Introduction
(00:00) you’re invited to the party celebrating 50 years of unprecedented success in the country music industry Bill Anderson has written more songs and had more songs recorded than any other country music writer in history and that’s something to celebrate so we invited all of his friends cooked us up a big old cake and tried to do this celebration right hosted by VIN Guild this collection features many of Bill’s biggest hits so we’re glad you chose to attend this bash for one of country music’s true Legends
(00:33) welcome to Bill Anderson’s 50th anniversary celebration nice your City Lights as far as I can see the Great Wide way shines through the night for lonely guys like me the cavaret and honky tongs their flashing signs in a broken heart to lose itself in the Glo of City Life lights that say forget her name in a glass of Sherry
(01:39) wi light that off for other girls for empty Hearts like mine they paint a pretty picture of a world that’s G bright but it’s just a M for loneliness behind those City L all playing Han I Old Tommy the world was dark and God made stars to brighten up the night but God who put the stars above I
(02:45) don’t believe May those lies for it’s just a place for men to cry when things don’t turn out right just just a place to run away and hide behind those City Line light that safe for get love in a different atmosphere lights that lure are nothing but a masquerade for Tears they paint a pretty picture but my arms can’t hold them tight and I just can say I love you to a street of [Music]
(03:55) City thanks everybody thank you so much and welcome everybody to the 50 celebration of The Life and Times I guess of one of our dear friends Bill Anderson City Lights was probably the first song bill got covered in a big way by the great Ray Price talk about pressure start the show off with me having to sing Ray Price thank you very much but uh let’s make our dear friend welcome everybody Mr Bill Anderson too late God love thank you thank you for being here welcome pal this is uh this is long overdue but uh you know we we do these
(04:42) things so many times and and you have been the one over all these years that has always presided over these ceremonies and you do such a masterful job that when they called and asked me to do this I I tried to say no but then when I realized the uh the invitation came from you I said I said yes immediately so we’re honored to be here tonight and uh celebrate 50 years of some great songs and some great records by you so thank you welcome thank you and I’m honored that that you’re here to do this I’m honored that you’re here
(05:12) everybody thank you it’s it’s we’re surrounded by Bill Anderson well I’m sorry you know one thing I I admired so much about you Bill in in watching your career is how you managed to walk that line of being one of the greatest songwriters that ever live but you also made great records and in a time where like today it seems hard for for someone to be both to get other people to record his songs and still have a career as I do and a lot of other people in this room do the same thing how did you how did you walk that line where where
(05:48) people I I would assume cuz the songs were just great and everybody wanted to cut them but I’ll bet it was it was it difficult for you at times to to say I’d like to hang on to this song for me or should I let Ry have it or should I let someone else have it I never tried to write songs for anybody in particular I just really tried to write songs and and I tried to keep Bill Anderson the writer and Bill Anderson the recording artist separate uh if I found a good song that somebody else had written I had no quals
(06:18) whatsoever about recording it and some of my biggest hits were songs that I didn’t write people think I wrote them but I didn’t and if I wrote something that Jean Shepard or Charlie Len or Jim Ed Brown any the people in this room liked enough to want to record it then most of the time you know it it was theirs for the taking um there were a few times when I held on to them when I knew that that they were for me but most of the time I just tried to keep an open mind about it and say you know wherever the song lands that’s where it lands and
(06:49) I just hope it lands somewhere it’s been great just getting to talk to everybody today and this morning and finding out just how they might have you know started a friendship with you with whether business wise are personal and and George Hamilton i 4 told me that the first song that he ever cut for his first record on RCA with chat was one of your songs and uh George uh I’d love for you to tell this story you can tell it much more eloquent than I well uh bill and I joined the grand old opera I guess the same
(07:20) year and uh I remember he uh he heard that I’d signed with RCA records with Chad Atkins and and Bill wrote me a wonderful song called to you and yours for me and mine it was a title track of my first Nashville album in 1960 and by the way Bill Anderson I don’t know if everybody in this room realized it he’s the most recorded songwriter in the history of country music wow bar yeah thanks to these people and what goes around comes around because that was 1960 uh when that song was the title of my first nville album and now bare
(08:07) family records of Germany have just released a compilation of all my early recordings from the 50s and 60s guess what the title of the album is to you and yours for me and mine by Bill Anderson thank you Bill thank you George yes sir could we talk into singing that for us George could we get you to sing that one I’d love to great love to all right Wedding Bells Are Ringing on two sides of town tonight one wedding is at 7 once at 9 a pair of old sweethearts will hold their new sweethearts so
(09:11) tight best of luck to you and yours from me and mine to you and yours may happiness Flow Free may you find in him the faith you lost in me and although I don’t love her yet Perhaps I will in time best of luck to you and yours from me and F I’m afraid to say I do for fear I really don’t afraid my conscience might not
(10:23) walk the LI for even though I’ll kiss her lips it’s your lips that I want that’s a difference in you and yours and me and mine to you and yours may happiness Flow Free may you find in him the Faith you lost in me and alth I don’t love her yet Perhaps I will in time best of love to you and yours from me and mine thank you Bill
(11:29) thank you thank you thank you gosh I hadn’t heard that in a long time thank you you know I I hadn’t sung that song in a while and I got it out and listened to the original recording from 1960 and suddenly realized I was whispering a little bit back in those days well I’m glad you you changed directions and left that to me but you made a great record on that song you know we used to could write songs like like that you know he’s getting married and we’re getting married and I’m really in love with you and you know this all
(12:06) you don’t you don’t hear things like that much anymore today I wish we did I wish we did well it’s real life it happens I know that is one fine man right there yes it is since I moved to Nashville all these years ago I don’t think there’s a Kinder gentleman than George Hamilton now the pressure starts all been planning to get even no not oh is that what this is going to be well slightly a roast slightly a toast there’s only one letter that’ll separate this that’s s [Laughter] Whispering when uh when you got when you
(12:56) got to Nashville did you come did you come with Roger Roger Miller did he bring you to town sort of Roger and I met each other in Atlanta in the late 50s he was in the Army stationed at a place called Fort mcferson right outside of Atlanta and I was in school at the University of Georgia and working as a disc jockey on a radio station and every time they would bring a country music show to town Roger and I we were the local GMS the local Spooks that gathered backstage crashed in managed to get in the back door somehow and hung out
(13:26) together and and became very fast friends both of us had had the same ambition and goal in life to come to Nashville write songs and and maybe if we were lucky you know make a few records we kind of made a a PCT between us back then that whichever one of us got here first would help the other one to get here and bless his heart he uh he got here first he got here about a year before I did he got out of the army and came straight up here and when it was my time to to try and come he introduced me to the people that I needed to meet
(13:58) opened a lot of doors for me and and and truly kept his kept his word he was a a wonderful human being and my goodness it was nobody any funnier or anybody any more talented than he was did you get signed first as a writer or as a record deal oh as a writer as a writer first yeah and the the writer that’s the reason I got a record deal I mean nobody made any bones about that Owen Bradley told me he saidou not the greatest singer I ever heard by long shot but he said uh I really like your songs and he said I I think we can we can cut some
(14:31) good records together and have some fun and fortunately we did a little bit of both well there was a there was a lot of that that went on in those days wasn’t there where a lot of songwriters would make records too that you don’t get to see near as much of today that was that was the key that I mean for for many of us and you can look down the list Mel Tillis Tom tall Roger Miller uh the list you know goes on yeah what I liked about some of the older days is that when a great song would come out there’d be like a mad dash for everybody to get a
(15:00) version of it you know and I love to sit at the Opera at night and hear little Jimmy say I had the original version or Jean Shephard say I had the very first version or then somebody covered me and somebody covered me and and was it was it always that way were they were they really was everybody trying to record the there was so much of so many people recording the same song and nobody does that anymore somebody gets a hold on a song and it gets put on hold it’s it’s pretty much locked up you may not know this but Ray Price did not make the
(15:32) original record of City Lights I did not okay the original I made the original record in a little Studio down in Georgia and it came out on a label called TNT records in San Antonio uh fellow Named Dave Rich was recording for RCA at the time and Chad Atkins got a hold of my record Charlie lamb took it to Chad Atkins and said you might want to listen to this song the original record of city lights on a major label was recorded by Dave rich and he actually uh rewrote a little bit of the second verse somebody told me
(16:04) backstage that you said it was kind of wordy yeah is that his part that’s his part yeah I listen old Ray Price singing and he kind of stumbled through that part too I don’t feel so bad let tell let me tell you how I wrote it the the last verse says the world was dark and God made stars to brighten up the night and then the way you and Ry and Dave sang it was uh but God who put those stars above I don’t believe made those lights I didn’t write it that way I wrote it as a question I wrote did the God who put those stars above make those City Lights
(16:38) did he make a place for men to cry where things don’t turn out right are we just supposed to run and hide behind those City Lights I wrote it that way Dave was well Dave was very uh and is today Dave rich as a minister he was very religious he did not like the line did the God who put those stars above he thought I was implying that there were two different gods and not what I meant at all what I meant was how could God make something as beautiful as the stars and something that can be you know as as ugly as a
(17:08) street of City Lights I apologize for not having the TNT version of your record you you and millions of other people don’t have it bill I got a question V so you know my mom and daddy live in Commerce Georgia and you wrote city likes at wjjc didn’t you up on top of the little hotel now what I want to know is since since to this day there are no City Lights in Commerce I mean the tallest building’s like two stories how how did you how did you what inspired you to write that there you know my daddy said later in in
(17:47) life he said I should have known son if you had the imagination to look at those two traffic lights in Commerce and write the bright array of city lights that that you were going to be successful the the thing of it was T I went up on top of that the little hotel it was actually three stories high and I went up on top of the building and what really struck me was it was a beautiful clear night and what really struck me even though there weren’t you know many lights down was the contrast between the stars and
(18:15) the and the uh the City of Lights and actually if I remember right I’m almost positive that I wrote the second verse first the part comparing the Stars to the uh to the city lights but you’re there’s not a lot of lights and col well that’s good to know that’s good to know cuz that those extra three words in there were hard to get in there well blame Dave Rich all right well you did so many different things in your career I mean I loved watching you host TV shows you had a game show and and uh was the better sex
(18:49) back in the was that in the 80s or the 70s uh late 70s yeah I was out in Los Angeles and I used to watch you on that and and I love that that uh back in the day there were more there were more Duets than there ever is today you know occasionally somebody will get together and record a duet for one song for a record or something but guys would make you make duet records not only with Jan but also Mary Lewis here who was one of your early duet partners and how did uh how’d those things come about were those more from from you guys or maybe from
(19:18) the record company record producers or how did that work in the day I don’t know how it happened with with the others with with Jan and I it happened uh because of Television I was doing doing a syndicated TV show over in Charlotte North Carolina Jean Shepard was the original female singer I think we did the Dear John Letter A few times and maybe one or two other Duets and then Jean was you know busy with other career things and and Jan had come over as a guest and the producers like Jan a lot and when Jean made the decision to
(19:48) go they asked Jan to to fill in and Jan and I started singing Duets on television and started getting a you know a real great reaction to it at the same time she moved from Capital Records to Deca where I was so we were on the same label and we went as best as I remember Jan didn’t we just go to Owen and and ask him if if we could make some records together yeah I think so well you know we used to if if we were working the show together or something we’d sit around in the in the you know between shows and and sing Duets or sing
(20:21) harmony or whatever and I think we both went to Owen and said why not you know have two artists here why not you know make a third one I remember Owen’s comment and this was always interesting to me he said what we will do is we’ll put this the duet records will not replace your singles or Jan singles we’ll try to find places and Slot them in between he said we’re we’re not looking for another Wilburn Brothers in other words he didn’t want us just to totally be a d act it was just kind of a little extra something and the same happened with con
(20:53) Conway Loretta with po DOL the way it went on Down the Line yeah it’s just it’s a shame because there’s so many there there could be so many great records made with with different artists that don’t just because of uh label concerns or time constraints of getting records out in the way that it works today and getting back to something else you you mentioned there about the fact that a song would be recorded by so many different people the belief in those days and I’m still not positive that this isn’t still true today the belief
(21:21) was among the record people at least at at our label was the titles sold records I remember Owen saying a web Pierce fan doesn’t think a song’s been sung until web Pierce sings it meaning that that the title if they s if they picked up a web Pierce album and saw a couple of his hits maybe a couple of songs that were new and then they saw three or four titles of other songs that they were familiar oh hey this is web singing uh Detroit city or this is web singing uh you know another great song or something then they would put those titles in and
(21:55) that’s the way songs got recorded so many times because the belief was that the ti sold the product and I’m still not sure that that’s not true I think that’s true you still make a case for people that like a song but couldn’t tell you who it is singing oh yeah you know that still goes on very much well Mary Lou has graciously come come to uh pay tribute to today I thought maybe we’ get her to come up and sing one of your great songs Mary Lou would you be so kind one of my favorites and I sang this before I met
