Ten Favorite John D. Loudermilk Compositions: The Great Snowman (#3)

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Occasionally I have “blip on the radar” people featured in my countdown, and today’s song written by the great John D. Loudermilk is one of those. Have patience and the #2 song on this list will, in the words of Michael Corleone, answer all your questions and solve all your problems. This, however, is not that song. #3: The Great Snowman Back in the late 50s “teen tragedy” songs became the rage. (Steve Goodman referred to them as “dead girl songs,” and there’s a medley of them on No Big Surprise that’s worth the cost of the CD just for that!) Bob Luman, a Texas rockabilly singer, spoofed all of that with his song “Let’s Think About Livin’,” which referenced a lot of the songs of the time in which someone died (“we lost ol’ Marty Robbins in El Paso”....”the fella with the switchblade knife” [“Mack the Knife”]). That became his biggest hit, popular in both country and pop. From there, Luman’s career was pretty much relegated to country music. This Loudermilk tune was released as a single in 1961, but didn’t make either chart. I guess it was too rockabilly for country and too country for pop. I remember my parents singing the song in the car, though, so apparently it did have a bit of popularity. (Not that much, though: according to the cover songs site Second Hand Songs this has only been covered half a dozen times.) Bob Luman was only 41 when he died of pneumonia in 1978. He was a good singer who deserves to be remembered more in the classic country circles. So does this song. The Great Snowman Written by John D. Loudermilk Recorded by Bob Luman Released as a single, 1961 I remember the day: