# What are your top 10 favorite country songs of all time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 2, 2005, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-10-favorite-country-songs-of-all-time/324400 "2005-10-02T01:13:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Casual\_Male](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Casual\_Male](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casual_Male)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-10-favorite-country-songs-of-all-time/324400/1 "2005-10-02T01:13:03Z")
Name your top 10 country songs of all time. My list, in no particular order:: 1. George Jones - Bartender Blues 2. Doug Stone - Better Off in a Pine Box 3. Porter Wagoner - Misery Loves Company 4. David Allan Coe - D-R-U-N-K 5. Randy Travis - Diggin Up Bones 6. George Jones - Still Doin Time 7. Mark Chestnutt - Too Cold at Home 8. Alan Jackson - Blues Man 9. Hank Williams, Sr - Heard that Lonesome Whistle Blow 10. George Jones & David Allan Coe - Bottle in My Hand ---
**Author:** ![Casual\_Male](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Casual\_Male](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casual_Male)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-10-favorite-country-songs-of-all-time/324400/2 "2005-10-02T01:14:06Z")
Just a correction on my first entry. That should read: 1. George Jones **& James Taylor** - Bartender Blues ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-10-favorite-country-songs-of-all-time/324400/3 "2005-10-02T01:24:27Z")
In no particular order (subject to change): “Rocky Top” - Conway Twitty (might not be the best version, but I like it) “Steel Rails” - Alison Krauss + Union Station “You Ain’t Woman Enough to Take My Man” - Loretta Lynn (I wouldn’t screw with her in this song) “Legend of Bonnie & Clyde” - Merle Haggard “Slippin’ Away” - Jean Shepard “Heaven’s Just a Sin Away” - The Kendalls “Walk on By” - Leroy Van Dyke “Ring of Fire” - Johnny Cash “Six Days on the Road” - Dave Dudley “For the Good Times” - Ray Price ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-10-favorite-country-songs-of-all-time/324400/4 "2005-10-02T03:08:01Z")
These are all pretty recent, because I haven’t been listening to country music for very long nor do I listen to it very often, but I really love these songs (among others):[ul][li]“The Dance” - Garth Brooks[/li][li]“Outside The Fire” - Garth Brooks[/li][li]“Friends in Low Places” - Garth Brooks[/li][li]“Rocky Top” - Conway Twitty (I agree, **Mr. Blue Sky** :))[/li][li]“American Child” - Phil Vassar[/li][li]“Just Another Day in Paradise” - Phil Vassar[/li][li]“Believe Me Baby (I Lied)” - Trisha Yearwood[/li][li]“Videlia” - Sammy Kershaw[/li][li]“Heads Carolina, Tails Californa” - Jo Dee Messina[/li]“There Is No Arizona” - Jamie O’Neal[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-10-favorite-country-songs-of-all-time/324400/5 "2005-10-02T03:32:13Z")
“He Stopped Loving Her Today” - George Jones “Sunday Morning Coming Down” - Johnny Cash “The Way I Am” - Merle Haggard “Independence Day” - Martina McBride “You Never Even Call Me By My Name” - David Allan Coe “Skin” - Rascal Flatts “Little Goodbyes” -SHeDAISY “White Lightning” - George Jones “Celebrity” - Brad Paisley “Songs About Me” - Trace Adkins ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-10-favorite-country-songs-of-all-time/324400/6 "2005-10-02T04:05:14Z")
_Copperhead Road_ - Steve Earle _By The Time I Get To Phoenix_ - Glen Campbell \*Hickory Wind \* - BR549 _El Paso_ - Marty Robbins \*King Of The Road \* - Roger Miller _Oh, Lonesome Me_ - Don Gibson \*A Thousand Miles From Nowhere \* - Dwight Yoakam _Sunday Morning Comin’ Down_ - Johnny Cash _I Walk The Line_ - Johnny Cash _Ring of Fire_ - Johnny Cash _Jambalaya_ - Hank Williams Sr. _I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry_ - Hank Williams, Sr. \*Your Cheatin’ Heart \* - Hank Williams, Sr. _I Fall To Pieces_ - Patsy Cline _Crazy_ - Patsy Cline _Me and Bobby McGee_ - Janice Joplin or Roger Miller or Kris Kristoferson ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-10-favorite-country-songs-of-all-time/324400/7 "2005-10-02T04:17:17Z")