(22:23) Bill and uh me too yeah all right right I think you’ll know this one when you found somebody new I thought I never would forget you for I thought then I never could but time was taken all the pain away up now I’m only hurting once a day once a day a day all day long day long and Once a Night from Dust Till Dawn d till the only time
(23:30) I wish you were go is one today every day all day long I’m so glad I’m not like the girl I knew one time she lost lost the one she loved then slowly lost her mind she said around and cried her life away lucky me I’m only crying once a day once a day today all day long all day long and Once a Night from D Till Dawn Till Dawn the
(24:37) only time I wish you were gone is once a day every day all day long once a day every day all day long great job Mary Lou where did you guys first meet you and Bill well I was singing in Wheeling West Virginia they had a show up there that a lot of the country artists came to and I got to meet them I was there usually every Saturday night and bill came up with his band and did the show and I would stand back back and watch that band and watch him set up them gold microphones I didn’t you know I was young and dumb I said boy I bet I’d
(25:38) sound good if I could sing through them gold microphones but uh that’s where I met him and then he uh he read a review of a show that I had done there uh one particular time and uh read the article and uh kind of was impressed with what the man had said and uh then he called me and told me that there was going to be an opening in his show and would I want an audition so I said this is my big chance I’m going to Nashville and I’m going to sing through them gold microphones but I went to veral Beach Florida with him and uh uh got out and
(26:21) it was just a a huge crowd it was a fair and uh I forgot the words of the song that I was singing Country Roads and I made up the words he was impressed with that I don’t know what they were but uh I thought well I’ve blown my big chance to get to Nashville and uh I was so disappointed in myself in my performance but he was so kind and he said you know I was impressed by the way you covered up that mistake and uh then we worked out the details I was living in Dayton Ohio and then eventually in a couple months
(27:01) moved to Nashville and you know it was I was there seven years it was wonderful I get to hear the songs a lot of times he’d be writing the songs while we were traveling and I get to hear them for anybody else did and uh I heard slipping away before Jean Shephard did so I mean it was a lot of fun it was U uh a great time traveled all over the world got to see the world and uh uh same country music and and you know I I’ve always said a songwriter is a singer’s best friend and we we’ve been friends for a long time over 30 years
(27:39) and I was so impressed with how professional she was not to have had any more professional experience than she had had when she got out there and forgot those words you know a lot of people would have just you know kind of shrunk and crawled in the hole she just started rewriting a song making up words and it right on and probably she and I and maybe one or two others are the only people that knew that that wasn’t the way John Denver wrote it you know but she was such a pro and you you sense that and you sense the potential that
(28:06) somebody has you told about going all over the world you know where that picture right there was taken do you remember that uh cuz you were there London London was that uh London that was in London yes that was the night we did the first first live satellite broadcast from from London to the United States first time and didn’t they carry it on the grand opery on WSM I thought they did yeah uhhuh our live first live satellite yeah so we’re part of really history NE did he ever did he ever make you drive the bus no as a matter of fact
(28:38) he wasn’t on the bus one time and I want really wanted to drive that bus I wanted to tr just feel that experience of the bus and uh the uh one of the band members was driving and I said you know I I really like to drive this bus he said come on Bill ain’t here and so uh now I found I got myself behind that wheel and you know I said uh that’s enough that’s too much equipment for me I can’t handle that Jan drove you drove the bus one one night I surely did and why you were asleep cuz I cuz I was asleep yeah you
(29:19) were just saying oh wait a minute bill bill was asleep and every everybody was asleep uh except the driver he was up there and I was riding shotgun and uh the relief driver Steve was sitting back here or somewhere but anyway he said I said I I bet I could do that I bet I could do that he said you want to try and I said sure So he raised up I slid in Underneath Him and uh so he sat over here in the in the jump seat and I’m tooling down the interstate and all of a sudden I saw in the rearview mirror the door open and Bill Bill Bill Bill stuck
(29:59) his head out there and he he he was okay he looked over there and saw saw Tom the driver then he looked back there and saw Steve sitting back there and he looked up there saw me and he said oh my God we’re going to be killed get out of that seat get out of that okay okay is that when he be is that when he became screaming Bill Anderson yeah yeah he yeah I taught him to holler oh man well now you know back in the day I I know a lot of musicians would get gigs if they could fit in the uniform and drive the bus it oh I I had another one
(30:35) fit in the uniform Drive the Bus and field ground balls in the infield I had a softball team right yeah and you know after the guy proved he could play and fit in the close i’ time see how fast he can run the first base H well I know you’re excited the Atlanta bra Braves are in the playoffs how about that yeah I really am your beloved Braves I know you’re a baseball fan a basketball fan and did you did you come by that honestly were you athletic kid did you play play ball as I don’t know look over there to picture does
(31:02) that look athletic I don’t know you look like a lefty are you playing first base I was playing first base well a left-hander can’t play but a few players you can the only put a left seem like I pitched baseball in high school and then when I got up here and started playing softball I I played first base most I played football for a couple of years and learned a lot of great lessons from it the greatest lesson was that’s a rough game I don’t need to be out there playing that but I’m like you I love sports it’s it’s kind of a hobby of mine
(31:32) and whatever is in season is what I love I just never was like you and I never got good at golf I cannot play golf I I that’s golf is what made me a good guitar player I couldn’t putt when I found out I couldn’t putt very good I started practicing that guitar but I just curious if you know so many of us we we have so many you know different loves and and I know there’s a lot of uh people in in athletics that that might be baseball player basketball player that are are drawn to musical people you know and you find that that grass is greener
(32:07) kind of thing Bo I wish I could have done that and I was that way with sports and I just assumed you were because you we see each other at the Vandy games all the time and well I I think we athletes and entertainers are kind of Drawn Together We have similar Lifestyles we live out of a suitcase we’re travel we’re you know kind of in the spotlight and this kind of thing and and uh for for us the sports is kind of release for them the music is is kind of a release and it does kind of draw you together and like you I have some wonderful
(32:34) friends in athletics and sports and and I consider those among my treasured friends agre I think old John Anderson uh came to see you today where are you see my brother John how you doing see y’all people have wanted to know all these years you know if Lynn and I or Lynn Anderson and I were married and you know if John was our son and Sparky was your dad and he right ly course he is baby y’all got the same hair I’ve been a good boy the perfect package show perfect package show let’s do it that’s great we’re ready this is a
(33:20) family reunion I want to say what a pleasure is being here today bill for you and congratulations uh I have had the opport wonderful opportunity to set right with Bill for a day or two and I hope we can do that again soon we need to finish that one song we started we we got off on one and never got it quite finished we’ll finish it yes sir you’re a great writer and and one of everybody’s favorite singers John I’m I’m proud we share the same last name yes sir likewise and I I I do want to say what what an inspiration you’ve been growing
(33:51) up in Florida of course uh we got just a couple or three of the country music shows down there every week and you’re was one of them and uh of course one of the shows that uh I tuned into every week and watched and listened and uh soon became so in love with country music that I found myself moving up here so uh I’ll always thank you for that you you did was you looked at that and you said if he can make it anybody can yeah no no no I’m afraid that was no thank you no sir but again thanks for the great inspiration and all the wonderful
(34:28) songs and records John godess you know one of my favorite favorite stories about John as he first came to town he worked on the the opery house and building sir put the roof on it that’s right we just recently reopened the opery house after uh the big flood that came here in May and and it wasn’t the roof that was leaking it wasn’t the roof roof didn’t leave but I learned an awful lot sitting up on the roof of that old gr old opera I used to tell those boys working there I said the stage at that time was just a pit a
(35:09) hole with rebar sticking out of it and I always thought boy if anybody ever falls down there it’s that’s going to be tough so I used to point down at that old hole that’s about 30 ft deep from the regular floor level and I’d say one day I’m going to play on that stage oh yeah everybody says that so it took a while but I made it yes I did get Johnny would you be kind enough to lay a little Bill Anderson song on us I sure let me yeah let me go get my guitar all right pal get squared away here he I told him one night on oery
(35:52) Backstage when I was hosting that show I he was telling the story about the roof and I said you know it must be quite a feeling to go from nailing the roof home to standing on the stage and raising the roof with the Applause that he got he can get it done he’s he’s one of the greatest singers ever well he’s a stylist he’s such a great stylist and uh and and and I miss I miss the great stylist I agree with this bus you know you you you you hear him on the radio and you don’t you know exactly who it is and also a lot of the a lot of the old
(36:22) singers were I don’t mean to use the word old but the the great phasers you know great singers are not beat singers you know great singers are are singers that that have a way of of uh of singing and and having a pocket and a Cadence and a a phrasing thing that that makes them special that’s the real art of great singing like Ray Price singing I don’t believe he made those lights exactly exactly I showed you how it was how it would sound if you sang on the beat y’all don’t get too much in that affix to have to do the same thing
(36:58) I wish I this again the record that I learned this song from was our dear friend Porters Porters record and again he was one of the only shows that they pped in down in the swamps in Florida so uh I’ll see if I can do this song Just Justice it’s uh I’ve enjoyed as much of this as I can stand I’ve enjoyed as much of this as I can stand you look Lovelier tonight than I remember I’m so glad I got to see you once
(38:00) again I enjoy just sitting down and reminiscing but I’ve enjoyed as much of this as I can stand so you say you’re happy now you found a new love tell him I think he’s a lucky lucky man no I don’t think I have time to see his picture I’ve enjoyed as much of this as I can stand there’s so much more between us than this table all those years all those dreams all those
(39:07) plans yes you know about me saying I still love you but I’ve enjoyed as much of this as I can stand sh there’s so much more between us than this table all those years all those dreams all those plans guess you know about me saying I still love you but I’ve enjoyed as much of this as I can
(40:13) stand yes I’ve enjoyed as much of this as I can say wow you made me believe how you think of that enjoyed as much this as I can take my goodness that was good thank you John and the band yeah what about that band wow you know there’s there’s three guys in this band that have been band members of mine and traveled and played a lot of these songs before Mike Johnson on the steel and Dirk Johnson on the keyboards and Les singer on the acoustical guitar they’re terrific along with all the
(41:07) rest we’re going to four of us get to go together and do a different kind of tribute to you later won’t be the first time they’ve done it you know those are some of the those are some of the great stories you know that that that go on through the years I I had a story that I’d been told that was told for years uh about you and I finally went to you and I said I’ve heard this story my whole life is it true and you finally set me straight you said well the story is true but it wasn’t me and I just love you know this the
(41:44) stories that that get passed down I just recently read the the uh biography of Buck Owens and U and I it just so many things I I I I just love discovering stuff I be honest there was a some of these songs today I didn’t know you wrote I felt like a fool but at the same time I was going wow it doesn’t surprise me that’s why it’s a great song um and and I just um I think that so often times we um we get caught up in in too much stuff that doesn’t matter you know and and we talk about things that are that are surfacy
(42:21) and I brought that you know story up because it it’s the truth it’s funny I’m not going to tell it cuz it’s a little little on the edge but uh you know I just I think the truth is such a it’s such a it’s such an engaging thing so much more interesting than than that stuff that we often live on the surface with well you go back to what Harland said or harand is credited with being the one that said it you know country music is three chords and the truth and um there’s a lot of Truth in in these old songs I I had my heart broke an
(42:52) awful bad before I moved to Nashville I don’t know if you’ve noticed but in nearly every one of these songs so far they’ve been singing about uh you know this third person that you’re you’re you’re still in love with or something you know so there was an awful lot of Truth in some of those early songs well I I think that did you I’ll ask you this did people come to you and and ask you if songs were autobiographical oh yeah when you be reviewed or be interviewed and things like that because I I get the same thing you know that I write songs
(43:21) and and well is this about you is this about you and sometimes you think well I I can’t even have an imagination everybody’s got to perceive everything as verbatim of your life yeah I I wrote a song one time never got it recorded but I I answered that sometimes I said the truth doesn’t always rhyme and uh so you can’t you can’t just totally write right you know I mean occasionally you can I’ve got a few songs that are right down to the the word exactly the way they happen but you know a lot of them you you have to
(43:51) embellish them in certain places if you want to make them rhyme bill I have a question for you if I can ask how did you take these songs to the artist or did you have a publisher pitching them to the artist or how did you get these songs to all of these different artists in various ways uh Rhonda sometimes I was really pretty hesitant to play my songs for people I nobody likes to be told that their kids are ugly you go in you play a song I don’t like that you know so uh what I would do I I would make demos I had I had my band and at
(44:25) that time my band was on salary so we could go into the studio anytime we wanted to and cut demos and all and I would wait till I had five or six songs together usually go in and do a demo session a Jan sang on a lot of them with me U I love D various various people and you sang them yourself I sang most of them myself and that was the best thing I did because I would sing them myself and then my publisher would take them out and play them for people and they listen they said I can sing it better than that give me that
(44:53) song that’s how I got so many of them cut I’ll ask you this question did you find that you maybe felt sometimes that somebody would say if that’s such a great song why didn’t he cut it oh yeah yeah I heard that yeah I heard that a lot and it it probably at times kept me from getting songs recorded that that has kept me from doing it I’ve never pitched my songs to anybody else cuz I I was always fearful of that response if this is such a great song why don’t you cut it y I got that I Lyn Anderson is here today your
(45:29) hi your sister hi Lynn thanks for being here oh you bet my grandmother hey hey hey look out now we’re getting in bad trouble here sorry we we’ve Ked about that and been Ked about it I’ve called him Grandpa too so he he doesn’t get away with well what do you tell people when they ask you if we’re I tell them we’re kissing cousins Bill oh okay works for me yeah in some states that’s legal oh wait minut that’s a little that is a little to Country isn’t it fun fun fun Lynn where did you you and Bill first cross paths you know what
(46:10) U I came to Nashville in the 60s my mother got a recording contract and she was a great songwriter still is Liz Anderson and I was singing her songs uh Bill Anderson had lots of songs on the radio done by a lady named Connie Smith and we competed a lot it was like it was the blondes it was Dolly Parton Barbara Mandrell me Connie Smith way back then and uh boy I was jealous of those Bill Anderson songs I always loved what Connie Smith and and it was the duel uh the dueling um steel guitar players she had Welden Myrick and I had Lloyd Green
(46:46) and I I caught Lloyd in the office on a Saturday one day practicing the turn around to I’ll come running to you trying to get that W in Myck so anyway it was a challenge to try to keep up with the Joneses or the Anderson in this case well I was I was envious of L those great songs your mom wrote too because boy she wrote she wrote some great ones yeah the only thing I can count on now is my fingers gracious from now on all my friends are going to be strangers well what when I grew up that’s what we listened to in our house
(47:20) we had songwriter albums we had Bill Anderson’s albums you’re the one that’s me I bought one our mama bought one would listen and study the way you wrote you know study just exactly how you crafted your songs because you were an expert we had Willie Nelson’s albums before Willie Nelson was a was a star we’d have Roger Miller’s albums and we’d study that music and how it was crafted how those words and music were put together to make a great country song so you’ve been you’ve been a you’ve been a mentor baby dog I didn’t know that than
(47:54) hey Lyn did did Lloyd play on all your records pretty much much yeah you know it’s um I I I’m one that loves to stick up and root for the musicians um as I always felt like that it was like with your records or with Welden playing on Connie’s or John Huey playing on Conway Twitty’s records those records were defined long before any of us ever opened our mouths and sang a note everybody knew what song that was by what the musicians would would get us started and and and lift us up for a great place to start and I totally agree
(48:29) I feel like actually Lloyd Green should have gotten credit for being producer on my records those early early chart records that I’m talking about because it was he and the musicians in the studio that crafted that Nashville sound it was all the pickers you know they got in there and Woodshed it and one of them would pick a little bit and somebody’ say yeah that sound good with this and it was the it was the musicians that would create those records Sunny garish did an awful lot of that on my records Up Tempo records where he would play a
(48:59) lot of the little little little fast pick and stuff he so good at it well it was as a student of all that I when I started making records and starting to have some success I I ran to John Huey because I I loved the way he played and he’s no longer with us but to me he gave he gave my music a definition and gave it a a sound not unlike Don Rich did with buck and you know and Ralph Mooney did with the records he played on and all those different musicians let me tell an interesting comment ment that I heard few years ago a friend of mine uh
(49:32) was driving her kids somewhere and had the radio on and a little boy at that time was about 12 years old little girl was about eight little girl was in the back seat and they had a had music on the radio and all of a sudden mother realized she didn’t really know what kind of music her kids liked and so she turned the radio down she said turned to her son she said uh what what kind of music do you like he said well I kind I like all kinds of music you know I’m I like rock and roll I was kind of at that age you know and she said the little
(50:03) girl in the back said what kind of music do you like she said well I like country music but I don’t understand why do they all use the same band think about that a minute that’s that’s there’s some wisdom there because where are the dawn riches where are the the Lloyd greens the John Hues the Sunny gishes the people that made that made that and I’m not taking anything away from the players today cuz there’s some wonderful players here but I don’t know that you get that distinct I mean you heard uh you know so many of those
(50:33) records from the intro you knew who was going to be singing true I think a lot of that does not necessarily lie in the fault of the musician but more in the fault of the producer yeah the fault of the the record making process of of making it such that it is it has some some definition some some calling card if you will got a great record producer sitting right there buddy yeah Larry Larry Butler’s back there and Buddy Canon right here I I wanted to say something about Bill and and from a producer’s
(51:10) Viewpoint when we went in the studio to record if you go in the studio with a good song you’re going to cut a good record if you go in the studio with a great song you’re going to cut a great record and so many times through the years I would call Bill and I’d say I really want a killer song for this artist the first time this happened was with one of my favorite artist I’ve ever worked with and that’s Jean Shepard we had had top we had top fives we’ had top tens we had you know top 100s yeah yeah top 100 but come in with a parachute so I I
(51:51) left I left the label I left the label went to another label and I called Jean I said let’s do again she said all right let’s do it I called Bill I said bill this is one of the most important projects to me I’ve ever done I want this lady to have a hit record he said let me think about it two or three days later he walked to my office and play the demo of slipping away and I said there it is there’s the song that’s not what you told me Larry well it’s his day and I’m trying to make it sound but you know I’m G to say this and I’m
(52:34) going shut up why has Bill been around so long why why has he done this incredible thing with his writing every 10 years he’s had a number one record well five decades nobody’s ever done that before nobody no writer and I tell you what I I believe it is the product the things that all of us in this room do are not necessary we’re not selling cars or houses or shoes or food it’s a luxury item for people to want it it has to touch them when they’re in their car going to pick up their kid from school they hear the low volume radio they hear
(53:18) something that cheers them up the next time they hear it they’re singing along with it the next time they they hear it they know the song well those are the kind of songs that man writes the songs that touch people and if you don’t make your audience laugh or cry you’re not making music you’re making noise and I am so proud of Bill I’m proud to be his friend and one of these days I’ll tell him a story about San Diego yeah wait wait a while on that one oh you got it all right all right thank you that’s very nice Larry thank you well
(53:58) Larry don’t you agree that the the the real impetus behind a a a great uh record producer is is to know a great song Oh Vance to me that’s that’s what it’s all about I I think again I was doing an interview one time with Associated Press and they said how how important is the song and I said what I did a while ago if I go in with a good song it’ll be a good record if I go in with a great song it be a great record and another thing we were talking about the value of the musicians I never have walked in the studio as a dictator sure I walk in the
