“All My Exes Live in Texas” is one of George Strait‘s most popular songs – and was No. 1 this week in 1987. But when it comes to the story behind the tongue-in-cheek tale, there are not too many specifics available.
The song details a man moving from Texas to Tennessee to escape his exes. Coincidentally, a pair of exes wrote the song — Sanger D. Shafer and Lyndia Shafer. She was his fourth wife. When Shafer died in 2019 at 84, his wife’s name was Tracy. They had been married for 20 years.
In the song, the Shafers specifically name women and cities. Lyrics include: Rosanna’s down in Texarkana/ Wanted me to push her broom/ Sweet Eileen’s in Abilene/ She forgot I hung the moon/ And Allison’s in Galveston/ Somehow lost her sanity/ And Dimples who now lives in Temple’s/ Got the law looking for me
“That was a fun song to write,” Whitey said in The Billboard Book Of Number One Country Hits. “I was kinda writin’ my biography. I changed the names to protect the guilty, and I do have some exes in Texas. Thank God they live down there. It’s not really why I live in Tennessee, but it’s a good kicker for the song.”
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Exes and Texas Recycled Concept
The concept wasn’t new to him. He had already rhymed “Exes” and “Texas” in a different song, but it was never recorded. Shafer reconceived the idea one day on a golf course and brought the revamped version home to Lyndia. They grabbed a map and began brainstorming.
Lyndia said: “The Mobil Travel Guide and Whitey’s melody, and away we went.”
While Shafer had a string of exes, Strait’s life was the opposite. He married his high school sweetheart, Norma. The couple is still together. However, Strait still made Shafer’s song his own.
The original lyrics say he learned to swim in the Brazos River, but Strait’s version namechecks the Frio River. The Frio is in the Texas Hill Country, and the singer regularly visited the spot growing up.
“All My Exes Live in Texas” Strait’s 19th country radio single and his 11th No. 1 song — his fourth of 11 consecutive chart toppers. He included it on his 1987 Ocean Front Property album – and it’s just one of the songs he recorded that Shafer penned.
“All My Exes Live in Texas” is Kind of A True Story
“This song is a true story, kind of,” Shafer told Country Road TV.
The Recording Academy nominated Strait’s “All My Ex’s Live In Texas” for Best Male Country Vocal Performance at the 1988 Grammy Awards. Sanger recorded a version of the song for the Road House soundtrack, the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas[5], and the TV show Ash vs Evil Dead.
Shafer was one of the era’s most prolific songwriters, evening writing Strait’s 1984 No. 1 “Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind” with his third wife, Darlene. In addition, he also wrote “That’s the Way Love Goes,” “I Wonder Do You Think of Me,” and “That’s the Way Love Goes.”
He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1989.
About George Strait
Strait has sold more than 105 million albums and won more than 60 major music industry awards. He’s the only act in history to have a Top 10 hit every year for over three decades. The Texas singer-songwriter has 33 different platinum or multi-platinum albums; he’s earned the third-most certifications of any artist in any genre, behind only The Beatles and Elvis Presley. With a total of 60 No. 1 songs, Strait has more chart-toppers than any other artist in history.
Released last fall, Cowboys And Dreamers is the Country Music Hall of Famer’s 31st studio album.
(Photo by Gwinn/Mediapunch/Shutterstock)
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