请输入您要查询的百科知识:

 

词条 The Wild Side of Life
释义

  1. Song history

     Title's influence  Answer song 

  2. Cover versions

  3. References

{{Infobox song
| name = The Wild Side of Life
| cover =
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Hank Thompson and His Brazos Valley Boys
| album =
| released = March 1952 (U.S.)
| format = 7", 78 rpm
| recorded = December 11, 1951
Los Angeles, California
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = Country
| length = 2:44
| label = Capitol F1942
| writer = Arlie Carter and William Warren
| producer = Ken Nelson
| prev_title = Soft Lips
| prev_title2 = The Grass Looks Greener Over Yonder
| prev_year = 1949
| next_title = Waiting in the Lobby of Your Heart
| next_year = 1952
}}{{Infobox song
| name = Wild Side of Life
| cover =
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Status Quo
| album =
| B-side = All Through the Night
| released = {{start date|1976|12|3|df=yes}}
| format = 7"
| recorded =
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = Rock
| length = 3:18
| label = Vertigo
| writer = Arlie Carter
William Warren
| producer = Roger Glover
| prev_title = Mystery Song
| prev_year = 1976
| next_title = Rockin' All Over the World
| next_year = 1977
}}"The Wild Side of Life" is a song made famous by country music singer Hank Thompson. Originally released in 1952, the song became one of the most popular recordings in the genre's history, spending 15 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard country charts,[1] solidified Thompson's status as a country music superstar and inspired the answer song, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" by Kitty Wells.[2]

Song history

"The Wild Side of Life" carries one of the most distinctive melodies of early country music, used in "Thrills That I Can't Forget" recorded by Welby Toomey and Edgar Boaz in 1925, "I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes" by the Carter Family in 1929, and "Great Speckled Bird" by Roy Acuff[2] in 1936. That, along with the song's story of a woman shedding her role as domestic provider to follow the night life, combined to become one of the most famous country songs of the early 1950s.

According to country music historian Bill Malone, "Wild Side" co-writer William Warren was inspired to create the song after his experiences with a young woman he met when he was younger—a honky tonk angel, as it were—who "found the glitter of the gay night life too hard to resist."[2] Fellow historian Paul Kingsbury wrote that the song appealed to people who "thought the world was going to hell and that faithless women deserved a good deal of the blame."[3]

Jimmy Heap and His Melody Masters first recorded "Wild Side" in 1951, but never had a hit with the song. Thompson did, and his version spent three and one-half months atop the Billboard country chart in the spring and early summer of 1952.

"Wild Side" was Thompson's first charting single since 1949's two-sided hit "Soft Lips"/"The Grass is Greener Over Yonder."[1] Thompson had hooked up with producer Ken Nelson in the interim, and one of their first songs together was "Wild Side."[4]

Title's influence

The song's title inspired[5] the title of Nelson Algren's 1956 novel A Walk on the Wild Side (itself an influence on Lou Reed's 1972 song "Walk on the Wild Side").

Answer song

The lyric, "I didn't know God made honky tonk angels", and the tune's overall cynical attitude—Kingsbury noted the song "... just begged for an answer from a woman"[3]—inspired "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels", which was also based on the same melody. Recorded by Kitty Wells and released later in 1952, that song, too, became a No. 1 country hit.[1][4] In "It Wasn't God ... ", Wells shifts the blame for the woman's infidelity to the man, countering that for every unfaithful woman there is a man who has led her astray.

Cover versions

There have been many cover versions of "The Wild Side of Life", several of which became hits in their own right. Burl Ives had a top 10 hit with the song concurrent with Thompson's success, Ray Price recorded it on his "Night Life" LP in 1963, while Freddy Fender reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in early 1976. A version by the British rock band Status Quo reached the UK top 10 in 1976. In 1981, "Wild Side" and "It Wasn't God ..." were combined into a duet by Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter on their album Leather and Lace; that version reached No. 10.[1]

Vic Dana recorded a pop version of "The Wild Side of Life" with full orchestra backing.

Maury Finney recorded an instrumental saxophone version in 1976. As the B-side to his single "Rollin' in My Sweet Baby's Arms", it charted at No. 78 on the country music charts.[6]

References

1. ^Whitburn, Joel, "Top Country Songs: 1944-2005," 2006.
2. ^Malone, Bill, "Classic Country Music: A Smithsonian Collection" ((booklet included with A Smithsonian Collection 4-disc set). Smithsonian Institution, 1990).
3. ^Kingsbury, Paul, "The Grand Ole Opry History of Country Music: 70 Years of the Songs, the Stars and the Stories," Opryland USA, Villard Books, Random House, New York, 1995.
4. ^[{{Allmusic|class=artist|id=p1835|pure_url=yes}}] Huey, Steve, Hank Thompson biography at Allmusic
5. ^Richard Flanagan, [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3649694/Prophet-of-the-neon-wilderness.html "Prophet of the neon wilderness"], {{w|The Sunday Telegraph}}, January 29, 2006 (reprinted as "Introduction", dated "October 2005", in the novel's digital edition, Canongate Books, 2009, {{ISBN|978-1-84767-649-8}}): ‘As Algren admitted, the book “wasn’t written until long after it had been walked… I found my way to the streets on the other side of the Southern Pacific station, where the big jukes were singing something called ‘Walking the Wild Side of Life.’ I’ve stayed pretty much on that side of the curb ever since.” ’
6. ^{{cite book|last=Whitburn|first=Joel|title=Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008|publisher=Record Research, Inc|year=2008|page=144|isbn=0-89820-177-2}}
{{Kitty Wells}}{{Jessi Colter}}{{Waylon Jennings}}{{Freddy Fender}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Wild Side of Life}}

14 : 1952 singles|Billboard Hot Country Songs number-one singles|Billboard Hot Country Songs number-one singles of the year|Freddy Fender songs|Hank Thompson (musician) songs|Jessi Colter songs|Waylon Jennings songs|Status Quo (band) songs|Pirates of the Mississippi songs|Burl Ives songs|Grady Martin songs|Song recordings produced by Ken Nelson (United States record producer)|RCA Records singles|1952 songs

随便看

 

开放百科全书收录14589846条英语、德语、日语等多语种百科知识,基本涵盖了大多数领域的百科知识,是一部内容自由、开放的电子版国际百科全书。

 

Copyright © 2023 OENC.NET All Rights Reserved
京ICP备2021023879号 更新时间:2024/11/12 12:24:12