Porter Wagoner - Committed to Parkview

Porter Wagoner was one of the many country stars - Johnny Cash was another - that didn't get much attention from the Nashville establishment later in life. This is surprising, since Wagoner had a TV show in the 1960s and 1970s. I expect they'd heard of him.

Even though he kept releasing albums almost every year, few attracted much attention after the 1970s. This is too bad, because he was a great influence on country music. Anyone who could get Dolly Parton to write I Will Always Love You is a pretty good influence. Just sayin'.

This is Porter singing Johnny Cash's Committed to Parkview, filmed 4 months before Wagoner's death from Lung Cancer in October 2007. Wagoner sports his trademark flashy jacket, although he is clearly not in good health.



Committed to Parkview (songwriter: Johnny Cash)

There's a man across the hall who sits staring at the floor
He thinks he's Hank Williams hear him singing through the door
There's a girl in 203, who stops by to visit me
And she talks about her songs and the star that she should be
There are lots of special people staying in or passing through
And for one thing or another, committed to Parkview

There's a girl in 307, coming down on thorazine
And a superstar's ex-drummer trying to kick Benzedrine
There's a boy just below me who's the son of some well-known
He was brought in by his mother 'cause his daddy's always gone
There's a bum from down on Broadway and a few quite well to do's
Who have withdrawn from the rat race and committed to Parkview

There's a girl who cries above me, loud enough to wake the dead
They don't know what she has taken that has scrambled up her head
There's a writer and a singer who has tried and tried and tried
They just brought him in this morning an attempted suicide
There are those that never made it, those that did but now are through
Some came of their own good chosing,some committed to Parkview

They wake us about 6:30, just before the morning meal
While they're taking blood pressure, they ask us how we feel
And i always say fantastic there ain't nothing wrong with me
And then they give me my injection and i go right back to sleep
The days are kind of foggy and the nights are dreamy too
But they're taking good care of me, committed to Parkview