“Miss Emily’s Picture,” by John Conlee “Cotton Fields,” by Johnny Cash “Seven Spanish Angels,” by Willie Nelson and Ray Charles “Deeper Than the Holler,” by Randy Travis “Long Time Lovin’ You,” by McGuffey Lane “Outbound Plane,” by Suzy Bogguss “Tennessee Waltz,” by anyone but especially the Slim Whitman version “He’ll Have to Go,” by Jim Reeves “Where’ve You Been?” by Kathy Mattea “Rainbow Stew” by Merle Haggard I’m proud of myself for not including any bluegrass, but that’s where my heart really lies. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-10-favorite-country-songs-of-all-time/324400/8 "2005-10-02T04:35:44Z")
Damn, this is tough. Here’s some - Lee Hazlewood - “Some Velvet Morning” the Carter Family - “homestead on the farm” tied with “No Depression” Leroy Van Dyke - “Walk on By” Claude King - “Wolverton Mountain” Conway Twitty - “You’ve never been this far before” the Magnetic Fields - “a chicken with its head cut off” Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s version of “I’m so lonesome I could cry” Patsy Cline - all, but especially “She’s got you” and “I fall to pieces” the Statler Brothers - “flowers on the wall” any “Tennessee Waltz” any “Silver Dagger” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-10-favorite-country-songs-of-all-time/324400/9 "2005-10-02T05:05:23Z")
Listing only 10 is difficult. Tonight’s list, in no particular order: Ol’ Slew Foot, Porter Wagner I’ll Be Your San Antone Rose, Emmylou Harris Sundown, Gordon Lightfoot My Shoes Keep Walking Back To You, Ray Price High Fashion Queen, Chris Hillman If Heartaches Had Wings, Rhonda Vincent Kaw-Liga, Hank Williams sr. Apartment Number Nine, Tammy Wynette God Don’t Make Honkey Tonk Angels, Kitty Wells Rodeo, Garth Brooks ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-10-favorite-country-songs-of-all-time/324400/10 "2005-10-02T05:43:36Z")
**don’t ask** , I got chills reading your list. You’re in Sydney and I’m in Nashville. We match on nine of yours. I would add _Saunders Ferry Lane_. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-10-favorite-country-songs-of-all-time/324400/11 "2005-10-02T06:55:47Z")
A few that have been mentioned and a few that haven’t… _Return of the Grievous Angel_ - Gram Parsons _You Ain’t Woman Enough to Take my Man_ - Loretta Lynn _Pancho and Lefty_ - Townes van Zandt _Red Headed Stranger_ - Willie Nelson _San Antonio Rose_ - Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys _Bury Me Beneath the Willow_ - Allison Krause and Lyle Lovett _Sing Me Back Home_ - Merle Haggard _Folsom Prison Blues_ - Johnny Cash _El Paso_ - Marty Robbins _Ballad of Forty Dollars_ - Tom T. Hall _I Feel Like Hank Williams Tonight_ - Jerry Jeff Walker ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-10-favorite-country-songs-of-all-time/324400/12 "2005-10-02T07:03:15Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > **don’t ask** , I got chills reading your list. You’re in Sydney and I’m in Nashville. We match on nine of yours. I would add _Saunders Ferry Lane_. What surprises me is the variety of the lists. There are songs I only vaguely know and that wouldn’t be true in other genres. ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-10-favorite-country-songs-of-all-time/324400/13 "2005-10-02T09:11:58Z")
