| "Country Bumpkin" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Cal Smith | ||||
| from the album Country Bumpkin | ||||
| B-side | "It's Not the Miles You've Traveled" | |||
| Released | February 1974 [1] | |||
| Recorded | December 21, 1973 Bradley's Barn, Mount Juliet, Tennessee | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 3:39 | |||
| Label | MCA Records 40191 | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Don Wayne [2] | |||
| Producer(s) | Walter Haynes | |||
| Cal Smith singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Country Bumpkin" is a song written by Don Wayne, [3] and recorded by American country music artist Cal Smith. [4] It was released in February 1974 as the first single and title track from the album Country Bumpkin. The song was Smith's second number one on the country chart. The single stayed at number one for a single week and spent a total of ten weeks on the country chart. [5]
In 1974, "Country Bumpkin" received Song of the Year Awards from both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association.
Content
The song has three verses:
- In the first a rural gentleman walks into a bar, where one of the barroom girls refers to him as a " country bumpkin" (a common nickname for a person from a rural area [6]) as she talks to him.
- The second verse discusses the woman (now married to the man) giving birth to her (only) son a year later.
- The third verse discusses her impending death 40 years later, with her husband and son present at her bedside.
Chart performance
Weekly charts
| Chart (1974/75) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia ( Kent Music Report) [7] | 23 |
| US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard) [8] | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 2 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (1975) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia ( Kent Music Report) [9] | 90 |
References
- ^ Grein, Paul (7 July 2020). "What's the Most Honored Country Recording of All Time? Let's Figure It Out". Billboard.
- ^ Staff. "Don Wayne, "Country Bumpkin" Songwriter, Dies at 78". CMT News.
- ^ CMT
- ^ Cooper, Peter. "Cal Smith, voice of 'Country Bumpkin,' dies at age 81". USA TODAY.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 317.
- ^ "Country-bumpkin Meaning | Best 1 Definitions of Country-bumpkin".
- ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 278. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- ^ "Cal Smith Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
- ^ "National Top 100 Singles for 1975". Kent Music Report. December 29, 1975. Retrieved January 15, 2022 – via Imgur.