Ten Favorite Night and Day (Day) Songs: I'm Happy Every Day I Live (#4)

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Night follows day, and vice versa. I'm counting down my favorite songs with "night" and "day" in the titles, split into two separate countdowns. Here's the next "day" song on my list. #4: I'm Happy Every Day I Live - Rose Maddox My favorite female country singer. And you've probably never heard of her. Too bad. Here's what someone you have heard of -- Johnny Cash -- said about her: She was probably the most fascinating, exciting performer that I'd ever seen in my life. She was a total performer. She captivated the audience. The songs that she sang were classics. I thought there was, and I still think that there'll never be a woman who can outperform Rose Maddox. She's an American classic. Who am I to argue with the Man in Black? And, according to her biography, had it not been for some moral scruples on Rose's part, she may have been Mrs. Johnny Cash instead of June Carter. You see, Johnny didn't "walk the line" the way he said he did in that song. While he was still married to Vivian (his first wife) Rose was on tour with him. He asked her for a date, and she turned him down, knowing he was married. Okay, enough of the gossip column. Let's talk about this great, fun, joyous, upbeat song. This song will lift your spirits. (And, in contrast, the B-side, "I Lost Today," will make you bawl your eyes out.) It's a song celebrating life, no matter how meager ("my kids and I live all alone, we eat the meat and gnaw the bone"). There are a lot of people -- myself included -- who think Rose and her brothers are long, long overdue for induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. They were the first "superstar" act from Bakersfield, and several artists (including Buck Owens, with whom Rose did some duets, and Merle Haggard, said there probably wouldn't have been a Bakersfield music scene without the Maddox Brothers and Rose); and, while not big chart successes, they were highly influential in terms of performance, costumes, and musical arrangements. Don Maddox, age 94, isn't getting any younger, and it'd be nice for the sole surviving member of this pioneering country music family to see the induction. Thanks to the music of Rose, both as a solo artist and with her brothers, a lot of people have been made happier every day they live, too. I'm Happy Every Day I Live Written by Alta Troxel and Rose Maddox Recorded by Rose Maddox Released as a single, 1959 I hope I live a thousand years!