His suits were famously garish (the one shown in the video here is probably the most conservative in his wardrobe). He had not one, but two convertibles lined with silver dollars. He had a $30,000 guitar shaped swimming pool put in his yard in Nashville (this was $30,000 in the 1950s, perhaps a quarter million dollars in today's currency) that was so famous that 3,000 people a week paid cash money to see it.
And he was a honkey tonk country singer in the 1940s - yes, he was familiar with the bottle. But the hard living and flashy lifestyle didn't do him in. He ended his years like a lot of people, in his golden years. And still living n his house.
His version of this Jimmie Rodgers song spent 37 weeks on the charts in 1955, 21 of them at #1.
He's In The Jailhouse Now (probably songwriter: Jimmie Rodgers):
I had a friend named The Ramblin' Bob
He used to steal, gamble, and rob
He thought he was the smartest guy around
Well I found out last Monday
That Bob got locked up Sunday
They've got him in the jailhouse way downtownHe's in the jailhouse now
He's in the jailhouse now
Well I told him once or twice
To stop playin' cards and a-shootin' dice
He's in the jailhouse nowAh di o-dalee eehee dee-o ti
Ah di o-dalee ee oh dee-o ti
Yodelayee-hee
Yodelayee-hee
Yodelay-eeeeBob like to play his poker
Pinochle, whist and euchre
But shootin' dice
Was his favorite game
But he got throwed in jail
With nobody to go his bail
The judge done said that he refused the fineHe's in the jailhouse now
He's in the jailhouse now
Well I told him once or twice
To stop playin' cards and a-shootin' dice
He's in the jailhouse now
That's a great song.
ReplyDeleteIt might be blasphemy, though, but my favorite version of that song is the one from Johnny Cash.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbfN8ogTfgw