The 50 Best Songs by David Allan Coe

I have no delusions that this post will create such waves as my post on what happened to the David Allan Coe band. However, this blog was not initiated as a theater of war. Baby Black Widows is to be a compendium of things I consider important in life. I felt it would be naive of myself to expect to be able to have such a public outlet without first discussing the situation with my father. I'm hoping that this post can serve as a segue toward this site's intended purpose, as well as clarify some things about my feelings toward my father.

On the 8th, I expressed my dismay at so many DAC shows having been derailed by his complaining at not having received the recognition he felt he deserved. Let me be clear, he DOES deserve that recognition. David Allan Coe has done some amazing things in his career. Earlier in the year, in response to all those superficial "Best David Allan Coe Songs" lists made by the kind of people who listen to Greatest Hits albums, I posted a list on Facebook of my Top Fifty DAC Songs. I'm going to post that again here, using the extra space to offer added commentary.

First though, some unsolicited advice for any who hope to pursue a career in music:

Do it because you have to do it or you will go crazy. Do not concern yourself with criticism or acclaim. You will receive both if you are creating anything worthwhile. Concern yourself with being worthwhile. Be worthy.

[I originally made a YouTube playlist for this post but the songs keep being removed due to copyrights stuff. Now they're linked to the albums on Amazon. Get these songs in your life. You'll thank me. Even though they are technically bootlegs, the Bear Family compilation records are the absolute best CD reproductions for fans: liner notes, song lyrics, bonus tracks, etc.]

Top Fifty David Allan Coe Songs

These are my 50 favorite songs by my father. In other words, this is a personal list. I'm not trying to objectively qualify these songs or anything so foolish as that. These are the songs that I would be most likely to sit around and listen to in my room alone:


50. "Actions Speak Louder Than Words" - I guess this was his advice for me and I guess I took it. I've never been one for much sitting around thinking or talking when I could be doing.

49. "A Country Boy (Who Rolled the Rock Away)" - Nobody sings about Hank better than DAC sings about Hank.

48. "Looking in the Mirror" - The first of several "cheating" songs on this list. You'll hear DAC go on and on about how he's the greatest writer of drinking songs in the world. Whether or not that's true, I find myself more impressed with his commentary on relationships. Whether narrating from the outside or singing from the perspective of cheater, cheated, man or woman, he pulls the reality of those situations right into focus.

47. "Rose Knows" - See? Another relationship gone wrong song. This one is interesting because it sets up another common lyrical theme, which is that of the person who has committed a wrongful act, knows it was wrong, may or may not be remorseful, knows they will be caught but does not take action to alter their course.

46. "A Sense of Humor" - Dad used to beat A LOT of asses... He tells a story about beating up a karate instructor, who then sued my father because "nobody wants to learn karate from a guy who got beat up by a hillbilly," which, in the story, prompted my father to beat him up again in the courtroom. Doubt that's true. Good story, though.

45. "Living on the Run" - The sound of the slide guitar in this is crazy. I sometimes find myself daydreaming about different cool production tricks to try when recording music. This song gave me the idea of doubling a slide guitar part with a kazoo. Still haven't tried that one...

44. "O Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie/Motherless Child" - This is so pure, which is particular because the production of these King Records sessions is not my favorite. 

43. "River" - If you're already familiar with this song and want to gain a new appreciation for it, watch Heartworn Highways, where my father goes to perform for the inmates at Tennessee State Prison. Singing a song about being in prison to men in prison put a fire into that performance.

42. "Free Born Ramblin' Man" - My father was almost a hippie. If he'd liked psychotropic drugs, it would have been a sure thing.

41. "Yesterday's Wine" - Stellar harmonies...

40. "So Tired of Honkytonk Angels & Wine" - This is particularly great because he wrote it at the beginning of his career and it's such a world-weary sentiment. Guess he didn't have much of a childhood...

39. "Tanya Montana" - Tanya's song got a better melody/steel part than mine. I'll never forgive her. Trivia: this is the only song for which my father ever made an official music video.

