[CH] Music (Credit where Credit's Due)
Eggert, Len (leggert@sysplan.com)
Tue, 5 Jan 1999 12:05:45 -0500
For the record, the late Steve Goodman penned the entire song, "You Never Even Called Me by my Name," not just the last verse. David Allen Coe recorded the song much later. According to the tongue-in-cheek commentary Coe provides in his version, Goodman wrote the extra verse only after Coe informed him that it wasn't the perfect country and western song because it didn't say anything about "momma, trains, trucks, prison, or gettin' drunk."
Three other "musts" for any list of definitive honky-tonk songs are the Seldom Scene's version of "Through the Bottom of the Glass," with backup vocals by Linda Ronstadt, in her kickass prime; James Taylor's song about the bartender, in which he is joined by the incredible George Jones, who knows a thing or two about bars; and, of course, Jimmy Buffett's classic "Why Don't We Get Drunk (and Screw)."
Len Eggert
leggert@sysplan.com