Play the Jukebox: Misery Loves Company

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Well, I think I have everything ready for the big pain-in-the-butt procedure next week (colonoscopy). I bought six 12-packs of pineapple-mango tea (they were on sale, buy three get three free), so lunch and dinner are ready. Meanwhile, here’s a song that might make some of you have gastric pain, depending on your opinion of country music. Misery Loves Company - Porter Wagoner First and last. This was the first time Jerry Reed ever saw the #1 position on the country charts. Granted, it was as a songwriter, not a singer (he didn’t have his own personal performing #1 until 1971 with “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot”), but there he was! In contrast, although Porter Wagoner’s career was really just warming up, this was his last #1 single as a solo singer. He topped the charts with duets with Dolly, but his chart-topping list is relegated to two songs: this one, and 1955’s “A Satisfied Mind.” And when you consider that he did the biggest hit version of the song “Green, Green Grass of Home” in 1966, that’s pretty mind-blowing. (That song peaked at #3 on the charts.) Well, charts weren’t the only tale to tell when it came to popularity, especially when it came to country music before corporate dictatorship took over. People like the Willis Brothers were quite successful regionally, for instance. In Wagoner’s case, he not only had hits, he also had a widely popular syndicated TV show, which had a couple of popular girl singers: Norma Jean (she had a few big hits in the 60s), and Dolly somebody…. This is so country, and not just in instrumentation. Listen to those lyrics of a guy in a bar, mourning the dissolution of a romance the way country music does best: drinking. Misery Loves Company Written by Jerry Reed Hubbard Recorded by Porter Wagoner From A Slice of Life, 1961 JUKEBOX LYRICS: Tell funny stories, turn the jukebox up loud