This 1962 album is also sometimes known by the title "All Time Greatest Hits," which also appears on the front LP sleeve, though the lettering on "King of Country Music" on that same LP sleeve is bigger. It has a dozen early-'60s re-recordings of songs Acuff first recorded in the 1930s and 1940s, including tunes that are about as well-known as any in country music ("The Great Speckled Bird" and "Wabash Cannonball"), as well as lesser-traveled items like "The Old Age Pension Check." Re-recordings of familiar hits are always a dicey proposition, and from a purely historical point of view, the original versions of these are a better place to start to get an appreciation of Acuff's impact on country music in his early career. To its credit, though, these remakes don't suffer from any unnecessary contemporary studio gloss, which is probably the single biggest problem on projects of this kind. It's just straight, well-played, no-frills hillbilly, albeit with recording technology allowing greater clarity than the equipment of the 1930s and 1940s had. Acuff's vocals are good, strong, and committed as well, with a lonesome, at times soaring tower-of-strength quality that few others pulled off so well. King of Country Music was combined with another of Acuff's early-'60s Hickory LPs, Once More It's Roy Acuff, on a single-CD reissue on Ace in 2003.
ROY ACUFF
KING OF COUNTRY MUSIC
Hickory LPS-109June/1962
Produced by Wesley Rose
Recorded:1962, Hickory Studio, Nashville
1.
GREAT SPECKLED BIRD
(Roy Carter - Guy Smith) « © '36 Songs Of Universal, BMI »What a beautiful thought I am thinking concerning a great speckled bird
Remember her name is recorded on the pages of God's holy word
Desiring to lower her standards they watch every move that she makes
They long to find fault with her teaching but really they found no mistakes
[ dobro ] I am glad I have learned of her meekness I am proud that my name's on her book
For I want to be one never fearing the face of my Saviour's true look
When he comes descending from heaven on the cloud as he writes in his word
I'll be joyfully carried to meet him on the wings of the great speckled bird
**********
2.
FIREBALL MAIL
(Floyd Jenkins) « © '43 Milene Music, ASCAP »Here she comes look at her roll there she goes eatin' that coal
Watch her fly huggin' the rails let her by by by the fireball mail
Let her go look at her steam hear her blow whistle and scream
Like a hound waggin' his tail Dallas bound bound bound the fireball mail
[ dobro ] Engineer makin' up time tracks are clear look at her climb
See that freight clearin' the rail bet she's late late late the fireball mail
[ ac.guitar ] Watch her swerve look at her sway get that curve out of the way
Watch her fly look at her sail let her by by by the fireball mail
[ fiddle ] **********
3.
PRECIOUS JEWEL
(Roy Acuff) « © '43 Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »Way back in the hills when a boy I once wandered
There beneath the grave lies a girl that I love
She was called from this earth a jewel from heaven
More precious than diamonds more precious than gold
A jewel here on earth a jewel in heaven
She'll brighten the kingdom around God's great throne
Maybe angels have peace God bless her in heaven
They broken my heart and they left me to roam
When the girl of sixteen we courted each other
She promised someday to become my sweet wife
I bought her a ring to wear on her finger
But the angels they called her to heaven one night
[ dobro - fiddle ] This earth has its wealth its trials and troubles
Mother earth holds the treasures of diamonds and gold
But it can't hold the soul of one precious jewel
She's resting in peace with the heavenly fold
A jewel here on earth...
**********
4.
PINS AND NEEDLES (IN MY HEART)
(Floyd Jenkins) « © '43 Milene Music, ASCAP »I know not where on earth to find you I know not how or where to start
I only know I'm here without you I've got pins and needles in my heart
The days and nights are growing longer since first you said that we must part
But now I know I can't forget you with these pins and needles in my heart
[ fiddle - ac.guitar ] I always see your face before me your smile is heaven's work of art
But now you're smiling at another and there's pins and needles in my heart
[ dobro ] Sometime somewhere we'll meet again dear and love will make the teardrops start
Someday you'll know how long I've waited with these pins and needles in my heart
**********
5.
WRECK ON THE HIGHWAY
(Dorsey Dixon) « © '46 Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »Who did you say it was brother who was it fell by the way
When whiskey and blood run together did you hear anyone pray
I didn't hear nobody pray dear brother I didn't hear nobody pray
I heard the crash on the highway but I didn't hear nobody pray
When I heard the crash on the highway I knew what is was from the start
I went to the scene of destruction and the picture was stamped on my hreart
When whiskey and blood ran together mixed with the glass where they lay
Death played her hand in distraction but I didn't hear nobody pray
[ fiddle ] I wish I could change this sad story that I am now telling you
But there is no way I can change it for somebody's life is now through
Their soul has been called by the Master they died in the crash on the way
And I heard the groans of the dying but I didn't hear nobody pray
I didn't hear nobody pray dear brother...
**********
6.
UNLOVED AND UNCLAIMED
(Roy Acuff - Vito Pellettieri) « © '62 Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »She lay on a cold marble slab at the morgue
Thousands viewed her but none knew her name
They laid her to rest in potter's field this morn
She'll sleep there unloved and unclaimed
There was no loved ones to weep over her
Not one tear did I see shed
The lady they took from that muddy old river
But no one ever came to claim her dead
[ fiddle ] The muddy old river has taken her life
And the cold earth will hold her remains
I pray when she reaches those pearly golden gates
She won't be unloved and unclaimed
She lay on a cold marble slab at the morgue...
**********
7.
WABASH CANNONBALL
(A.P. Carter - William Kindt) « © '46 Peer International, BMI »From the great Atlantic ocean to the wide Pacific shore
From the queen of flowing mountains to the southbells by the shore
She's mighty tall and handsome and known quite well by all
She's the combination on the Wabash Cannonball
She came down from Birmingham one cold December day
As she rolled into the station you could hear all the people say
There's a girl from Tennessee she's long and she's tall
She came down from Birmingham on the Wabash Cannonball
[ dobro ] Our eastern states are dandy so the people always say
From New York to St Louis and Chicago by the way
From the hills of Minnesotta where the wrippling waters fall
No changes can be taken on the Wabash Cannonball
[ ac.guitar ] Listen to the jingle the rumble and the roar
As she glides along the woodland through the hills and by the shore
Hear the mighty rush of the engine hear that lonesome hoboes call
You're travling through the jungles on the Wabash Cannonball
**********
8.
DON'T MAKE ME GO TO BED AND I'LL BE GOOD
(Hugh Cross) « © '43 Peer International, BMI »A laughing baby boy one evening in his play
Disturbed the household with his noisy glee
I warned him to be quiet but he soon would disobey
For he would soon forget a word from me
I called him to my side and said now son you go to bed
Your conduct has been very very rude
With quivering lips and tear filled eyes he pleaded then with me
Don't make me go to bed and I'll be good
Don't papa and I'll be good don't papa and I'll be good
That's what I heard him say and it haunts me night and day
Don't make me go to bed and I'll be good
Our lives have just been gladdened by his bright ascending beam
Our boy now in our heart was very dear
We hastened to his bed one night he was talking in his sleep
He didn't seem to know that we were near
I took him in my arms and found his body raked with pain
To ease the pain we did the best we could
It broke my heart to hear him crying loudly in his sleep
Don't make me go to bed and I'll be good
[ fiddle ] All night and day we watched and prayed we never left his side
To give him up it seemed we never could
It broke my heart to hear him crying just before he died
Don't make me go to bed and I'll be good
Don't papa and I'll be good...
**********
9.
OLD AGE PENSION CHECK
(Roy Acuff) « © '62 Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »When our old age pension check comes to our door
We won't have to dread the poorhouse anymore
Though we're old and thin and gray good times will be back to stay
When our old age pension check comes to our door
When her old age pension check comes to her door
Dear old grandma won't be lonesome anymore
She'll be waiting at the gate ever night she'll have a date
When her old age pension check comes to her door
[ ac.guitar ] Grow a flowing long white beard and use a cane
Cause you're in your second childhood don't complain
Life will just begin at sixty we'll all feel very frisky
When our old age pension check comes to our door
Powder and paint will be abolished on that day
And hoop skirts will then be brought back into play
Painted cheeks will be the rage and old maids will tell their age
When their old age pension check comes to their door
[ dobro ] All the drug stores will go bankrupt on that day
For cosmetics they will all be put away
I'll put a flapper on the shelf get a grandma for myself
When her old age pension check comes to our door
There's a man that turned this country upside down
With his old age pension rumor going round
If you want in on the fun send your dime to Washington
And that old age pension man will be around
**********
10.
NIGHT TRAIN TO MEMPHIS
(Beasley Smith - Marvin Hughes - Owen Bradley) « © '42 Peer International, BMI »Take that night train to Memphis take that night train to Memphis
And when you arrive at the station
I'll be right there to meet you I'll be right there to greed you
So don't turn down my invitation
Hallelujah hallelujah we'll be shoutin' hallelujah all the day
Oh we'll have a jubilee down in Memphis Tennessee
And we'll shout hallelujah all the way
[ guitar ] Take that night train to Memphis take that night train to Memphis
You know how I'm longing to see you
Leave that 3-50-7 arive at eleven then I'll be shoutin' hallelujah
Hallelujah hallelujah...
[ fiddle ] Take that night train to Memphis take that night train to Memphis
Tell that engineer to pull a trottle open
Keep that engine stack a smoking I'm not kiddin' I'm not joking
I'll soon be with my girl I'm hoping
Hallelujah hallelujah...
**********
11.
LONELY MOUND OF CLAY
(Roy Acuff) « © '56 Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »Beside a new made grave heartbroken my love for her won't let me go away
And leave her there to sleep forever all alone beneath that lonely mound of clay
Oh Lord why did you take her from me why didn't you take me away
So I could have been there beside her all alone beneath that lonely mound of clay
Many times I've looked toward heaven and pray she wouldn't be taken away
But this sinner's prayer is never answered so she's sleeping now beneath the clay
[ dobro ] I stay here beside you little darling and I promise that I'll never go away
Until my life down here is over then I'll be with you beneath the clay
Oh Lord why did you take her...
**********
12.
AUTOMOBILE OF LIFE
(Roy Acuff) « © '62 Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »Some people are just like an automobile
They'll run fine when everything's right
When the roads are all clear and the weather is fine
And there's plenty of sunshine and light
But often they come to a wash out and then
Get stuck and have to detour
Maybe a break in the testing will prove
They never were meant to endure
Get plenty of water and plenty of oil
And the best gasoline you can find
Have your engine tuned up and look out for your graves
You'll have some hard places to climb
Look out for the tires for the blowouts will come
On a dangerous curve deep and nigh
But if you'll let Jesus take hold of the wheel
You'll make it to heaven on high
[ fiddle ] Now all our professions of powder and paint
Tho lovely upon the outside
Won't answer to God for he looks on the heart
It matters not how hard we've tried
So if you are stuck in the quick sand of sin
A wondering and floundering about
Just let God's great engine of glory and grace
With a cable of love pull you out
Get plenty of water and plenty of oil...
**********
