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List led by 'Stand by Your Man'
Thursday, June 5, 2003 Posted: 12:31 PM EDT (1631 GMT)



NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- George and Tammy are there. So are Johnny and Hank, and Waylon and Willie.

But a ranking of the top 100 songs in country music history is bound to contain a few surprises, and the new one by Country Music Television is no exception.

Is Tammy Wynette's 1968 classic "Stand by Your Man" truly the best country song of all time? Should Garth Brooks' "Friends in Low Places" rank that high (No. 6)? Is the Eagles' "Desperado" really a country song? And where's Merle Haggard's "The Fightin' Side of Me"?

"Everyone has personal favorites that didn't make the list," said Kaye Zusmann, CMT's vice president of program development and production. "Everyone will look and say, 'How can that not make it on there?"'

The list was revealed in a Wednesday concert on the eve of Nashville's annual Fan Fair country music festival. The two-hour concert will be broadcast on CMT at 8 p.m. EDT Sunday. It'll be preceded by a four-hour documentary about the songs.

The process began last summer when CMT asked music critics, historians and journalists to identify the genre's greatest songs. They came up with 600 titles.

That list went to voting members of the Country Music Association, which consists of songwriters, musicians, singers and other industry insiders, who whittled it down to 100 songs and ranked them.

'It's the prototypical country song'
The criteria was loose. Statistics such as weeks on the chart or total sales didn't matter, Zusmann said, only the "emotional, visceral connection people have to a song."

That figured heavily in the top choice, "Stand by Your Man," Wynette's plea to women to forgive their wayward men.

"It's the prototypical country song," Zusmann said. "It has everything."

George Jones, Wynette's husband from 1969 to '75 and duet partner, said Tuesday that "Stand by Your Man" touched both men and women, especially with the Vietnam War pulling couples apart.

"When you're away from home, it enters your mind, you know," he said. "You hope she's not fooling around, and you're missing home."

Jones, who has the No. 2 song on the list with "He Stopped Loving Her Today," said Wynette's signature song "belongs where it is."

Co-written by Wynette and producer Billy Sherrill, it was a hit on country and pop radio as the feminist movement was taking off in the late '60s, and Wynette took some heat for it.

The song resurfaced in 1992 when then presidential candidate Bill Clinton and wife, Hillary, appeared on CBS' "60 Minutes" shortly after Gennifer Flowers alleged she had an affair with Clinton.

"I'm not sitting here as some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette," Mrs. Clinton said.

Wynette demanded an apology, saying Mrs. Clinton had "offended every true country music fan and every person who has made it on their own with no one to take them to a White House."

Mrs. Clinton said she didn't mean to hurt Wynette's feelings, and Wynette later performed at a Clinton fund-raiser. When the singer died in 1998, the Clintons issued a statement calling her a legend.

'It's very plain, very simple music'
Rounding out the CMT top 10, in order, after Wynette and Jones: Patsy Cline's "Crazy," Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire," Hank Williams' "Your Cheatin' Heart," Brooks' "Friends in Low Places," Cline's "I Fall to Pieces," Glen Campbell's "Galveston," Charlie Rich's "Behind Closed Doors," and Waylon Jennings' and Willie Nelson's "Mommas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys."

Ray Charles, who performs "Behind Closed Doors" at the concert and has the No. 49 song with "I Can't Stop Loving You," said the beauty of a great country song it its simplicity.

"It's very plain, very simple music," Charles said Tuesday. "It's just for the average guy. You don't have to be a scholar or you don't have to be in the elite class or nothing like that. You just have to listen to the music and listen to the lyrics and the lyrics tell everything."

(AP) -- Country Music Television's list of the 100 greatest songs in country music, along with the artist who popularized it:

RELATED
• Insiders pick country music's top 100 songs

1. "Stand by Your Man" by Tammy Wynette

2. "He Stopped Loving Her Today" by George Jones

3. "Crazy" by Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson

4. "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash

5. "Your Cheatin' Heart" by Hank Williams

6. "Friends in Low Places" by Garth Brooks

7. "I Fall to Pieces" by Patsy Cline

8. "Galveston" by Glen Campbell

9. "Behind Closed Doors" by Charlie Rich

10. "Mommas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" by Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson

11. "Blue Moon of Kentucky" by Bill Monroe

12. "Amarillo by Morning" by George Strait

13. "Coal Miner's Daughter" by Loretta Lynn

14. "The Dance" by Garth Brooks

15. "Forever and Ever, Amen" by Randy Travis

16. "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton

17. "Hello Darlin' " by Conway Twitty

18. "Country Roads" by John Denver

19. "Hey Good Lookin"' by Hank Williams

20. "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow" by Soggy Bottom Boys

21. "Okie from Muskogee" by Merle Haggard

22. "Wide Open Spaces" by Dixie Chicks

23. "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" by Willie Nelson

24. "The Chair" by George Strait

25. "Folsom Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash

26. "The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers

27. "Fancy" by Reba McEntire

28. "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" by Alan Jackson

29. "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" by Hank Williams Sr.

