Ballad of Forty Dollars
"Ballad of Forty Dollars" | ||||
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Single by Tom T. Hall | ||||
from the album Ballad of Forty Dollars and His Other Great Songs | ||||
B-side | "Highways" | |||
Released | October 28, 1968 | |||
Recorded | September 1, 1968 Columbia Studio, Nashville, Tennessee | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 3:09 | |||
Label | Mercury 72863 | |||
Songwriter(s) | Tom T. Hall | |||
Producer(s) | Jerry Kennedy | |||
Tom T. Hall singles chronology | ||||
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"Ballad of Forty Dollars" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Tom T. Hall. It was released in October 1968 as the fourth and final single from the album of the same name, Ballad of Forty Dollars. The song was Hall's first top 10 on the U.S. country singles chart, peaking at number 4 on both the U.S. chart and the Canadian country singles chart.[1]
Content
The song is narrated by a cemetery caretaker. He observes the funeral of a man and the people coming bid him farewell, the preacher, the great-uncle’s limousine, his grieving wife, the military "Taps" (as he probably was a war veteran), and the gossip about his estate.
Background
Hall took this song, as many of his hits, from personal experience; he was working with his aunt on a cemetery and was observing many funerals and the people coming, then talking about the guy who owed him 40 dollars. He said: "You're certainly not going to go to the widow and collect it. I guess it's lost."[2]
Chart performance
Chart (1968) | Peak position |
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US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[3] | 4 |
Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 4 |
References
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- In Search of a Song (1971)
- Places I've Done Time (1978)
- Song in a Seashell (1985)
- Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (1975)
- "Ballad of Forty Dollars"
- "A Week in a Country Jail"
- "Shoeshine Man"
- "Salute to a Switchblade"
- "The Year That Clayton Delaney Died"
- "The Monkey That Became President"
- "(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine"
- "Ravishing Ruby"
- "I Love"
- "That Song Is Driving Me Crazy"
- "Country Is"
- "I Care"
- "Deal"
- "I Like Beer"
- "Faster Horses (The Cowboy and the Poet)"
- "Fox on the Run"
- "Your Man Loves You Honey"
- "It's All in the Game"
- "May the Force Be with You Always"
- "What Have You Got to Lose"
- "The Old Side of Town"
- "Song of the South"
- "A Bar with No Beer"
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