Daddy Sang Bass

"Daddy Sang Bass"
Single by Johnny Cash
from the album The Holy Land
B-side	"He Turned the Water Into Wine"
Released	October 1968
Genre	Country
Length	2:19
Label	Columbia, 4-44689
Writer(s)	Carl Perkins
Producer	Bob Johnston
Johnny Cash singles chronology
"Folsom Prison Blues" (1968) "Daddy Sang Bass" (1968) "A Boy Named Sue" (1969)

"Daddy Sang Bass" is a 1968 single written by Carl Perkins, with some lines from "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" and recorded by Johnny Cash. "Daddy Sang Bass" was Johnny Cash's sixty-first release on the country chart. The song went to number one on the country charts for six weeks and spent a total of nineteen weeks on the chart.^[1] "Daddy Sang Bass" was also released on the Columbia Records Hall of Fame Series as a 45, #13-33153, b/w "Folsom Prison Blues" (live version).

"Daddy Sang Bass" was Cash's thirty-sixth entry on the pop charts and the last before his "A Boy Named Sue" became his first and only top ten hit there. No other act has had a longer such drought on the pop charts that was finally broken.

According to Johnny Cash's book, The Man in Black, Carl Perkins had been an alcoholic. Cash helped Perkins, who spent a lot of time on the road with Cash. Cash had issues with drug usage, and overcame those addictions through spirituality. Cash eventually found God, and helped Carl Perkins. Feeling inspired, Perkins wrote the song, "Daddy Sang Bass" in 1967. Johnny says the line, "Me and little brother will join right in there" was written about Johnny's brother Jack, who died when they were both boys.

Chart performance

Chart (1968–1969)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	42
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	1
Canadian RPM Top Singles	49

Cover Versions

• Glen Campbell
• The Statler Brothers
• Leon Russell
• The Oak Ridge Boys
• Jean Shepard
• Skeeter Davis
• Nat Stuckey
• Connie Smith
• Mel Tillis
• Jerry Lee Lewis
• Carl Story
• Jackie Thompson
• Sego Brothers and Naomi
• Maury Finney
• Gospel Echoes Quartet
• Bryan Chalker's New Frontier
• The Rhythm Masters

References

1. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 75. 

Preceded by "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell	Billboard Hot Country Singles number-one single January 4-February 9, 1969	Succeeded by "Until My Dreams Come True" by Jack Greene
Preceded by "Mr. Brown" by Gary Buck	RPM Country Tracks number-one single March 3, 1969	Succeeded by "The Girl Most Likely" by Jeannie C. Riley