38. "A Satisfied Mind" - I'm pretty sure I like this recording of this song better than any other one. Actually, I could say the same thing of almost the entire Texas Moon album. 

37. "Wild Irish Rose" - There are a lot of stories about Pop Coe getting drunk and beating his wives and children, so this song is probably true. It's not pleasant. Some would say it's not something one should sing about. But it happened.

36. "Cold Turkey" - I realize this song could sound goofy to some but it is FUNK AS HELL. "OOH baby" Imagine Clarence Carter doing this song.

35. "Love Is a Never Ending War" - This is one of the first songs that was really interesting to me as a child. I have a distinct memory of watching the band run through this song over and over in soundcheck one day until the keyboard player figured out the part he should play after the first line in the chorus. I think the first time it happens in the album version is around the 2:15 point. 4 year-old me thought that part was awesome.

34. "Ride 'Em Cowboy" - An absolute pleasure to perform live. The imagery of the lyrics is so vivid. This really tells a story and makes something that's actually pretty stupid (rodeos) seem heroic and tragic.

33. "Lovin' You Comes So Natural" - Smooth hi-hat work. Very cool rhythm.

32. "What Can I Do" - It's all about that "could it be you?" stop.

31. "Southern Star" - How this wasn't a number one single I will never understand. Epitome of the era.

30. "Whiskey and Women" - The music sounds tough and swaggering, which makes it all the more effective when you realize the lyrics are about a guy who is suffering a pretty serious bout of anguish at the hands of a failed relationship.

29. "Revenge" - This is a very detailed story-song, which I usually don't like. The opening line is so strong that it carries the rest of the song, really. 

28. "Funeral Parlor Blues" - I'm always a fan of my father doing atypical things. His first album, Penitentiary Blues, betrays that he never really wanted to be just a "country" artist when he came to Nashville. But things have a way of panning out.

27. "Take It Easy Rider" - I love Guy Clark. I love Larry Jon Wilson.

26. "Under Rachel's Wings" - You can't touch this melody. It just evolves and evolves.

25. "Southern Man" - This is so weird and good and, honestly, somehow even more compelling than Neil Young's recording.

24. "Now I Lay Me Down to Cheat" - "...awwwww, but it crossed his...." DAC would throw a recitation into every song if he didn't have anyone there to talk him out of it.

23. "Ride Me Down Easy" - So many nights singing this on the bus, headed to the next town... That fiddle doesn't quit. This is, to me, a perfect example of my father hearing a great song, taking it and putting it in his pocket and saying, "That's mine now."

22. "Ice Cold Love" - I have seen people say this is the WORST David Allan Coe song. I don't get that at all. This song is amazing. Look at the album cover (Rough Rider). Okay, now imagine THAT DUDE going into a professional recording studio with a Casio keyboard and telling the session musicians they can sit this one out because he's got it all covered.

21 & 20. "Human Emotions"/"(She Finally Crossed Over) Love's Cheating Line" - These are one musical moment and flow together on the LP seamlessly. It's perfect. You can hear the Ray Charles influence so clearly. The melody of "she packed up her suitcase" gets stuck in my head on a regular basis. I would like to dedicate the second song to my horrible ex-girlfriend who (yeah, did cheat on me but also) said my father isn't a very good singer and mostly "just kind of talks." I broke up with her a couple days after she said that. And...

19. "I'm Gonna Hurt Her on the Radio" - This is the fantasy. She breaks your heart and you become rich and famous and she can't escape it.

18. "Honey Don't" - Rebel Son does a great cover of this live. I don't have any idea what all of the stuff about being a roadie for the devil is supposed to mean.

17. "Piece of Wood and Steel" - I still have trouble keeping this song and #14 apart because we'd always work them into a medley for the live show. I'm not a fan of the Marty Robbins background vocals on this recording but man is this song tough. When you're ten years deep into the life of a constantly touring musician, it's the only thing you can see, the only thing that matters. Your relationships fall away and you're left stripped down to one thing: your instrument. All you are is a guitar.

