# Best #1 Country Song of the Year 1955 \[POLL\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 30, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-country-song-of-the-year-1955-poll/705962 "2014-11-30T18:44:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eddie\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@Eddie\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eddie_F)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-country-song-of-the-year-1955-poll/705962/1 "2014-11-30T18:44:37Z")
Well, since it’d pretty much be pointless to post any more country song polls from the 1940s (due to the overwhelming lack of clamor for them from the SDMB masses), I’m going to shift these polls forward ten years. We are now looking at 1955, and the former _Billboard_ Most Played Juke Box Folk Records chart is now referred to as the Best Selling Retail Folk (Country & Western) Records chart. And we’re all that much closer to when country music got ridiculously great in the 1960s and 1970s. Anyway, here we are, 1955, and there are a grand total of seven songs to choose from. So which one are you going with? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-country-song-of-the-year-1955-poll/705962/2 "2014-11-30T18:57:34Z")
Do you require the poll taker to have lived (or loved) in 1955? Because I don’t recognize 9 of your ten song choices and most of your artist names. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-country-song-of-the-year-1955-poll/705962/3 "2014-11-30T19:04:50Z")
In the Jail House. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-country-song-of-the-year-1955-poll/705962/4 "2014-11-30T19:14:43Z")
Oh, come now. If we could just skip the “boring” years, my Hot 100 retrospective would have completely ignored 1959-1963, the disco era, and the Age of Crunk. And that would be cheating. 🙂 Seriously, though, I voted for “Sixteen Tons”. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-country-song-of-the-year-1955-poll/705962/5 "2014-11-30T22:24:05Z")
I like Cattle Call, but I actually have 16 Tons on my permanent playlist. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2014, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-country-song-of-the-year-1955-poll/705962/6 "2014-11-30T22:26:14Z")
Sixteen Tons, hands down. Where is Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves already? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2014, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-country-song-of-the-year-1955-poll/705962/7 "2014-12-01T02:49:04Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > Where is Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves already? Jim Reeves had an off year (for him, at least.) Patsy Cline will show up in 1957. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2014, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-country-song-of-the-year-1955-poll/705962/8 "2014-12-01T04:54:36Z")
Aww, I wasn’t that familiar with 40’s country, and was still working my way through the '45 playlist. Oh well, thanks for running the polls you do run. I love “Sixteen Tons”, but it got my vote in the pop poll. So the only question for me is which Webb Pierce song. I went with “Love Love Love”. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2014, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-country-song-of-the-year-1955-poll/705962/9 "2014-12-01T06:16:30Z")
There are a few good songs on this list but Sixteen Tons is a true classic across any genre so it was an easy choice. I never really considered it to be a true country song though. It is almost its own thing like a folksy proto-rap song and I don’t know of anything else quite like it. It was a MASSIVE hit at the time and spawned several cover versions in both the U.S. and Europe. I still listen to Tennessee Ernie Ford version today just because I like it and it is so unique. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2014, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-country-song-of-the-year-1955-poll/705962/10 "2014-12-01T07:51:04Z")
That’s a difficult choice… Sixteen Tons, Cattle Call and In The Jailhouse Now are all classics. Finally voted for Jailhouse, but it really could have been any of those. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2014, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-country-song-of-the-year-1955-poll/705962/11 "2014-12-01T11:02:53Z")
Live Fast, Love Hard, Die young. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2014, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-country-song-of-the-year-1955-poll/705962/12 "2014-12-01T14:34:01Z")
I’m going with _Cattle Call_. While _Sixteen Tons_ was a fun song, Eddy Arnold’s vocals win the day. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2014, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-country-song-of-the-year-1955-poll/705962/13 "2014-12-01T21:30:21Z")
Wow, Webb Pierce was having a good year. And every time I see the name Eddy Arnold I think of Oliver on Green Acres (Eddie Albert.)