(54:37) studio with a song and Jimmy caps has played on most most of the records I I made I’d play them the song and leave them alone I’d go make a phone call or something and get something cold to drink or whatever Stay Away about what 30 minutes I come back in the room he Jimmy say how about this Billy San what about this I’ve always believed that producing a record is not a dictator I think it’s a Melting Pot of emotions from everybody in the room I remember some of the some of the best advice I I got when I first started
(55:19) to wan to produce some records was I talked to Fred Foster and and he gave me two pieces of advice he said great songs will play play themselves he said the other thing is he said understand your job he said when you look at Great art you don’t notice the frame he said just go in there and frame the picture and that’s well he’s one of the best yeah it’s awesome he was a great song band really Vince I’ve always said that one of the biggest rules of producer needs to learn is when not to yeah amen I think I always think they
(55:57) should call them reducers instead of producers that’s good it’s all about editing je it well I wanted to say something about Bill as a writer too that I’ve noticed no wonder he knows how to write lyrics that touch people because Bill Anderson listens has anyone else ever notice when you’re talking to Bill Anderson he is listening yeah to what say and how you say it and if he and he’ll ask you well do you think or did you feel like he is he’s picking your brain and your heart at the same time but he listens to you when you talk to
(56:43) him I think as much as anybody I’ve ever been around and then I think that’s how he knows what’s going to hit you he has written I think some of the most hard d ding lines to me I used to always think my favorite alltime line was there’s so much more between us than this table I mean what else yeah how else can you say that any better and let somebody know what you mean to them that’s why he does such a great job moderating these family reunions that we’ve had for all these years and it’s The Logical choice you
(57:20) know I have that’s the one thing I’ve noticed about Bill from years ago when we first met him and started being at the Opry and he was the host of Opry backstage um he did his homework he uh you a lot of times you could go on a show and you could be asked to talk about the same things never with Bill never with Bill you’ve always become prepared to find out what’s the new thing what what’s going on or you know pick your brain or your heart he’s not afraid to do that and um and we’ve had some of our most touching moments with questions here ask
(57:57) us that made us have to think and dig in there what a nice thing for you to say thank you well I remember the first time I met you and I was scared to death cuz it had gotten out that I did an impersonation of him and oh really well I’m whispering Gil but uh no I a I had it on my codap phone for a long time and you called me up hello This Whispering Village you know and he found out about it and and I just started to turn up at the Opera and I hadn’t met bill yet and he’s at one end of the hall and I just came in and I
(58:31) said oh crap here he comes and he’s walking towards me and he got some step going you know and he’s walking right towards me I’m going oh I don’t have a hallway where I can cut out of here you know he walks up to me right away and he goes all right Gil he says do me so the pressure was on and I said all right I’m I’m whispering Bill Anderson the root City Light that should be enough and we’ve uh we’ve been fast friends ever since you know I people ask me about that cuz half the people in this room do impersonations of me I take
(59:12) it as a great compliment I really do it you know in the very beginning when they first started calling me Whispering Bill and everything I I thought well they’re making fun of me it kind of hurt my feelings a little bit but I I came to realize later on that furland told me something that really changed my mind he said number one he said if if cuz he was one of the first people to impersonate me on stage and uh and and he said uh he said I can tell it bothers you he said let me just tell you something he said
(59:39) number one if you weren’t different there wouldn’t be anything to imitate and then he said he said if I didn’t like you I wouldn’t give you the publicity so it kind of It kind of changed my my feeling about that and Bill Anderson is such a common name that the little Whispering Bill thing has uh has kind of served me well I didn’t have to change my name to Conway Twitty or anything kept it where it was I had someone tell me once that you know that that that was the reason and it’s interesting that I would find that it
(1:00:07) would fire you up just a little bit and and hurt your feelings and all that CU um I always felt like somebody told me that a doctor he said he he said that’s the reason you’re you’re you’ve done well it’s because you’ve got that fire in you and things like that get to you and things like that you know so it’s been a long time since it bothered me well good good let’s get let’s get back to Lynn Anderson let uh get ly oh I’m sorry Lynn George had something to say pardon me yeah I was just thinking uh Whispering is not the only thing that
(1:00:39) Bill’s especially known for uh you mentioned and songwriting but you mentioned going to England bill and I were together in England on the International Festival of country music and we were flying home on a plane and Tom Paul Glazer was sitting behind us I can see he knows what’s coming and we get back to Nashville and I guess you saw the same paper I picked up to Tennessee and the next morning and somebody had interviewed Tom Paul Glazer and said well you went over to England to the International Festival of country music
(1:01:18) with uh all the oery people and Tom said yeah I said it was great said he said well what was it like really he said well it was great except the trip home and the the newspaper writer said what was wrong with that he said I was sitting behind Bill Anderson and George Hamilton I 4th eight hours on the plane listening to these two guys trying to outs sincere each other that’s true I remember that love that l what what are you going to sing I’m going to sing a Connie Smith song I I am I finally get to do this I did have
(1:02:03) a have a a hit record with a with one of Bill’s songs called I’m all right I’m all right but they asked me to do this and it’s it’s about time I got a chance to sing this song so I said yeah sure let me see if I can do it justice called then and only then hey Mike play it just like Welden no do lordy green do it well pressure no pressure do m there you go yeah good Ste guitar your haste you left and said you’d be returning in my sorrow I forgot to ask you when in my lonely room I sit and count the hours every minute thinking I look up and you
(1:03:02) come walking in for then and only then will I stop crying and this aching breaking heart of mine will man not left feel your arms around me when I stop crying and I live for then and only then play it all that’s left inside my heart is just an echo and a tiny thread of Hope to which I cling what I know oh no maybe someday if I keep
(1:04:10) holding on maybe someday you remember where you left me come back for me again for then and only then we I stop crying and this aching breaking heart of M will live not until I feel your arms around me when I stop crying and I live for then and only and I live for then and only then thank you uhoh that’s when you start making up your own words that’s all you can do in a spot like that and and you’re the pro
(1:05:14) you did it well I I had to had to grab my glasses here but they’re styling in leopard so but I did I say your words right eventually I don’t know I forgot them so did I so we’re thank you good job man I have a a good news bad news story about that I was living in California and writing songs and I had written a song called senses and I got the good news that Connie Smith had recorded my song and the good news that it was going to be released and then the bad news was it was on the backside of then and only then but I’m still happy
(1:05:57) happy all side ride was a pretty good deal every now and then we used to say back in those days and I’ve done it many times if you can’t get the side get the ride I wrote the backside of a of a lot of I had the backside to pick me up on your way down by Charlie Walker and you know things like that it’s so there’s nothing wrong with that no kidding I think Johnny Russell’s Act Naturally was the bside to yesterday is that right yeah Act Naturally that Johnny Russell wrote was was the bside to yesterday maybe one of the biggest selling singles
(1:06:34) in history I’m not sure it was yesterday but yeah wow yeah he used to say if it wasn’t for three ex wives and the IRS he’d be a rich little fat boy I’d love him i’ miss him Miss so Johnny you know last time we got together do one of these I think they they said that 27 or 29 people that came the very first one were no no longer with 30 of them now 30 yeah too many well you got to know them all pal well you know when we first started doing these these reunion shows it was you know our idea was was entertainment you
(1:07:10) know to present entertainment and to have a good time together and then as as time has gone by we realize that you know we we’ve created history in these rooms and it’s been every one of us Jimmy Fortune came up to me a while ago he said the biggest thing that that’s happened in my career since I went solo after The Statler Brothers he said is is being a part of these family reunions and uh it really is this is It’s just wonderful I’m I’m just I’m overwhelmed I think unfortunately a lot of people lose sight of of the fact that there’s so
(1:07:40) many people that still love all the people in this room all these songs all these singers and and just because they’re not on top 40 radio anymore doesn’t mean those people have gone away and don’t want to hear these great songs so uh once again it’s great to be here and and to celebrate so many years of so many great songs thank you when you started writing was there as much co-writing going on as there is today no co-writing was you you were very restricted in those days uh for a couple of reasons when you co-write with
(1:08:14) somebody who’s under contract to write for a different Publishing Company than than you are or you were in those days uh you could not co-write because the Publishers would not agree to split the copyrights which getting kind of technical in the in the industry but but if you wrote for one company and I wrote for another in those days we could not have written together and forbid that you wrote for ASCAP and I wrote for BMI they would not they would not split those somewhere along in the late 70s early AG I think it was around the time
(1:08:45) of the uh of the great Outlaws album that Willie and whan and Tom Paul and the different somewhere right in that era I I think and Bobby bear may know about more about this than me didn’t they just kind of say okay we made the music you guys fight over it and and a lot of those walls came down yeah yeah when they you know we Willie would get a bunch of people together him and whan Chris and cash and all them and I asked will once I said how how do you uh work this out he said we just go in and record and uh and let
(1:09:22) them uh let them work it out well that that’s what eventually tore down the walls and that’s when the co-writing really became invoked now I wrote with Roger Miller because we wrote for the same company I wrote with buddy killan I wrote with Jerry Crutchfield I wrote with people that I could write with there at that company but uh how sad it is to look back now and think gosh I could have written with Hank Cochran I could have written with harlon Howard if we’ have all you know kind of been under the same umbrella but in those days you
(1:09:48) couldn’t do that was there did country music have a history of of guys saying I’ll record your song if I can get a piece rephrase the yeah yeah it did and I’ve got some I’ve got a real good story about that web web Pierce and Mel Tillis have some good stories about that uh faren young came to me early in my in my career and uh he had two songs of mine that he had been played and he said I want to record both of them but he said I can’t record both of them unless I get half of one of them as the writer and I was riding with him
(1:10:31) in his car up to Springfield Missouri to do the Ozark Jubilee television show and he had me right there I couldn’t get out we’re going 70 miles an hour down the road he said okay which song you going to give me half up did he picked the wrong one well thank goodness yeah the two the two songs the uptempo song was called Riverboat which was a number one record the other side that he and I wrote together was called to the wall they both actually made the top 10 but but yeah there was there was a certain amount of that that went on and and at
(1:11:02) that point in time I would have given faen young probably giving him half of both of them just to get them recorded well I my favorite story of of a songwriter uh giving something away was Willie giving away what did he give away yeah couple songs 500 bucks 50 bucks was it50 sold him for $50 night life also his response to that was the Great thing I ever heard somebody said does it bother you that you sold those songs for 50 bucks and he goes I needed the 50 bucks wow you know and just what a gracious way to to respond to
(1:11:38) something instead of being bitter and being you know hold a grudge or or whatever another great story about him was uh he offered to sell Hello Walls to faren Young for $500 after it was already starting to make its way up to charts and Fen would not let he said I’ll give you the $500 but I’m not going to to buy your song and of course Willie ended up making you know thousands of dollars about it and the story is he walked in tootsies one night and kissed faren on the lips and said thank you well Don Wayne is here with us today
(1:12:09) and and I know that you guys have a history together of some different songs I want to hear because it’s been years since Don and I have discussed this between the two of us and I’ve told the story the way I remember it I don’t know if you I’m interested to know if you remember the story the same way that I do about a song called s do I I think I do uh I was a a tool and D maker I earned my living as a tool and D maker in the early 60s and one of the tools that I uh did my work with was a a Lufkin uh micrometer made a micrometer
(1:12:48) that was made by The Lufkin Tool Company in Sago Michigan and um I was was uh desperately wanting to become a professional songwriter so I think that I was greatly inspired by that little my chomer to to write sagol Michigan and uh I wrote the song and I I took it along with some other songs to to Buddy killan at at tree publishing and U I think that was the one out of maybe four or five songs that that he really liked and a few days later later U uh he called he called my wife to call the shop where I was at working and see if I
(1:13:35) could come down to a studio downtown was it at the cumland lodge building was that yeah Sam Philips Studio yeah and uh so my wife got got the message to me and I I think I went strolling in there uh about 3:00 in my uh grease stained khaki pants that I wore in the in in the shop and uh uh Roger Miller was coming out from did did did he cut uh Chugalug on that session or not or was that the later session I don’t remember don’t remember part but um anyway Bill and and his his band were cutting some some demos your songs for for tree I don’t
(1:14:22) know how that came about but but anyway Budd wanted buddy killan wanted me to do Sagal Michigan so we recorded Sagen on Michigan with the I think Welden mck was on the session and some other good musicians and uh when the session was all finished um Bill talked about how much he loved the rhyming scheme and really really liked the song but he he said it just doesn’t doesn’t say enough it’s just not enough of a story so and and I think that that you were interested in maybe recording it if I could come up with
(1:15:04) something good you know so I said let me let me do some rewrite on it and see what I can do and um I got up the next day and went to the shop and all I thought about was getting a song recorded by Bill Anderson finishing up sing on Michigan and um that went on for about two weeks and I must have scrapped $2 or $300 worth of tools still at everything I done because you you can’t think about two things at once and my mind was just really really obsessing with Sagen on Michigan but I couldn’t come up with anything but all at once one day I came
(1:15:50) up with the idea to do the sting to have have the uh to have the young kid right back home and and and tell his love that that he had struck the big biggest strike in Sagen in in Alaska to go up in Alaska and that he had struck the made the biggest stri biggest strike in kond kondik history yeah and uh then I wanted uh I wanted the boy to go back home and and sell the sell the old man the the claim it wasn’t there and uh I had the uh I had the third verse completed and uh then the the fourth verse I had the first line I think was
