This song was played at the funeral I attended of a 15 year old girl. I can’t hear it without thinking about her and the pain her family was in. I didn’t know that Steele wrote it.

I don’t have any access to any inside stories, but I think my favorite such story is about John Fred, who heard the Beatles’ song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and mis-heard the lyrics as “Lucy in Disguise with Diamonds.” When someone corrected him, he decided to write the peppy, bubble-gum “Judy in Disguise (with Glasses)”, which also went on to pop success:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeXKLdY6bro

Find the book “Sing Your Heart Out, Country Boy.” The book is about great country songs and how they came to be.

I asked Johnny Russell one time what the story behind “Act Naturally” was. He said “None of your business.” Hee.

There’s a couple stories that stand out to me. The story behind “This Ole House” is great. Stuart Hamblen was hunting somewhere in the wilderness of California and it was really cold and snowy and he came upon an old cabin. There was a hound dog lying out in the front but there was no smoke coming from the chimney. Upon closer inspection, he discovered the cabin’s owner dead inside. Great song.

Another one that stands out to me is the standard “Release Me.” The writer, Eddie Miller, was at a club somewhere and there was a couple at the next table arguing. At one point in the argument, the woman said “Well, if you’d just release me and let me go….” I don’t know how many times it’s been recorded but it’s on the “Million Air” list that BMI has. I’m partial to another one of Eddie’s classics, although I don’t know how the idea was born, but, the song “Thanks A Lot”…my mother was there when they wrote it and she wrote it down for them as they were throwing lines around. They always called her the Midwife of that song. I’m gonna have to blog about Eddie sometime soon.