1,214.) Mon Mar. 30, 2020

RIP Joe Diffie (1958-2020)

The Song of the Day is:

Joe Diffie – “Prop Me Up Beside The Jukebox (If I Die)”

From the album Honky Tonk Attitude (1993)

You can put my mind at ease if you fill my last request
Prop me up beside the jukebox if I die
Lord I want to go to heaven but I don’t want to go tonight
Fill my boots up with sand put a stiff drink in my hand
Prop me up beside the jukebox if I die

Howard Perdew – Rick Blaylock -Kerry Kurt Phillips

It’s good to see that Joe Diffie had a sense of humor about his eventual departure, and I hope that people catch his humor and warmth from this song. However, suffering from the quick judgement of COVID19 is no laughing matter. Joe Diffie was one of country music’s most popular singers of the early nineties. A native of Tulsa Oklahoma, he had worked in a foundry and an oil field prior to heading to Nashville. His time as a songwriter resulted in recorded songs by Hank Thompson, Alabama, and Holly Dunn. This debut album in 1990 produced the number one hit “Home”. The next few years produced hits like “Pickup Man” and “John Deere Green”, as well as this morbid classic that I’m featuring today. This song wasn’t written by Diffie, but it’s one of his most beloved songs, and in the event of his death people have been citing the song on social media, not as a joke, but as an appreciation of the work he did. He was influenced by the singing of George Jones and would often balance traditional country weepers with jukebox novelty tunes. His last number one single, “Bigger Than The Beatles” was released in 1996, and he did manage to win his sole Grammy Award (in collaboration with Marty Stuart) in 1998 . After that his career slowed down a bit, with just five albums being released in the new millennium. In recent days he had been a midday radio broadcaster. He announced his infection with COVID19 just two days prior to his death. He was aged 61 and died in Nashville.

If you enjoy the blog, please consider helping me pay the dues paypal.me/MichaelSliwa.  

Thanks!