50 years ago: Jimmy Dean hit #1 with “Big Bad John”

Big Bad John Jimmy Dean

Writer(s): Roy Acuff, Jimmy Dean (see lyrics here) First Charted: October 2, 1961 Peak: 15 US, 15 CB, 16 HR, 110 AC, 12 CW, 2 UK, 11 CN (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 1.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 32.41 video, 18.84 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “Big Bad John” tells a sort of American folklore tale in the vein of Paul Bunyan or John Henry about a “mysterious and quiet miner who earned the nickname Big John because of his height, weight, and muscular physique.” WK When a support timber cracked at the mine, John held the passage open while 20 men escaped. The mine collapsed, leaving John to die. WK Jimmy Dean wrote it in an hour-and-a-half while on a plane heading to Nashville for a recording session. As he said, “At that time you recorded four sides a session. I had to do something. I had worked with a guy in summer stock named John Mentoe. He was six-foot-five and skinny as a rail…I used to call him Big John. It had a powerful ring to it. So I put him in a mine and killed him on a plane going to Nashville.” FB The song proved fortunate for Dean as Columbia Records was ready to drop him. The legal department hadn’t renewed his contract because his records weren’t selling, but A&R didn’t know and released the single “I Won’t Go Huntin’ with You Jake, But I’ll Go Chasin’ Women” with “Big Bad John” as the B-side. When DJ’s took to the B-side, the song became a hit and suddenly Dean found himself in a much better negotiating place for a new contract. FB “Big Bad John” proved to be a massive crossover success, hitting #1 on Billboard’s pop, country, and adult contemporary charts. The feat wasn’t achieved again until Glen Campbell’s “Rhinestone Cowboy” in 1975. SF It won the Grammy for Best Country & Western Recording and was nominated for Song of the Year and Best Male Solo Vocal Performance. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Jimmy Dean FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 100. SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 3/13/2021; last updated 11/4/2021.

50 years ago: Marty Robbins’ “El Paso” topped country chart

El Paso Marty Robbins

Writer(s): Marty Robbins (see lyrics here) Released: October 26, 1959 First Charted: November 9, 1959 Peak: 12 US, 2 CB, 12 HR, 17 CW, 19 UK, 13 CN, 18 AU, 3 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 26.8 video, 44.68 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Marty Robbins said he would have been a cowboy had he been born sooner. Initially, his music “failed to reveal his love for the range.” AC However, after singing the theme to the 1959 Gary Cooper movie, The Hanging Tree, he “delved into a western sound.” AC He was inspired to write “El Paso” because of Johnny Horton’s “Battle of New Orleans.” It showed Robbins that the “public had a craving for finely crafted historical odes.” AC He figured audiences would take to a song about the Old West. He’d driven through El Paso a few times and loved the mix of Mexican and American culture in the city. He used that and stories his grandfather, a cowboy, had told about range wars to craft a “tragedy of Shakespearean proportions” AC about “a cowboy, a beautiful Mexican maiden, and a mean gunslinger.” AC While the story was fictitious, it “captured the romance of the range like no other song ever had or probably ever will.” AC Bob Dylan called it “a ballad of the tortured soul” BD that “seems like a typical western ballad, [but] is anything but.” BD It had long been an unwritten rule in the music industry to not release a single longer than three minutes. AC Columbia Records balked at the 4:40 running time of “El Paso” and refused to put it out as a 45, but agreed to release it on an album. When Gunfigher Ballads and Trail Songs had been out four weeks, demand for “El Paso” was so strong that the record company relented and released it as a single. FB The song topped the country charts on December 21, 1959. Two weeks later, it ascended to the pinnacle of the Billboard Hot 100 chart as well. It was Marty Robbins’ sixth of sixteen #1 songs on the country chart but his only #1 pop song. “El Paso” spent 7 weeks atop the country chart. Although he would have a couple of other songs which topped that, but “none would be so idetntified with the singer as ‘El Paso.’” AC Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Marty Robbins FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 63. AC Ace Collins (1996). The Stories Behind Country Music’s All-Time Greatest 100 Songs. New York, NY; The Berkley Publishing Group. Pages 127-9. BD Bob Dylan (2022). The Philosophy of Modern Song. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. Pages 105-8. WK Wikipedia First posted 8/27/2022; last updated 11/2/2022.

