A recitation song or "recitation" as it is more commonly called, is a spoken narrative to music, generally with a sentimental (or at times, religious) theme. Such numbers were quite popular in country music from the 1930s into the 1960s although few in number. While they almost disappeared in the 1970s that decade saw several of the biggest recitation songs of alltime, Red Sovine's sentimental ode to an ill child "Teddy Bear" and C. W. McCall's truck-driving saga "Convoy", both songs hitting number one on the country charts and even crossing over into the pop market. McCall, who did not sing, became a popular country star in the 1970s with a string of recitations, most of them comic, although his last hit, 1977's "Roses for Mama" was a sentimental tale in the best Sovine tradition.
Semi-recitation songs were also very popular during this period. Usually, the verses of these songs were spoken and the choruses were sung.
Hits of this nature: