records. The label had no female country artists on its roster at that time, but a few of the company’s associates were familiar with Kitty Wells. They knew she was married to Johnny Wright, half of the popular country duo “Johnny & Jack,” and that she dabbled in music herself from time to time. In fact, Kitty had recorded several sides for RCA Victor the previous year but they had all failed to chart. This disheartened her greatly, and she wasn’t all that interested in trying again. Still Decca called her to come and record “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.” Kitty agreed, but only after her husband Johnny Wright convinced her to do it just for the session money, a very meager amount. Decca liked Kitty’s recording so much that they not only wanted to release it, but also sign her to a long-term contract. Some industry personnel questioned the label’s actions. No female soloist had ever posted a major country music hit single. Except for Patsy Montana’s pop hit of “I Want To Be A Cowboy’s Sweetheart” in 1935, few female country-oriented songs had even bumped the charts. Country music, at that point in time, was strictly a man’s world. There was also another problem. When Wells heard Miller’s new lyrics, she was shocked. Here we had a devoted mother, a pillar of the church, and a happily married woman who didn’t drink or smoke getting ready to record a song about a woman being condemned to the sinful world of taverns and liquor by the actions of an unfaithful man. It was just the opposite of the image she had always tried to project. “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” thus would have seemed totally inappropriate for Wells to promote. Still, in the face of opposition, Kitty and Decca forged ahead and in doing so, they changed the world. Decca would have been satisfied to have simply charted on their initial time out with Wells. A top-ten song would have been cause for a big celebration. What they got caught them by total surprise. With Kitty’s mournful voice pleading “not to blame us women, ”It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” became the first #1 single for a country music female artist. It would remain at that position for six weeks and reach #27 on the pop charts (ironically, the identical pop tally as Hank Thompsons The Wild Side of Life). Suddenly Kitty Wells was a major star. With an old melody and new revolutionary lyrics, country music’s female liberation movement had begun. Kitty Wells was on the threshold of a career that would span hundreds of recordings and more than five decades of performances. ** Summary ** When taken by themselves, each of these four vocal versions of this old English folk tune was a remarkable piece of country music history. Each was a major hit, has been recorded and performed on numerous occasions by scores of artists, and has struck a special chord with fans. Yet the most remarkable record set by these four different lyrical renditions of the same tune is that all of the original recording artists have found their way to a special place on the hallowed walls of the Country Music Hall of Fame. The Carter Family probably would have made it even without “I’m Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes,” but Roy Acuff himself admitted that he was signed by the ARC label specifically to record “The Great Speckled Bird.” Without the fifty cents he invested in the words to that song, he might have never become “The King of Country Music.” Hank Thompson hadn’t had a hit in three years when he cut “The Wild Side Of Life.” Would he have ever had the opportunity to record his successive long string of hits without that song? Finally, Kitty Wells didn’t even have a recording contract before “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.” Without that song, how many years would it have taken for the country music industry to recognize the power of female performers? Four recordings, four sets of lyrics, four members of the Country Music Hall of Fame, and all with the same tune from an ancient British folk standard. That’s a bit of music history which will never be repeated in this modern world of meaningless, throwaway lyrics. Sadly, the days of the great songs and the great songwriters are over. – JH
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 01:08:40 +0000