Johnny Horton
Born: April 30, 1929
Died: November 5, 1960
Birth Place - Los Angeles, California
Career record label - Columbia Records
First Top 10 - Honky-Tonk Man (1956)
Biggest Hit - Battle of New Orleans (1959)
Chart Run -1956 - 1960
Of the singers who broadened the country music landscape in the '50s, Johnny Horton is easily the least known. Horton began his career working on the Home Town Jamboree in El Monte, California. By the mid-'50s, Johnny was a regular on the Louisiana Hayride.
After stints with Cormac (1951), Abbott (1951-52) and Mercury (1952-54), he moved over to the more upscale Columbia Records in 1956. Shortly thereafter, Horton entered the charts with Honky-Tonk Man, which peaked at No. 9.
Somewhere between the greed for money and sound judgment, the legends of country music were tossed aside for the outlandish sound they call country music today.
RJB Nashville, Tennessee.
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Honky Tonk Man
No. 9, 1956
(J. Hausey, T. Franks, J. Horton)
I'm a honky tonk man and I can't seem to stop
I love to give the girls a whirl to the music of an old jukebox
But when my money's all gone, I'm on the telephone
Hollerin', "Hey-hey, mama can your daddy come home?"
I'm livin' fast an' a-dangerously
But I've got plenty of company
When the moon comes up and the sun goes down
That's when I wanna see the lights of town
'Cause I'm a honky tonk man and I can't seem to stop
I love to give the girls a whirl to the music of an old jukebox
But when my money's all gone, I'm on the telephone
Hollerin', "Hey-hey, mama can your daddy come home?"
I'm a honky tonk man and I can't seem to stop
I love to give the girls a whirl to the music of an old jukebox
But when my money's all gone I'm on the telephone
Hollerin', "Hey-hey, mama can your daddy come home?"
It takes a pretty little gal and a jug of wine
That's what it takes to make a honky tonk, mine
With the juke box a-moanin', a honky tonk sound
That's when I wanna lay my money down
'Cause I'm a honky tonk man and I can't seem to stop
I love to give the girls a whirl to the music of an old jukebox
But when my money's all gone, I'm on the telephone
Hollerin', "Hey-hey, mama can your daddy come home?"