16. "Just to Prove My Love for You" - Pure novelty but done exactly right.

15. "I Hate Love" - This is a tough one to perform when it's the truth. There was a particularly rough period when I was extremely heartbroken and would end up sobbing during every show. This song was the one that did it most nights. Waylon & Willie add some flavor to this recording.

14. "She Used to Love Me a Lot" - The story here is actually pretty cruel. The narrator sees a woman who used to think he hung the moon and decides to see if he can get back in there for a night. Keep in mind we'd medley this with "Piece of Wood & Steel," so the narrator could be viewed as having sociopathic tendencies.

13. "Why You Been Gone So Long" - I love this recording but I gotta take this opportunity to let fellow Mickey Newbury fans know that Saint Cecilia Knows put together this Mickey box set that you absolutely must own. I hope to eventually write a piece dedicated to it. In the meantime, get it on Amazon (Drag City reissue): An American Trilogy

12. "Another Pretty Country Song" - I heard that this was the only song played at the funeral for the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd who died in that plane crash. I have no way of knowing if that's true but the song is a great debunker of how glamourous life on "the road" is supposed to be. Your family gets neglected and almost nobody knows who you are as a person but, hey, sweet jewelry.

11. "Rough Rider" - These lyrics are amazing. Guy walks into a bar thinking he's the man and the barmaid lets him know he's just a man.

10. "Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone)" - Written as wedding vows for my uncle's wedding. Jumpstarted Tanya Tucker's career when she was just a teenager. You might know that stuff but you probably don't know that Townes Van Zandt was convinced my father stole this melody from his song, "If I Needed You." The beginning of the melody (and only the beginning) is very close, I'll give him that. But my father always maintained that Townes was actually the one who stole the melody but (being a notorious blackout drunk) mistakenly thought it was the other way around. Both songs were written and performed publicly around the same time, so there's no real way to know who got to it first. And I love Townes' music but there's no question this is the better song.

09. "Ghost of Hank Williams" - Nobody sings about Hank better than DAC sings about Hank. Nobody.

08. "Got You On My Mind" - Back to the Texas Moon album again. These sad blues-y songs work so well with his deep voice. He can hum and that's all it takes. Side note: from playing Jimmy Reed's "Honest I Do" so much live, I always think it's on Texas Moon. The sad truth is that my father never recorded his version of it.

07. "Until Hell Freezes Over" - It's mostly tears from here on, boys and girls. If you haven't heard Living on the Edge, be very careful here. The album can absolutely destroy you if love hasn't panned out well in your life. Trivia: Bonnie "Prince" Billy recorded a cover of a different song from the album. I'll confess his albums have yet to "click" in place for me but I do like this cover and that it even exists is pretty interesting because the album was only ever available at the merch table of DAC concerts. Someone's a big fan.

06. "If This Is Just a Game" - Another shapeshifting melody. The keyboard parts are perfect.

05. "Crazy Mary" - Saddest narrative in any song I've heard in my life. I tracked down the folk singer who wrote the song and his version is nothing like this. The violin on this track is massive. This is one for a rainy day.

04. "A Sad Country Song" - This song is more about sad country songs than it is a sad country song itself but I like post-modern stuff.

03. "You Take My Breath Away" - Crippling, for very personal reasons and it wouldn't be fair to other people still living for me to explain.

02. "Spotlight" - This is the pinnacle of songs written about the life of a performing artist. Everything that nobody ever says and that Bob Dylan started trying to say to the media in the mid-'60s is right here, laid out in plain English. It's all just a matter of perspective.

01. "Pledging My Love" - Seriously, please, do not listen to this if you are having a hard time with a significant other. The intro about Johnny Ace committing suicide directly after recording his version of this song isn't exactly true and neither is it true that Johnny died playing Russian Roulette. But, hey, they didn't have the Internet when my father heard the story. His version of it, though, is what I've known for most of my life and certainly affects my reaction to the song. It haunts me, the idea of a man writing these words and then killing himself because it rings so true, even though it isn't at all.

Thank you for your time. Are there any questions?

-TMC