Never Was There a More Appropriate Song Title

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I hope you read @RasmaSandra ‘s daily postings about “today in music history.” This year, she’s going through country music. Here’s a little factoid she left off the list for today (April 3). After I tell you about it, you’ll probably understand why it was omitted…and why we have one of the most appropriate song titles in country music history associated with this. On April 3, 1961, one of the saddest and most shocking events in country music happened in Tahachapi, California. Ella Mae Cooley, age 37, was found beaten to death in the home she shared with her husband, self-proclaimed “King of Western Swing” bandleader Donnell “Spade” Cooley. Ella Mae had recently filed for divorce from Spade. Cooley was arrested for the murder. At the time, news reports said, he admitted that he’d pulled a Will Smith and “slapped” her a couple of times during an argument, but alleged the bruises that covered the corpse were the result of Ella Mae falling out of the car earlier in the week. Among the injuries found by the autopsy were a ruptured aorta and a ruptured thyroid gland, the latter consistent with choking. Bad car! Among the witnesses who testified against Cooley at the July 1961 trial (yes, they actually did have trials that quickly after the arrest once upon a time) was the 14-year-old daughter of the couple, who was witness to the crime. Yes, Spade Cooley beat his wife to death in front of their child. And you can’t have a story like this without gossip: during the trial someone testified that Cooley was upset over his wife having an affair with Roy Rogers. That caused the famed cowboy actor and wife Dale Evans to come out and deny the charges. Anyway, despite the claims that the car choked Ella Mae and that Spade was insane (yes, he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity), Cooley was convicted of the murder on August 19, 1961. On August 23 he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Now, I said at the beginning (and in the title) that there has never been a more appropriate song title to pop up. This is no lie, although it may seem like a joke or something that happened after the fact. In 1945, Cooley had his only #1 hit. The song stayed at the top spot for nine weeks. The song’s title? “Shame On You.” Cooley died in November 1969 while performing for a sheriff’s department benefit. Speaking of “shame on you,” the man sentenced to life imprisonment was scheduled to be paroled in February 1970, meaning he would have served less than nine years for murdering his wife. Shame on you, indeed. Here’s the song, with Tex Williams on vocals: