Chicken Soup for the Soul: Country Music: The Inspirational Stories behind 101 of Your Favorite Country Songs

by Jack Canfield

  A big part of it is political will. Everybody is afraid now that somebody is going to point a finger at them and call them names. It takes guts and conviction to stand up and say, “This is wrong, and deep down in your heart, you know this is wrong.” You can hide behind political correctness.

  I wrote a column about this a while back. I said you can call a rattlesnake a green snake if you want to. But it’s not going to change the fact that he is a rattlesnake and he will still bite you. Some problems in this country need more attention and more clarification than others do. They are not all the same. Can you imagine if 80% of the electorate would actually turn out for an election? It would scare Capitol Hill to death. All they do is aim their advertising at whatever group they know is going to the polls. But if everybody went, if people said, “We’ve got a law and order candidate here, and we’re going to vote for him. We don’t like you and we don’t like what’s happened under your tenure. So we’re going to kick you out of office,” then things might change.

  Our political system was never designed for career politicians. It was designed for somebody to go and serve a term or maybe two terms and then go back home and go to work and let the druggist or the farmer or the plumber go up. Then we can get somebody fresh off the street who knows what’s going on now, not what was going on thirty years ago when they were elected. Then they wouldn’t get into these power groups and do all these back-door deals and sell out the people. That’s not what it was about. The system is inherently corrupt. They are power hungry; they’ve power drunk. So we need term limits. The President only serves four or eight years and it’s the most important office in the world. Why isn’t that good enough for everybody else? Serve eight years and then get the heck out of there and let someone go back there who knows what is going on in the streets of Nashville, Tennessee or Miami. The people up there literally do not know what’s going on. They are insulated. Let somebody who’s been dealing with these problems go up there and deal with it.

  It’s not the FBI, and it’s not the police that are the problem; it’s the will of the politicians. They don’t have the will. All they want is power and whatever group they have to appeal to in order to get the power, they’ll appeal to them.

  So that’s what I was thinking about when I wrote that song. People just need to go out and vote to change things. If people don’t vote, then they can’t complain about what’s happening.

  Simple Man

  I ain’t nothing but a simple man

  Call me a redneck, I reckon that I am

  But there’s things goin’ on that make me mad down to the core

  I have to work like a dog to make ends meet

  There’s crooked politicians and crime in the street

  And I’m madder than hell and I ain’t gonna take it no more

  We tell our kids to just say no

  And then some panty waist judge lets a drug dealer go

  And he slaps him on the wrist and he turns him back out on the town

  Well, if I had my way with people sellin’ dope

  I’d take a big tall tree and a short piece of rope

  And hang ’em up high and let ’em swing till the sun goes down

  CHORUS:

  Well you know what’s wrong with the world today

  People done gone and put their Bibles away

  They’re livin’ by law of the jungle not the law of the land

  Well the good book says it, so I know it’s the truth

  An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth

  You’d better watch where you go

  And remember where you’ve been

  That’s the way I see it I’m a simple man

  Now, I’m the kind of man that wouldn’t harm a mouse

  But if I catch somebody breakin’ in my house

  I’ve got a twelve gauge shotgun waitin’ on the other side

  So don’t go pushin’ me against my will

  I don’t want to have to fight you but I dang sure will

  So if you don’t want trouble then you’d better just pass me on by

  As far as I’m concerned there ain’t no excuse

  For the raping and the killing and the child abuse

  And I’ve got a way to put an end to all that mess

  You just take those rascals out in the swamp

  Put them on their knees and tie ’em to a stump

  And let the rattlers and the bugs and the alligators do the rest

  CHORUS

  Smoky Mountain Rain

  Story by Dennis Morgan

  Song written by Dennis Morgan and Kye Fleming

  Recorded by Ronnie Milsap

  I’ve written a lot of songs with Kye Fleming, and I remember we were working on two different songs at the same time. One was called “Appalachian Rain,” and it just wasn’t happening; it wasn’t gelling. The other song was called “I Wonder What She’s Doing Now.” We were working on both of those on and off.

  We heard that Ronnie Milsap was looking for material. He’s from East Tennessee. And Tom Collins was involved with this, too. He was producing Ronnie at the time, and he is also from East Tennessee, so the Smoky Mountains came into the conversation, and “Appalachian Rain” turned into “Smoky Mountain Rain.”

  I’ve done some hitchhiking in my life, all over the country, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually hitchhiked from L.A. back to Knoxville. I just remember having a lot of trouble blending the two song ideas, but once the title of “Smoky Mountain Rain” came, the rest of it came fairly quickly.

  Kye and I would sit and write every day for hours and hours, just bouncing around ideas. We had three different offices on Music Row where we used to write, and we wrote this in the Pi-Gem Publishing music office. We were both very serious about writing, and our combined imaginations played a big part in this song. I’ve never dated anyone from Knoxville, but I think you’re always subconsciously thinking about lost love from your past when you are writing songs.

