Country music grew in popularity a lot in the 1970s. The decade saw artists like Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and more come reign over the decade.
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The 70s had plenty of hits that are still loved today. We picked three well-worn country hits that every 70s kid likely can still sing, word for word.
“Why Me” by Kris Kristofferson
“Why me, Lord, what have I ever done,” Kristofferson begins the song. “To deserve even one of the pleasures I’ve known? / Tell me, Lord, what did I ever do / That was worth lovin’ you or the kindness you’ve shown?”
“Why Me” can be traced back to Connie Smith, who invited Kristofferson to a church service, which inspired the song. At the service, a preacher named Jimmie Snow changed everything for Kristofferson.
“Everybody was kneeling down,” Kristofferson recalls on Ralph Emery’s Country Legends Vol. 2. “And Jimmy said something like, ‘If anybody’s lost, please raise their hand.’ I was kneeling there. And I don’t go to church a lot, and the notion of raising my hand was out of the question. I thought, ‘I can’t imagine who’s doing this.’ All of a sudden, I felt my hand going up. I was hoping nobody else was looking because they had their heads bent over.”
“Jolene” by Dolly Parton
A list of catchy country hits from the 70s has to include this Dolly Parton classic. Also in 1973, Parton released “Jolene,” one of her most beloved and likely well-known songs of her extraordinary career. Parton wrote “Jolene” by herself, inspired by a bank teller who was flirting with her husband, Carl Dean.
The catchy song says in part, “Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene / I’m beggin’ of you, please don’t take my man / Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene / Please don’t take him just because you can.”
“She got this terrible crush on my husband,” Parton tells NPR. “And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. It was kinda like a running joke between us — when I was saying, ‘Hell, you’re spending a lot of time at the bank. I don’t believe we’ve got that kind of money.’ So it’s really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one.”
Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson
When two country music superstars team up on one song, it’s bound to be a hit, especially if the two writers are Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. The two combined their talents on “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.” The song was released in 1978, on their Waylon & Willie duets record.
“Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” says, “Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys / Don’t let ’em pick guitars or drive them old trucks / Let ’em be doctors and lawyers and such / Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys.”
The song was written by Ed Bruce and his wife, Patsy Bruce, and first released on his own record in 1976. But it didn’t become a hit until Jennings and Nelson released it three years later, becoming a multi-week No. 1 hit for the pair.
It was Bruce who pitched the song to Jennings, who immediately fell in love with it.
“Me and Willie were talking about recording again, and I said, ‘Willie, I cut this thing, but I ain’t sure about it,” Jennings recalls. “I said, ‘It don’t sound right, but it might be a great duet.’ The whole record was finished, and I just took part of my voice and put his on.”
Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images
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