The Wild Side of Life
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| “The Wild Side of Life” | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Hank Thompson and His Brazos Valley Boys | |||||
| Released | March 1952 (U.S.) | ||||
| Format | 7", 78 rpm | ||||
| Recorded | December 11, 1951 Los Angeles, California |
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| Genre | Country | ||||
| Length | 2:44 | ||||
| Label | Capitol Records F1942 | ||||
| Writer(s) | Arlie Carter and William Warren | ||||
| Producer | Ken Nelson | ||||
| Hank Thompson and His Brazos Valley Boys singles chronology | |||||
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"The Wild Side of Life" is a song made famous by country music singer Hank Thompson. Originally released in 1952, the song became one of the most popular recordings in the genre's history, spending 15 weeks at No. 1 Billboard country charts[1], solidified Thompson's status as a country music superstar and inspired the answer song, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" by Kitty Wells.[2]
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[edit] Song history
"The Wild Side of Life" carries one of the most distinctive melodies of early country music, used in "I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes" by the Carter Family and "Great Speckled Bird" by Roy Acuff.[2] That, along with the song's story of a woman shedding her role as domestic provider to follow the night life, combined to become one of the most famous country songs of the early 1950s.
According to country music historian Bill Malone, "Wild Side" co-writer William Warren was inspired to create the song after his experiences with a young woman — a honky tonk angel, as it were — who "found the glitter of the gay night life too hard to resist."[2] Fellow historian Paul Kingsbury wrote that the song appealed to people who "thought the world was going to hell and that faithless women deserved a good deal of the blame."[3]
Jimmy Heap and His Melody Masters first recorded "Wild Side" in 1951, but never had a hit with the song. Thompson did, and his version spent three and one-half months atop the Billboard country chart in the spring and early summer of 1952.
"Wild Side" was Thompson's first charting single since 1949's two-sided hit "Soft Lips"/"The Grass is Greener Over Yonder."[1] Thompson had hooked up with producer Ken Nelson in the interim, and one of their first songs together was "Wild Side."[4]
[edit] Answer song
The lyric, "I didn't know God made honky tonk angels," and the tune's overall cynical attitude — Kingsbury noted the song "... just begged for an answer from a woman"[3] — inspired "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels." Recorded by Kitty Wells and released later in 1952, that song, too, became a No. 1 country hit.[4][1] In "It Wasn't God ... ," Wells shifts the blame for the woman's infidelity to the man, claiming that for every unfaithful woman there is a man who also has gone astray.
[edit] Cover versions
There have been many cover versions of "The Wild Side of Life," several of which became hits in their own right. Burl Ives had a top 10 hit with the song concurrent with Thompson's success, while Freddy Fender reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in early 1976. In 1981, "Wild Side" and "It Wasn't God ..." were combined into a duet by Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter on their album Leather and Lace; that version reached No. 10.[1]
Other artists who recorded the song included Moe Bandy, Mickey Gilley, Merle Haggard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Hank Locklin, Willie Nelson, Pirates of the Mississippi, Status Quo, Ray Price, Rod Stewart, Conway Twitty, Bonnie Tyler and Hank Williams, among others.[5]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Whitburn, Joel, "Top Country Songs: 1944-2005," 2006.
- ^ a b c Malone, Bill, "Classic Country Music: A Smithsonian Collection" ((booklet included with Classic Country Music: A Smithsonian Collection 4-disc set). Smithsonian Institution, 1990).
- ^ a b Kingsbury, Paul, "The Grand Ole Opry History of Country Music: 70 Years of the Songs, the Stars and the Stories," Opryland USA, Villard Books, Random House, New York, 1995.
- ^ a b [1] Huey, Steve, Hank Thompson biography at All Music Guide
- ^ [2] "The Wild Side of Life" at All Music Guide.
