Don't Tell Mama I Was Drinking

Album: Sunshine & Whiskey (2014)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The title of this Buddy Brock, Kim Williams and Jerry Laseter written song alludes to the last words of a drunk truck driver after an accident. The track was previously recorded as "Don't Tell Mama" by Ty Herndon on his 1996 album Living in a Moment, Gary Allan on his 1999 CD Smoke Rings In The Dark and Doug Stone on his 2007 set My Turn.
  • Ballard recalled to Artist Direct how he ended up recording the tune: "I was over my publisher's on a Friday afternoon, about 5:30, having a glass of whiskey, talking deep, deep, back catalog songs that became lost and were never singles," he said. "He was playing some stuff, and he played it, it was written by Kim Williams, like 20 years ago."

    "A few people had cut it but it had never become a single," Ballard continued. "I never heard it. I never heard anyone do it. I thought, 'Wow, this is an incredible tune.' It sounded old school but it didn't matter. The song was amazing. I took a copy of it and thought, 'I had to have this tune,' and this was four years ago. I played it for my producer, for fun. He said, 'We should try and update this and make it your own and bring it to life.' So we horsed around with it, I sped up the tempo and worked on it. I knew we had to record it. The label thought it was a bit old school but I wanted to do it. We recorded it and I am so happy."

Comments: 2

  • Mark from Ocilla, GaTotally lost the song...I heard Buddy Brock sing it right after it was written. Leave it to Nashville to screw up a hit song...Should have left it "Old School".
  • Paul from Raleigh, NcSorry Frankie, your version just doesn't do the song justice. You made it all about the arrangement and production, not about the song.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Carol Kaye

Carol KayeSongwriter Interviews

A top session musician, Carol played on hundreds of hits by The Beach Boys, The Monkees, Frank Sinatra and many others.

Corey Hart

Corey HartSongwriter Interviews

The Canadian superstar talks about his sudden rise to fame, and tells the stories behind his hits "Sunglasses At Night," "Boy In The Box" and "Never Surrender."

Lita Ford

Lita FordSongwriter Interviews

Lita talks about how they wrote songs in The Runaways, and how she feels about her biggest hit being written by somebody else.

Rosanne Cash

Rosanne CashSongwriter Interviews

Rosanne talks about the journey that inspired her songs on her album The River & the Thread, including a stop at the Tallahatchie Bridge.

Kevin Godley

Kevin GodleySongwriter Interviews

Kevin Godley talks about directing classic videos for The Police, U2 and Duran Duran, and discusses song and videos he made with 10cc and Godley & Creme.

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie Combination

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie CombinationSong Writing

In 1986, a Stephen King novella was made into a movie, with a classic song serving as title, soundtrack and tone.