The Poor Top Ten: Life of a Poor Boy (#8)

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Hmm, looks like half of these are country music. Sorry, Linda. But, as I said earlier, what says “poor” better than a country song? So cry in your beer as we continue to celebrate my favorite songs with “poor” in the title. Here’s today’s tune. #8: Life of a Poor Boy - Stonewall Jackson We just lost Stonewall in December, and it breaks my heart that he died without being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He’ll be there in three years, once he’s eligible (the CM HofF has a “sympathy rule” that prevents someone being on the ballot for three years after they die), but what good does that do him now. Jackson didn’t make it because he stood up for himself. He sued (I’d say successfully, given that an out-of-court settlement was reached) the Grand Ole Opry, charging them with age discrimination because he wasn’t getting spots (in favor or people who weren’t even members). Yes, they play politics hot and nasty in Nashville, just like anywhere else in the entertainment industry. Enough of that. Here’s a happy little single from Jackson that came out just before his huge crossover hit “Waterloo.” It celebrates the so-called “poor,” who, as the lyrics point out, are much richer where it counts (“give a poor boy a pretty little girl and watch that poor boy go”). It rightfully points out that the workers are “the backbone of the nation, the pappy of the land,” and that without the laborers “the rich would all be poor boys in faded old blue jeans.” Life of a Poor Boy Written by E.C. McCarty Recorded by Stonewall Jackson Released as a single, 1959 There wouldn’t be no ‘taters: