#1 at KHAT/Phoenix: “Swinging Doors,” the classic by Merle Haggard, about a guy whose wife kicked him out so he now lives in a bar (“I’m always here at home till closing time”).
Several other artists from the Bakersfield, California, scene had Arizona connections, including:
- Buck Owens, who got his start playing in the Phoenix area during the 1940s, is at #30 with a future #1 record, “Think Of Me” b/w “Heart Of Glass“;
- Bonnie Owens, who married Buck in Phoenix but by 1966 was Mrs. Merle Haggard, is at #20 with “Livin’ On Your Love“;
- Red Simpson, who was born in Higley, Arizona, and raised in Bakersfield, is at #39 with “Highway Patrol.”
Jumping from #25 to #16 is “Time To Bum Again” by former KHAT disc jockey Waylon Jennings, who had recently moved to Nashville from Phoenix. He regularly performed in local clubs — most notably as the resident act for several years at JD’s (“on Scottsdale Road at the river bottom!” the commercials would shout).
Hank Williams re-enters the top 10 with “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” a re-release of his 1949 hit, probably prompted by B.J. Thomas’ hit pop version a few months earlier. Another posthumous record: Jim Reeves‘ “Distant Drums,” a former #1 song now down to #17.
Future Phoenician Glen Campbell climbs to #18 with “A Satisfied Mind,” a song Porter Wagoner took to #1 on the country chart in 1955 and covered by dozens of artists since.
Dropping to #14 is Ernest Tubb with “Till My Get Up Has Got Up And Gone,” whose title sounds like something Roger Miller would write. He didn’t, but his influence is evident elsewhere on the chart. Besides his own hit, “I’ve Been A Long Time Leavin’ ” at #31, Eddy Arnold is at #35 with a cover of “The Last Word In Lonesome Is Me” — a serious song by Miller (although the title is clever because it is literally true). And George Jones is at #26 with the novelty hit “I’m A People” — not penned by Miller but probably inspired by his quirky style.