  I recently went back and listened to “I Wonder What She’s Doing Now” and I realized there was a reason that song wasn’t coming together. It was just a bad song.

  Tom Collins eventually took “Smoky Mountain Rain” to Ronnie and he loved it. It ended up being a #1 for him. We recently found out that it has been named one of the official state songs of Tennessee. We were very honored when we heard that. That puts it right up there with “Tennessee Waltz” and “Rocky Top,” which have also been Tennessee state songs. To be in that kind of company is quite humbling.

  When you write every day, you don’t ever really throw anything away. You just put it in the back burner of your mind. When you’ve written enough and learned enough, it’s just like combustion. Then when it comes time for the idea, you’re ready for it and you pull it out, and that’s what happened with this song.

  Smoky Mountain Rain

  I thumbed my way from LA back to Knoxville

  I found out those bright lights ain’t where I belong

  From a phone booth in the rain I called to tell her

  I’ve had a change of dreams I’m comin’ home

  But tears filled my eyes when I found out she was gone

  CHORUS:

  Smoky Mountain rain keeps on fallin’

  I keep on callin’ her name

  Smoky Mountain rain I’ll keep on searchin’

  I can’t go on hurtin’ this way

  She’s somewhere in the Smoky Mountain rain

  I waved a diesel down outside a café

  He said that he was goin’ as far as Gatlinburg

  I climbed up in the cab all wet and cold and lonely

  I wiped my eyes and told him about her

  I’ve got to find her

  Can you make these big wheels burn?

  CHORUS

  BRIDGE:

  I can’t blame her for lettin’ go

  A woman needs someone warm to hold

  I feel the rain runnin’ down my face

  I’ll find her no mat
ter what it takes!

  CHORUS

  Somebody’s Prayin’

  Story by Ricky Skaggs

  Song written by John G. Elliott

  Recorded by Ricky Skaggs

  This was written by a dear friend of mine, John Elliott. He used to lead worship at Belmont Church in Nashville, right about the time that Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant were also going there and active in that church. John left Nashville in the early 1990s to move to Decatur, Texas near Fort Worth. He’s raising his family there now. They are a wonderful family, and he writes a great devotional on his website.

  John recorded “Somebody’s Prayin’” on one of his albums. I either heard it on his record or I heard John sing it somewhere and was really moved by it. It felt like something I’d like to record. So when I produced my album My Father’s Son with Mac McAnally, which was my last album for Sony, I knew that would be a really strong song for that album.

  We’ve heard of incredible stories from people about how the song gave them hope when they thought they didn’t have much hope left. I was playing at Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee about ten years ago. There was a lady in the audience who had sent a letter to us. It said, “I’ve got an amazing story to tell you. You might not believe this, but it’s all true and I have documented evidence to prove it.” I started reading the rest of the letter and I found out that this lady was basically sent home to die. She had cancer and the doctors told her there wasn’t much hope. She heard the song and wanted to get the music and listen to it over and over again. She listened to the song day and night with headphones on, over and over and over.

  After a period of time, she felt she had to go back to the doctors and be checked again. When she did that, she had no trace of cancer whatsoever. She was from East Tennessee and was there at Dollywood with her grandchildren and said she wanted to meet me. When she came backstage, she brought a copy of the doctor’s report. It said she had absolutely no cancer, and she showed it to me. She said, “This song has healing in it.” She said, “The words in the song gave me hope. I just prayed and asked God to heal me through this and He did.” That just shows how powerful a song can be.

  Somebody’s Prayin’

  Somebody’s prayin’, I can feel it

  Somebody’s prayin’ for me

  Mighty hands are guiding me

  To protect me from what I can’t see

  Lord I believe, Lord I believe

  That somebody’s prayin’, for me.

  Angels are watchin’, I can feel them

  Angels are watchin’ over me

  There’s many miles ahead ’til I get home

  Still I’m safely kept before your throne

  ’Cause Lord I believe, Lord I believe

  Your angels are watchin’ over me.

  Well, I’ve walked through barren wilderness

  When my pillow was a stone

  And I’ve been through the darkest caverns

  Where no light has ever shown.

  Still I went on ’cause there was someone

  Who was down on their knees

  And Lord. I thank you for those people

  Prayin’ all this time for me.

  Somebody’s prayin’, I can feel it

  Somebody’s prayin’ for me

  Mighty hands are guiding me

  To protect me from what I can’t see

  Lord I believe, Lord I believe

  Somebody’s prayin’ for me...

  Something in Red

  Story by Angela Kaset

  Song written by Angela Kaset

  Recorded by Lorrie Morgan

  I’d been writing in town professionally as a staff writer for one company or another for about fifteen years. I had gotten a few album cuts but had not had a hit. I was signed with a publishing company and when my contract came up for renewal, they chose not to renew it. I guess it was the first time that I really got canned from a writing gig.