30. "I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack

31. "I Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash

32. "Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell

33. "Always on My Mind" by Willie Nelson

34. "Harper Valley PTA" by Jeannie C. Riley

35. "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" by Tammy Wynette

36. "Will the Circle be Unbroken" by Carter Family, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

37. "King of the Road" by Roger Miller

38. "Breathe" by Faith Hill

39. "Make the World Go Away" by Eddy Arnold

40. "Hello Walls" by Faron Young

41. "Sweet Dreams" by Patsy Cline

42. "El Paso" by Marty Robbins

43. "Delta Dawn" by Tanya Tucker

44. "When I Call Your Name" by Vince Gill

45. "Guitars, Cadillacs" by Dwight Yoakam

46. "Desperado" by the Eagles

47. "Don't Come Home A Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)" by Loretta Lynn

48. "Boot Scootin' Boogie" by Brooks & Dunn

49. "I Can't Stop Loving You" by Ray Charles

50. "Independence Day" by Martina McBride

51. "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" by Kitty Wells

52. "On the Other Hand" by Randy Travis

53. "Walking the Floor Over You" by Ernest Tubb

54. "Coat of Many Colors" by Dolly Parton

55. "Act Naturally" by Buck Owens

56. "Mama He's Crazy" by the Judds

57. "If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time" by Lefty Frizzell

58. "Kiss an Angel Good Morning" by Charlie Pride

59. "Family Tradition" by Hank Williams Jr.

60. "Go Rest High on That Mountain" by Vince Gill

61. "Lovesick Blues" by Hank Williams

62. "Don't Rock the Jukebox" by Alan Jackson

63. "Tennessee Waltz" by Patti Page

64. "When You Say Nothing at All" by Alison Krauss

65. "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood

66. "Green, Green Grass of Home" by Porter Wagoner

67. "It's Your Love" by Tim McGraw with Faith Hill

68. "There Stands the Glass" by Webb Pierce

69. "Devil Went Down to Georgia" by Charlie Daniels

70. "Chiseled in Stone" by Vern Gosdin

71. "Don't Toss Us Away" by Patty Loveless

72. "A Boy Named Sue" by Johnny Cash

73. "You Are My Sunshine" by Gov. Jimmy Davis

74. "Flowers on the Wall" by Statler Brothers

75. "Strawberry Wine" by Deana Carter

76. "Good Hearted Woman" by Waylon Jennings

77. "You're Still the One" by Shania Twain

78. "My Home's in Alabama" by Alabama

79. "Is There Life Out There" by Reba McEntire

80. "She's in Love With the Boy" by Trisha Yearwood

81. "Smoky Mountain Rain" by Ronnie Milsap

82. "Should've Been a Cowboy" by Toby Keith

83. "Rose Garden" by Lynn Anderson

84. "Please Remember Me" by Tim McGraw

85. "Blue" by LeAnn Rimes

86. "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" by Freddie Fender

87. "Passionate Kisses" by Mary Chapin Carpenter

88. "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You" by Gene Autry

89. "Here's a Quarter" by Travis Tritt

90. "He'll Have to Go" by Jim Reeves

91. "Seven Year Ache" by Rosanne Cash

92. "Sunday Morning Coming Down" by Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson

93. "Take this Job and Shove It" by Johnny PayCheck

94. "Something in Red" by Lorrie Morgan

95. "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" by Flatt & Scruggs

96. "I'd Be Better Off in a Pine Box" by Doug Stone

97. "Amazed" by Lonestar

98. "Faded Love" by Bob Wills

99. "Back in the Saddle Again" by Gene Autry

100. "Killin' Time" by Clint Black

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[This message has been edited by John Voorpostel (edited 06-05-2003).]

The Top 10 could also serve as the WORST 10 country songs of all time. I bet most of the people just voted for their own songs.

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I write, therefore I am....

This top ten of one hundred includes four of my favorites, two that leave me scratching my head, and four that are ok. I'm not going to say which are which. There's no accounting for taste, and besides, it doesn't matter.

Music is pretty hard to quantify. Often lists that rate songs actually rate the sale of the songs. Then, there are lists compiled by critics. Both kinds of lists can be useful, Certainly, to the musicians on the list, they are a wonderful promotional tool. I find lists interesting when I compare them with my own likes and dislikes; and, entertaining...right up there with reality tv and judge shows.

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Mike Dunbar Music

[This message has been edited by Mike Dunbar (edited 06-06-2003).]

I thought it was pretty cool that our own Susan Gibson is there at #22.

Brian

I'm amazed at how many of the songs are pre-achey breaky heart era; not really amazed...glad actually; nice to see the classics being treated as such.

