Coward of the County

"Coward of the County"
Single by Kenny Rogers
from the album Kenny
Released	November 12, 1979
Genre	Country
Length	4:22
Label	United Artists
Writer(s)	Roger Bowling, Billy Ed Wheeler
Producer	Larry Butler
Kenny Rogers singles chronology
"You Decorated My Life" (1979) "Coward of the County" (1979) "Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer" (1980)

"Coward of the County " is the title of a ballad written by Roger Bowling and Billy Ed Wheeler and recorded by American country music artist Kenny Rogers. It was released in November 1979 as the second single from the album, Kenny. The song is about a man's nephew who is a reputed coward, but finally takes a stand for his lover. The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and number one on the UK pop chart.^[1] It was the most recent traditional country music song to hit number one in the UK, in February 1980. Alvin and the Chipmunks covered the song with several lyric changes for their 1981 album Urban Chipmunk.

Song Plot

"Everyone considered him the Coward of the County", so goes the song's notable opening (and closing) line.

The song tells the story of a young man named Tommy, who had earned a reputation as the "Coward of the County" (and nicknamed "Yellow" by others) since he never stood up for himself when confronted.

Tommy's non-confrontational attitude, though, is the result of a promise he made to his father, whom he visited with his uncle (portrayed by Rogers in the role of narrator, the narrator and Tommy's father were brothers) at age 10 before his father died in prison. In his last words to Tommy, his father tells him that to "turn the other cheek" is not automatically a sign of weakness, and makes him "promise me son/not to do the things I've done/Walk away from trouble when you can" (implying that Tommy's father was imprisoned for killing or attacking someone in a similar situation).

Notwithstanding his reputation, he meets Becky, who loves him without him having to "prove he is a man". One day, while Tommy is out working, the three "Gatlin boys" — the villains of the piece — attack and (implied) rape Becky. When Tommy returns home and finds Becky hurt, he faces a dilemma – choose between upholding his promise to his father of non-confrontation, or defend Becky's honor.

Tommy goes to the local bar where the Gatlin boys hang out. Amidst laughter, and after "one of them got up and met him halfway 'cross the floor", Tommy turns around to the door. It appears that once again Tommy will choose non-confrontation, but the entire bar suddenly becomes silent "when Tommy stopped, and locked the door". Fueled by "20 years of crawling" which "was bottled up inside him", Tommy engages in a vicious barroom brawl that leaves all three Gatlin boys unconscious (or worse) on the barroom floor.

Tommy then addresses the spirit of his dead father, saying that while he did his best to avoid trouble, he hopes the dead man's ghost understands that "sometimes you gotta fight when you're a man."

The Movie

The song inspired a 1981 television movie of the same name, set in Georgia during World War II. The film starred Rogers as Reverend Matt Spencer (the narrator), Frederick Lehne as his troubled nephew Tommy Spencer, Largo Woodruff as Becky, and William Schreiner as Jimmy Joe Gatlin. The movie added several characters never mentioned in the song, including Car-Wash (Noble Willingham), Violet (Ann-Alicia), and Lem Gatlin, father of the Gatlin Boys (brothers Jimmy, Paul, and Luke).

Controversy Over the Gatlins

It has been claimed that the "Gatlin boys" in the song are a reference to The Gatlin Brothers. However, in The Billboard Book of Number One Country Singles, Rogers stated that he did not realize the connection, and that had he done so, he would have asked for the name to have been changed. Larry Gatlin also gave the song a positive review ("It's a good song").^[2]

The Gatlin Brothers went on to open for Rogers on his 1980 tour, and provided backing vocals to his 1984 single, "Buried Treasure."

Chart Performance

Chart (1979/1980)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	3
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks	5
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	1
Canadian RPM Top Singles	1
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks	1
U.K. Singles Chart	1
Irish Singles Chart	1
New Zealand Singles Chart	3
Dutch Top 40	8
Swiss Singles Chart	8
Austrian Top 40	9

References

1. ^ Kenny Rogers UK Charts history, The Official Charts. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
2. ^ Roland, Tom, The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits. Billboard Books, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1991 (ISBN 0-82-307553-2)

Preceded by "Happy Birthday Darlin'" by Conway Twitty	Billboard Hot Country Singles number-one single January 5-January 19, 1980	Succeeded by "I'll Be Coming Back for More" by T. G. Sheppard
Preceded by "Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound" by Hank Williams, Jr.	Canadian RPM Country Tracks number-one single January 12-January 26, 1980	Succeeded by "Help Me Make It Through the Night" by Willie Nelson
Preceded by "The Special AKA Live!" by The Specials	UK number-one single February 16-February 29, 1980	Succeeded by "Atomic" by Blondie