  That hit me pretty hard. It happened in the fall, so I went through a pretty tough winter both emotionally and financially. In the spring, I went looking for a new publishing deal. Of course, as luck would have it, one of our cars died, too. One day I was driving my husband to work. He was working out of town, so I was driving him to a halfway point where he was going to get a ride with someone who was going to take him the rest of the way. It was just another one of those gray Nashville days and if I had had any money, I probably would have gone and done a little shopping — a little retail therapy — but I was broke so I couldn’t even do that!

  And I was driving down I-40 in Nashville and I remember looking up and seeing some of the first hints of green. It was just some ivy or weeds or something. It fed my soul. I thought, “Wow, there really is going to be a spring. There is going to be a break to all this darkness and gloom.” And then I remember thinking, “It’s so good to see something in green.”

  And right away, my brain went, “Incoming! Song idea!” So I thought I might write a song called “Something in Green” that would be about jealousy, where a woman is out shopping and the clerk asks if she can help her and she says, “I’m looking for something in green.” I really liked that idea but then I realized that I couldn’t write a whole song just about jealousy. I needed another place to start. So I took the story back a few notches in my mind. I thought, “If this woman were in the store looking for something else, what other colors might she choose?” I thought colors would be a fun thing to work with. There are so many colors that have emotional significance, and they were also good rhyming words, too. I didn’t have to deal with orange or chartreuse or burgundy!

  Red seemed to be the color of attraction and the color that calls attention to itself. So when I said the words, “I’m looking for something in red,” I knew that would be the starting point. So instead of going shopping, I spent the rest of the day writing that song and I finished it by the time my kids got home from school. It was one of those rare occasions when you get an idea when you’re by yourself, and you don’t have a co-writer to help you along with it, but you’re still able to finish it in one day. It was a good day.

  The song was really quite transformative. To quote another famous song, “You can’t always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need.” That time, I got what I needed to help me get through the day. And I also was able to get a new publishing deal. When my new publisher heard this song, they were ready to ink a deal.

  I pitched it to Lorrie Morgan and she actually passed on it three times. Her producer at the time, Richard Landis, told her to listen to it again. She said, “I did and I already passed on it.” Then he told her to go back and listen to it all the way through very carefully again, and she did. When she did, she called him up right away and said, “I’m so glad nobody else decided to cut this,” and she took it into the studio and cut it. It went to #7, but stayed there a really long time. That can be just as good as a #1 hit.

  The most interesting thing about this song is that I have had a number of men come up to me and say that it really moved them. I was surprised at that because I thought it was just going to appeal to women.

  When I play it live, it really seems to bring out a lot of tears. After it had been a hit, the label forwarded a letter to me from a woman. She said, “I’m surprised the writer of this song didn’t know the best way to end it. I’m sending her another way to end it, and if the song ever gets recorded again, I’d be happy to come in as a co-writer on it.” She had written the song with the woman looking for something in black and the guy dying! I had actually considered that at one point but it just seemed so dark that it would take away from the rest of the verses. And it also seemed to me that to kill the guy off right after they had a baby together would be pretty mean, too.

  Something in Red

  I’m looking for something in red

  Something that’s shocking to turn someone’s head

  Strapless and sequined and cut down to there

  Stockings and garters
and lace underwear

  The guaranteed number to knock the man dead

  I’m looking for something in red

  I’m looking for something in green

  Something to out-do an ex-high school queen

  Jealousy comes in the color of jade

  Do you have some pumps and a purse in this shade?

  And a perfume that whispers “Please come back to me”

  I’m looking for something in green

  I’m looking for something in white

  Something that shimmers in soft candlelight

  Everyone calls us the most perfect pair

  Should I wear a veil or a rose in my hair?

  Well, the train must be long and the waist must be tight

  I’m looking for something in white

  I’m looking for something in blue

  Something real tiny, the baby’s brand new

  He has his father’s nose and his chin

  We once were hot lovers now we’re more like friends

  Don’t tell me that’s just what old married folk do

  I’m looking for something in blue

  I’m looking for something in red

  Like the one that I wore when I first turned his head

  Strapless and sequined and cut down to there

  Just a size larger that I wore last year

  The guaranteed number to knock a man dead

  I’m looking for something

  I’ve gotta have something

  I’m looking for something in red

  Southern Voice

  Story by Bob DiPiero

  Song written by Bob DiPiero and Tom Douglas

  Recorded by Tim McGraw

  “Southern Voice” was actually a concept that my co-writer, Tom Douglas, had. We had a writing session at his house out by the Harpeth River, and he said, “I got this idea and it’s called ‘Southern Voice.’” I don’t know where exactly it caught fire. We were doing the verses and we wrote, “Hank Williams sang it, Number 3 drove it,” and all of a sudden we just started doing these shout-outs like “Chuck Berry twanged it, Will Faulkner wrote it.”