(1:16:47) her dad met me met the bus or met the train in Sagen Michigan and I couldn’t come up with anything else I had the last line to the fourth verse uh will you sell your father-in-law your clim that claim I know that’s a strange way to write songs but but when you’ve got the story in your mind you can you can write the last line first if you want to and uh so uh a few days later buddy killan calls and says but it’s the deadline is just about out here bills getting ready to cut and I said well I I’ll bring you what I’ve got tomorrow I’ll write it
(1:17:33) out and you get Bill to see if see if he wants to or can finish it up and Bill did he wrote some brilliant brilliant lines in the songs thank you well you know the name sagol Michigan appealed to me too as as it did to you but for a different reason when we lived in columb colia South Carolina during World War II we lived in a a duplex apartment and the people that lived upstairs uh was a soldier and his wife they were stationed at he was stationed at Fort Jackson South Carolina outside of Columbia and they were from sagol
(1:18:11) Michigan uh so I had grown up knowing the name sagol Michigan the way you saw it on the toolbox and and it was ingrained in me because I knew these people who were actually from there so when I saw the title to start with it intrigued me and then and then your story was was so was so good I don’t know you you you may not such a melodic phrase I almost s itself what you may not remember because you said you think that I recorded it I took it to the studio to record it I was going to record I loved it but I had another song about a
(1:18:44) city that we got to first I recorded a song that Connie later cut called oh Cincinnati Ohio Cincinnati Ohio and Sagen was going to be the third song on the session and we didn’t get to it and I I I told buddy and Owen and everybody I said did Owen like the the song Owen loved it yeah and and he said well we’ll hold it for the next session and then before I could get back in to do it uh Lefty had recorded who who pitched s Michigan to Lefty for Buddy killing and I wanted to kill him for years yeah you know I I never could hear that
(1:19:15) match yet buddy killan was the one that did it and even when I heard the record uh I heard the Spanish guitar that Grady Martin was playing in the in the recording and I said oh my God they’ve cut a South of the Border version of a north of the Border song that’ll never work you know I never thought of that but I listen to the song about the r record about two or three times and by then I knew that it just had to be a hit well it was the last number one record that Lefty ever had and it still gets played a lot and uh and I thank you for
(1:19:52) letting me participate in that well I won’t I want to thank you and I want I want to say this uh earnestly say this you know without your input without your wisdom and seeing the song for what it a better song uh that song would probably still be gathering dust at the Publishing House thank you you know along with millions of others and I also had had that record not been a hit uh I would have not been able to have uh probably not become a staff writer for tree publishing and I’m sure if I had not become a staff writer for tree
(1:20:41) publishing there would have never been a a country bumpkin that come out of my heart and became song of the year and later led to my induction into the Hall of Fame so I thank you sincerely and I I compliment you on your great achievements uh Like Larry Butler said uh it’s it’s an absolutely miraculous feat to to have three number ones in in a decade plus all of the other other work that you’ve done thank you well we’ll always be joined at the hip by Sago Michigan and I thank you for that would you sing a little bit s could
(1:21:25) I sing it right here or you sing it wherever you want pal it’d be fun if the audience would do those Echoes wouldn’t it Bill if if they wanted to you know I I recorded I know you did yeah I did you did you record it before Lefty you were bothered with a with a with a present tense that we were singing in weren’t you you made some changes in it I might I made goofy but I I can tell I don’t think I ever told you Don about my experience with Sagal Michigan we were doing a show in Sagal when Lefty was to receive the key to the
(1:22:02) city the mayor was supposed to come down was Bill there too no bill was but I’ve heard the story I think I’ve told Bill the story but not you um and it was an afternoon show and an evening show Sunday afternoon Sunday evening and it was me and Lefty and Hank Snow and somebody when was doing package shows where was afternoon show and Lefty had been drunk on Saturday night and he had one of them nervous hangover since he he hadn’t learned the song by then I oh yeah it was big hit and uh and there was some guy hanging around backstage that
(1:22:40) looked like he did not belong he had a suit on and he’s standing off by himself and everybody was fish eying him and and it turns out that turns out that he was wasn’t the mayor he was the mayor’s goer and the mayor decided he wasn’t coming cuz we had a terrible crowd there was any people there and and Lefty he was very nervous and he walked out did his whole show and right in the middle of his Show when he started to end his show with saging on Michigan here come this spooky guy walking on stage and with and
(1:23:20) instead of the key to the city he had one of those gavels with the seal on it and it looked just like a ball pen Hammer left he saw him coming out of the corner of his eye just some spooky guy with a ball P Hammer left he turned around and got an arm lock on him and threw him off stage out into the audience okay so in between shows left he was over he was all excited we were across the street in a bar Lefty was knocking him down again and he was he was telling us how excited he was say that guy he just got up and
(1:24:04) walked out and left but the key to zag all Michigan didn’t he didn’t he took a while to to learn Sagen we were we were on a show in in St Louis together and Sagen was the number one record in the country and was hotter than a firecracker in St Louis and Lefty went out and did all of his great hits from the f s and everything and he didn’t sing saging on and he walks off the stage and the people are going saging all saging saging so Lefty looked at me he says I don’t know it I said well go back out there so he went back
(1:24:36) out there I went around behind the curtain I came through and I kind of crawled up behind him he had on that Pon colored uh nudie suit that he had and I’m down on the floor behind him I said I was born I was born INS INS I told the whole words that song when it was number one in the country cuz he didn’t know it well Donna if you sing it for us I promise nobody will come after you with a ballpen hand I can’t do it as good as Lefty did but if Jimmy will kick it off all right I was born s all michig
(1:25:23) I grew up in a little baby house and S all B my daddy was a poor hardworking saon all fisherman too many times he came home with two little things I loved a girl in Sag all Michigan s Michigan the daughter of a wealthy wealthy man but he called me son of AAG all fisherman not good enough to claim his daughter’s hand be in Alaska looking around for gold like a crazy fool I’m digging in this
(1:26:29) frozen ground so cold but with each new day I pray I’ll strike it rich and then I’ll go back home and claim my love s all Michigan I wrot my love and saging all Michigan saging all Michigan said honey I’m coming home please wait for me you can tell your old D I’m coming back a richer man I’ve hit the biggest strike in Kik history her dad met me and sag Michigan s Michigan lordy gave me a great big party with champag then he said
(1:27:33) son you’re a wise young ambitious man will you sell your father-in-law your CL like claim now he’s up there in Alaska digging in the cold cold ground the greedy fool is looking for the gold I never found well it’s serves him right and no one here is missing him least of all the newly WS of s all Michigan he’s ashamed to show his face and sag all Michigan well I I apologize for butchering it up
(1:28:38) that that bad but we got through it anyway thank you’all a bunch great band to work thank you