“You Never Even Called Me by My Name” was a song written by Steve Goodman and John Prine and released in Goodman’s 1971 debut album, “Steve Goodman.” Prine didn’t want to be credited because he didn’t want to be offensive towards the country music community because of the song’s goofy nature. Nonetheless, the song is known as the “perfect” country and western track.
About four years later, country music star David Allan Coe recorded a rendition of the song for the album “Once Upon a Rhyme,” released in 1975. Five minutes long, Coe’s version was the third single in his career and, quite notably, his first Top 10 hit.
What made one of David Allan Coe’s greatest hits different from Steven Goodman’s is that Goodman’s did not include the country-isms that Coe put at the end. In the second verse, Coe listed some audacious impressions of Charley Pride, Waylon Jennings, and Merle Haggard. These three were some of the biggest country stars during that time. In addition to that, Coe also name-drops Steve Goodman along with the part that lists the most common country music cliches like “mama, or trucks, or trains, or prison, or getting drunk.”
Because of Coe’s outlaw persona, he is considered the perfect outlaw to pick up the song “You Never Even Called Me by My Name” and run with it. This performance not only made David Allan Coe break ground as a country solo artist but also allowed Goodman to receive new interest in his career because of Coe’s name-drop.
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Watch David Allan Coe’s performance of the perfect country and western song, “You Never Called Me by My Name.”
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