50 years ago: Johnny Horton hit #1 with “The Battle of New Orleans”

The Battle of New Orleans Johnny Horton

Writer(s): Jimmy Driftwood (see lyrics here) Released: April 6, 1959 First Charted: April 27, 1959 Peak: 16 US, 19 CB, 16 HR, 110 CW, 16 UK, 17 CN, 16 AU (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 1.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 9.34 video, 23.58 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “The Battle of New Orleans” dates back to 1815. On August 8 of that year, Andrew Jackson led American forces against British troops in New Orelans, not knowing the War of 1812 had officially ended two weeks earlier. A folk song called “The Eighth of January” celebrated the victory and became a popular fiddle tune. FB It wasn’t until 1955 that Jimmy Driftwood, a high school teacher and principal from Arkansas, wrote lyrics for it in an effort to get his students more interested in learning history. WK The song described the battle in a comical tone from the perspective of an American solider. Driftwood became well known in the area for his historical songs. WK In the late 1950s, RCA gave him a recording contract and he recorded a dozen songs in 1958, including “The Battle of New Orleans.” WK The song was subsequently recorded by many different artists, including Johnny Cash, Les Claypool, Lonnie Donegan, Bill Haley, Doug Kershaw, Vaughn Monroe, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Dolly Parton, Leon Russell, and Sha Na Na. It was Johnny Horton, however, who took the song to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as the country charts. His version omits many of the historical references. Sadly, Horton was killed in a head-on collision on November 5, 1960. He performed that night at the Skyline in Austin, Texas – the same club where Hanks Williams made his final appearance before his death. In another strange coincidence, Horton’s widow, Billie Jean, was formerly married to Williams. FB Ironically, Horton was driving because he’d had a premonition of his death and consequently refused to fly on airplanes. FB Billboard ranked “New Orleans” the #1 song of 1959. It won Grammys for Song of the Year and Best Country & Western Recording. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Johnny Horton FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 54. SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 3/13/2021; last updated 8/26/2022.

Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” topped country chart

Before He Cheats Carrie Underwood

Writer(s): Josh Kear, Chris Tompkins (see lyrics here) Released: August 19, 2006 First Charted: February 18, 2006 Peak: 8 US, 9 RR, 6 AC, 5 A40, 15 CW, 4 CN, 12 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 7.0 US, 0.4 UK, 7.4 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.8 radio, 187.93 video, 370.33 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “Done-me-wrong anthems don’t get much more fun or more satisfying” MX than this “clever tale of a jilted girlfriend who gets sweet revenge.” BT The song’s video showed the former American Idol winner making short work of her philandering boyfriend’s truck by way of a Louisville slugger. She made it clear that the next time he cheated, it wouldn’t be on her. The song helped cement Underwood’s image as a country singer with wide-based pop appeal as well. When “Before He Cheats” won the Grammy for Best Country Song, the songwriters expressed surprise to Billboard magazine about the song’s broad appeal. One of the writers, Josh Kear, said, “You’ve got just enough sex and just enough violence to appeal to both sexes. The fact that they just left it as a straightforward Country record and it worked was a surprise, and pleasantly so.” SF The other writer, Chris Tompkins relayed to TheBoot.com that they originally envisioned the song being sung by someone with a tougher image, like Gretchen Wilson. SF Underwood confessed to CMT that she almost passed on the song, saying, “People are going to hate me for singing this song. They’re gonna be like, ‘Oh my gosh, we can’t listen to her album. She’s bad and I can’t let my children listen to this.’” SF The song accomplished several notable achievements. It took 38 weeks, longer than any other song, to climb into the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. SF Before the end of its run, it had logged 64 weeks on the chart, making it the fifth-longest charting single in Hot 100 history. WK It also became the first country song to sell two million downloads SF and is the fourth best-selling country song of all time. WK The song nabbed plenty of awards including Country Song/Single of the Year from the People’s Choice Awards, the Country Music Association, and ASCAP. CMT and the Academy of Country Music named it Video of the Year. Resources: MX Atlanta Metromix (11/24/09) Best songs of the decade BT TheBoot.com (11/24/09) Best Songs of the 2000’s SF Songfacts.com WK Wikipedia.org Related Links: First posted 2/18/2013; last updated 10/22/2022.