Harley Ford - Drunken Driver (2:54)
Just in time to serve as a cautionary tale for New Year's Eve, here is an MP3 that is specially tailored to scare the shit out of you and persuade you not to reach for the car keys after hitting the bottle. Unless, of course, you're not particularly disturbed by the possibility that, while driving around drunk, you'll run over and kill two of your own children, which is exactly what happens to the narrator of this gruesome tune.
The best known version of this song is probably the one cut by Ferlin Husky for Capitol Records in 1954. I'm not really sure if the Harley Ford version featured here came before or after Ferlin's recording. A third version also exists. Ricky Skaggs recorded the song and released it on an album that came out in 1997.
There is another great version of that song by Granpa Joe. It was re-released on the compi "God (b)less America" somewhen in the 1990s.
Posted by: Dieter | December 31, 2008 at 01:02 PM
Dieter - the "Granpa Joe" record is actually Ferlin Husky's 1954 version. I think the only place it was released under the Granpa Joe name might've been on that particular compilation.
Posted by: Listener Greg G. | December 31, 2008 at 01:17 PM
It was just about a year ago that you guys posted Trooper Jim Foster's "4 on the Floor and a 5th under the seat" on the blog. I recently scored his LP-- side one is all spoken word "cowboy" poetry with crack Nashville session musicians providing rhythms, and produced by Scotty Moore-- real killer stuff. (Side two is all his ballads, which are hit or miss.) It also include three 30-second promo spots for when he was running for state legislature.
Posted by: illlich | January 02, 2009 at 02:40 PM
Illich - I just spun that LP yesterday.....for the first time in forever. I "lost" it then came across it again. Those "Trooper Jim for State Legislature" radio spots are pretty interesting. And you're right about Side 2 being hit or miss.
Posted by: Listener Greg G. | January 02, 2009 at 03:41 PM
Funny how a few tracks were given false names on the God Less America LP, I guess it's to hide the bigger known artists identity due to the bootleg nature of the Album, the other example being Sanford Clark's Honky Tonk Fuzz Classic "It's Nothing To Me"
Posted by: GMINUSMARK | January 05, 2009 at 12:26 AM