Ray Stevens: 45 at 34

I don't necessarily have an image of a 45 RPM to showcase in this blog entry but I do have an image as you can see centering around a Ray Stevens single from 1976 called "Honky Tonk Waltz". The single reached the Top-30 on the country music charts and it was written by Paul Craft. The song is about a couple that breaks up in a bar, or honky-tonk. Ray sings about a man who falls in love with a woman, they become a pair, and they break-up all in one night. The reason why? Well, as the old story goes...two's a party, three's a crowd. Another man came along and stole the woman away. It's almost like a reversal of Patti Page's hit song "Tennessee Waltz" but this time instead of the woman watching a girlfriend steal away a boyfriend, Ray watches a man come along and steal his woman away. "Honky Tonk Waltz" is not a comedy song in spite of the idea that honky-tonk and waltzes are being blended together. I first heard the song on the 1995 Warner Brothers compilation I wrote of several blog entries ago, Do You Wanna Dance?. The song was originally released on the 1976 album, Just For The Record. The picture of Ray on this music booklet matches the picture on that 1976 album.