My Ten Favorite Honky Tonk Songs: Honky Tonk Man (#5)

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Honky tonk. It's a term used to describe bars, a sub-genre of country music, the process of going to those bars, and the act of listening to that music in those bars. It's also an oft-used term in the title of songs, especially country songs. As a result, I'm counting down my favorite songs with "honky tonk" in the title. Here's the next one. #5: Honky Tonk Man - Johnny Horton You may have gathered, if you remember back to the "girl songs" countdown (where "All for the Love of a Girl" was #1), the "man and woman" songs ("I'm a One-Woman Man"), and the mention of Hall of Fame snubs, that I kinda like Johnny Horton. I really do. He had a great combination of country and rockabilly (listen to "Got the Bull By the Horns"), able to sing lighthearted songs ("Joe's Been-a Gettin' There") and great ballads ("Whispering Pines"). He became noted for "historical ballads" thanks to songs like "The Battle of New Orleans" and "Sink the Bismarck" (which was misspelled Bismark on the record sleeve). His death in a car wreck just one year after his major success of "The Battle of New Orleans" being awarded a Grammy award left a gaping hole in music and speculation about what could have been (much like other young deaths like Patsy Cline). As with many other songs on this countdown, "Honky Tonk Man" shows that this is a life of....if not "sin," not exactly Sunday-go-to-meeting behavior. "I'm living fast and dangerously," Horton sang, "but I've got plenty of company." Of course, as with others, this isn't a lifestyle, just a fling: "when my money's all gone I'm on the telephone, hollerin', 'Hey, hey, mama, can your daddy come home?'" This is one of his better-known songs, thanks in no small part to Dwight Yoakam's top five cover in 1987. Honky Tonk Man Written by Johnny Horton, Tillman Franks, and Howard Hausey Recorded by Johnny Horton Released as a single, 1956 Give the girls a whirl to the music of an old jukebox: