Going to That Big Rubber Room in the Sky

Rest In Peace, Porter Wagoner

Some folks drift along through life and never thrill
To the feeling that a good deed brings until
It's too late and they are ready to lie down
There beneath the leaves that scattered on the ground …

To your grave there's no use taking any gold
You cannot use it when it's time for hands to fold
When you leave this earth for a better home someday
The only thing you'll take is what you gave away

– "Fallen Leaves," by Porter Wagoner

Porter Wagoner, not to be confused with Joey Porter, died the other day at the age of 80. Porter Wagoner quit school in the seventh grade to later become a best-selling country crooner and TV star known for songs of heartbreak, an impressive pompadour and outrageous rhinestone suits.

He also was famous for collaborations with stars as diverse as Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash and James Brown. According to the The New York Times,

“Wagoner had 81 singles on the country charts, including 29 Top 10 records. His hits included “Dark End of the Street,” “Green, Green Grass of Home,” “Skid Row Joe” and “The Cold Hard Facts of Life.” He was famous for capturing straight up the raw emotions of people living tough lives, sometimes using his speaking voice in an old-time country technique called recitation.”

Also according to the Times,

“Wagoner recorded some of country music’s earliest “concept albums,” in which individual tracks combine in a thematic whole.”

“The lyrics in at least two of his songs came from spending time in a Nashville mental hospital. One, “Committed to Parkview,” was written by Johnny Cash about a Nashville institution in which both men had stayed. The song is part of an album Mr. Wagoner released last year, “The Rubber Room: The Haunting Poetic Songs of Porter Wagoner, 1966-1977.”

Courtesy of The Aquarium Drunkard, here’s a review of “The Rubber Room.”

Over the course of his career, Wagoner’s songs covered varied thematic concepts, including temptation, infidelity, redemption, living as a prisoner (metaphorically and literally), and other thematic touchstones. He recorded gospel as well as country.

As a Grand Ole Opry fixture and its unofficial spokesman for more than 50 years, Wagoner invited James Brown to perform on the Opry in 1979. In addition to covering the country standards, “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “Tennessee Waltz,” James Brown performed his own “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag.”

Apparently it didn’t go over well – Brown’s appearance generated hate mail.