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clarke kelly's avatar

A bunch of these songs were influenced by the popular book/movie THE SUMMER OF ‘42

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Glenn Cook's avatar

I was surprised that a David Allen Coe song didn’t show up, but all of these are great selections in the “Ewwww…” and “Jesus H. Christ” sound books.

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Michael Elliott's avatar

DAC is his own genre, and since his biggest hits were much more tame than his, ahem, "underground" stuff, I could steer clear.

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Christopher Manson's avatar

Love me some Kendalls.

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NickS (WA)'s avatar

Heh, I didn’t listen to the songs -- your summaries were amusing and enough. It makes me think country music was saying, "hold my beer" to "Maggie May"

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Michael Elliott's avatar

Pretty much!

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Daniel Moran's avatar

Thanks for this one, which made me literally laugh out loud more than once. I had no idea that “Heaven’s Just a Sin Away” was sung by a dad / daughter. Yikes.

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Hugh Jones's avatar

How about Leon Payne's "Psycho", probably best known these days via the Elvis Costello b-side version. Gives me a shudder every time!

Great post!

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Michael Elliott's avatar

Yes indeed! Man, I loved Leon. A legendary songwriter and performer. "Psycho" was long before Warren Zevon's "Excitable Boy" - and it's in the first person! Randy Newman probably took a few notes.

That being said, country murder tunes are their own crazy subgenre. These are just ones that were actual hits that I remember playing on the air years ago and thinking, "Why is everyone OK with this?"

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Daniel Moran's avatar

That’s a great Elvis cover!

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Sep 21
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Michael Elliott's avatar

Well, this one slipped by me! Of course, all these were big hits at one time or another. I don't think Dave's late '70s stuff made much of a dent on the charts, but his truck driving songs definitely saw a boost due to the CB craze of the era. Thanks for the...uh...tip!

As far as competition in the cock fight arena, a wholly different vibe, but there's the great Joe Ely's "Gallo Del Cielo."

https://youtu.be/-x1WRCzTMNo?si=WMwYz8BIPDz5fib3

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