70-Year-Old Songs: This Ole House

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To celebrate my birthday this month, I’m celebrating songs that are also celebrating “milestone” birthdays this year: 40, 50, 60, and now 70 year old songs. I went back to the 1950s for the first time because of the advent of rock and roll starting then (as you’ve seen with the Elvis song yesterday). But my primary interest is country music, and there was lots of good country music then. So, with a hearty “Linda? NO!!!!!!!!!” to prevent a migraine, here’s today’s song. This Ole House - Stuart Hamblen A lot of people (including Linda) might know the Rosemary Clooney version of this song, which actually competed against Stuart Hamblen’s original on the pop charts! Stuart Hamblen had an interesting life. He gave his heart to Christ at a Billy Graham crusade in 1949 after spending years living in rebellion (I say that because Hamblen’s father was a Methodist minister). He wrote the classic hymn “It Is No Secret.” While hunting, he came across a dilapidated shack with a dog on the porch. The owner of the shack (and dog) had died inside. That inspired him to write this upbeat song about a man who knows he’s “getting ready to meet the saints.” Between the money he made off this song and “It Is No Secret,” Hamblen was able to quit the music business. Picky Wedia says he bought Errol Flynn’s mansion with some of his royalties. Hamblen “met the saints” in 1989, at the age of 80. He left a number of great songs, including this country and pop classic. This Ole House Written by Stuart Hamblen Recorded by Stuart Hamblen From It Is No Secret, 1954 Just like me it’s tuckered out: