Regarding the original Faron Young LP album cover featuring Hellow Walls as a feature song, I asked Cotton why Hellow was spelled with a “w” and he said he thought that was how you spelled Hello - which makes perfect sense when you realize that Cotton was never given a spelling test in all his years of having the same teacher at the one room schoolhouse. Cotton wrote it at Tootsie’s with Willie Nelson. With not even a guitar to entertain himself, no TV, – Cotton’s description of imagining Faron talking to the walls was the idea that turned into the song, Hellow Walls. Cotton witnessed him spending days on end inside his hotel room – never coming out. Another time when Cotton and Faron were in Nashville, Faron had gone through a falling out with some female and was terribly depressed. Hours after the agreed time, sometime around 4 in the morning, Cotton and Willie Nelson, a veteran songwriter himself created the song that night. Telling Cotton to meet him at Tootsie’s sometime after midnight when they were to leave for their next gig, Faron didn’t show. Four in the Morning was written while Cotton was doing a gig in Nashville with Faron. Cotton wrote the lyrics as a specific assessment of Faron’s life style. Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young was written by Cotton specifically about Faron Young. The Wild Side of Life was #1 for 65 weeks, Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young was #1 for 73 weeks, Four in the Morning and Hellow Walls, (both written with Willie Nelson) were in the top ten for a year. I Overlooked an Orchid was one of his first, going #1 on the charts with Carl Smith for 66 weeks. During these young years, he wrote over 500 songs, 14 of which went #1 in the ‘50’s. Listening to the anecdotes and the perspective of these older cowboys, Cotton’s lyrics are remarkably precocious. Through the influence of the cowboys on the Ranch, many of whom were musicians themselves as well as the encouragement of Bob Wills, Cotton spent much of his hours on horseback practicing his fiddle and creating melodies and lyrics to songs. He’d listened to the tales and tribulations of these lone workmen at each meal.Īttending a one room schoolhouse 17 miles away through 6th grade, Cotton spent 5 hours a day on horseback getting to and from school. Union Ranch – where the dining room seated 30, most of whom were cowboys. He played with Carl Smith for 4 years, 8 1/2 years with Faron Young and 8 years with Hank Thompson.īorn in Las Vegas, New Mexico, Cotton’s home was the headquarters of the Ft. Playing the five string Strativarus that Bob Wills gave him, (as well as a triple level steel), he played the professional circuit with Bob Wills, Hank Snow, Ernest Tubb, Marty Robbins, and Mickey Gilley. He began playing professionally at the age of 5 his first appearance at the Grand Ole Oprey with Bob Wills was at the age of 9. In the mid 1940’s, under the encouragement of Bob Wills, Cotton Read taught himself to play fiddle at the age of 3.
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