Hi All,
Most anyone that has listened to Country Music for the last 50 years could come up with their own list and few of these would be on this list. Here are 3 songs that did not make the list that should have been on anyone's list. Each song remained at No. 1 on radio for 21 weeks, the only three songs that have ever done that.

I'M MOVING ON HANK SNOW
IN THE JAIL HOUSE NOW WEBB PIERCE
And an EDDY ARNOLD SONG, I think was Entitled: I REALLY DON'T WANT TO KNOW.

P.S. It is reported on COUNTRY NATION that the Record Labels are giving some country artists a second chance as no label has broken a Multi-Platium Artist in the last 6 years. There are so many good old country songs that they could record if they would just go check some of them out. As the Davis Sisters said in a song they recorded, I'VE FORGOTTEN MORE THAT YOU'LL EVER KNOW, about country music, that is.

Ray,

It looks like the whole thing got boiled down to the lowest common denominators.


Where's "Borrowed Angel" by Mel Street? Where are any Bob Wills or Johnny Bush songs? They are more influential in country music than half of the top ten. But lists are tough. I learned that when judging the JPF awards. Overall this list does a fair job.

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Mike Dunbar Music

Lists like this are intended to get the topic of country music discussed. No list ever made by anyone would be inclusive of all the songs that anyone 1 person would want to see included. I thought a couple songs were a bit on the lame side, (I agree that Movin On Over seems to be missing... though I am unfamiliar with the other two that Ray suggests.. and there is the rub.. we would all have other songs we'd add therefore no list can be even close to perfect.)

I felt surprised that I knew so many of the songs since I have never really been a country music radio listener growing up or now Most of these songs have move well past playing on just country radio and that's probably why Mike thinks they have picked the lowest common denominator.

It's also clear to me the definition for Country here is very broad.. sort of like Pop music including Rock, Pop, R&B, Alternative, Contemporary etc... this list contains a lot of stuff that would be in different genres.

Overall, lists are supposed to be fun and it's supposed to cause you to argue, discuss and come up with your own, all while promoting the subject of the list.. which this has clearly achieved.

Brian

I thought Tom T. Hall and Bobby Bare would have made the list somewhere as well.

Walt

Those songs are why my wife doesn't like Country, especially the first one! Not that she doesn't stand by me, but she hates to be told to!

John Daubert

Although I am no fan of the Dixie Chicks by any means, I am definitely a supporter of members of Jpfolks and was glad to see that Susan Gibson's song, "Wide Open Spaces", made the list. Definitely glad to see it made the top 40. Way to go Susan. BTW, I wonder if she even remembers me when I talked to her on aol a few years ago when the DC first released her song on their album.

That's my 2 cents....

Greg

Another Top 100 List... (this can't be posted because it is specifically prohibited.. but you can view it at this link)

Top 100 Box Office Movies of all Time.

http://movies.go.com/boxoffice/Alltime.html

I have seen 90 of the 100. Anyone seen 100 of 100?

Brian

You've got me beat, I only saw 64 of them.
At first I was surprised but then noticed the list was apparently compiled by $$ earned. Makes me wonder - do they adjust for inflation when they do these comparisons? Is Snow White's success in 1937 dollars or 2003 dollars?

A couple of observations - the sequel/prequel thing worked well for Indiana Jones and Star Wars, didn't work for Jaws. Also some movies that are now considered classics, i.e. War of the Worlds, Caine Mutiny, etc. apparently never did well enough on their original run to make the list. Just my .02

I've seen about 80 of the top 100. Some surprises on that list too.

I'm so sick of people saying the Achey Breaky Heart ruined country music. It was, and still IS a GREAT country song.

I don't see how Achey Breaky Heart is any worse than Stand by your man, He Stopped Loving Her Today, Friends in Low Places. D.I.V.O.R.S.E, please! I live in NashVegas, I write county/rock/pop music. But i'll tell you what. Songs like these make me tell people that I write pop/rock songs. Whenever you say country, they think country/western. Not the stuff you have been hearing on the radio for the last decade or so.

Just my two cents, do I get change back?

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I write, therefore I am....

Hey Phoenix; never said it ruined anything buddy; just glad the songs before country went more pop got the attention they deserved. I personally hate the song, but it certainly didn't ruin country music; record labels did that all on their own.

Was pleasing to see quite a few of the songs I have done parodies to in the list, and even more I thought about doing parodies to.
Lot of my all time favourites and all tiime hates in there.
Graham

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http://www.soundclick.com/bands/2/grahamhendersonmusic.htm

We watched the countdown of this list on CMT the other day. When it got down to "Crazy" at #3 we were thinking this is going to be pretty good, if that is only #3. Then it gets to "Stand by your man" at #1 and we both said "whaa?" and turned off the TV. My wife can't stand that song.

I don't quibble with the list in large, but the ordering seems out of whack. If it is just determined by record sales then I can understand. I agree Bob Wills should have been there somewhere.