No particular order after #1 1. “I still miss someone” - Johnny Cash 2. “I’m so so lonseone I could cry” - Hank Williams 3. “Folsom prison Blues” - Jonny Cash 4. “The Wild Side of Life” - Hank Thompson 5. Any cheating song by Loretta Lynne - especially “When the Tingle Becomes a Chill” or “Another Man Loved Me last Night” 6. “Howlin’ At The Moon” - Hank Williams 7. “God Will” - Lyle Lovett 8. “Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down” - Merle Haggard 9. “The Race is On” - George Jones 10. “Six Days On The Road” - Dave Dudley Let’s see - we got drinkin’, cheatin’, killin’ and drivin’ trucks. Thats about what you need isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-10-favorite-country-songs-of-all-time/324400/14 "2005-10-02T09:17:32Z")
> [@John Carter of Mars](#): > > Kaw-Liga, Hank Williams sr. Is it just me or this this the most unbelievably sad song Williams ever wrote? I heard this when I was 9 years old and I burst into tears after it finished. Poor ole’ Kaw Liga, eh? mm ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-10-favorite-country-songs-of-all-time/324400/15 "2005-10-02T12:43:43Z")
Again , no particular order. And limiting it to 10 was nearly impossible ☹ . Crazy - Patsy Cline Save a Horse , Ride a Cowboy - Big & Rich The Dance - Garth Brooks Homespun Love - Keith Urban Rodeo - Garth Brooks You’re the Reason God Made Oklahoma - Shelly West & David Frizell Let that Pony Run - Pam Tillis What Was I Thinkin’ - Dierks Bentley Whatcha Gonna Do With A Cowboy? - Chris Ledoux & Garth Brooks The Devil Went Down To Georgia - Charlie Daniels Band ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-10-favorite-country-songs-of-all-time/324400/16 "2005-10-02T13:36:09Z")
In no particular order: Neon Moon – Brooks & Dunn The Doors Are Open Wide – Jimmie Dale Gilmore Turn It On, Turn It Up, Turn Me Loose - Dwight Yoakam Right or Wrong – George Strait I’ve Cried My Last Tear For You – Ricky Van Shelton Sunday Morning Coming Down – Johnny Cash Faded Love – Patsy Cline He Stopped Loving Her Today – George Jones Walk Softly On This Heart of Mine – Kentucky Headhunters Crazy Arms – Ray Price (and BR549’s version is good too) ---
**Author:** ![gaucho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@gaucho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaucho)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-10-favorite-country-songs-of-all-time/324400/17 "2005-10-02T13:51:58Z")
Off the top of my head: “Pancho and Lefty” Townes Van Zandt “Angel Flying too Close to the Ground” Willie Nelson “City of New Orleans” as performed by Willie Nelson “Mama Tried” Merle Haggard “Satin Sheets” Loretta Lynne “Walking after Midnight” Patsy Cline “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way” Waylon Jennings “Jolene” Dolly Parton “Folsom Prison Blues” Johnny Cash “Guitar Town” Steve Earle ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-10-favorite-country-songs-of-all-time/324400/18 "2005-10-02T14:10:22Z")
> [@gaucho](#): > > “Satin Sheets” Loretta Lynne Did she do a cover? This was originally a hit by Jeanne Pruett. ---
**Author:** ![gaucho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@gaucho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaucho)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-10-favorite-country-songs-of-all-time/324400/19 "2005-10-02T14:44:41Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Did she do a cover? This was originally a hit by Jeanne Pruett. I didn’t know that! It’s a devastating song, as Loretta sings it. Is the “big, long cadillac” in the song a hearse, or am I reading too much into it? Some good lists here, and a lot of songs I’m going to have in my head all day. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2005, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-10-favorite-country-songs-of-all-time/324400/20 "2005-10-02T14:51:07Z")
Eddie Dean - Stealing (B-side of “I Dreamed Of A Hillbilly Heaven”) Leroy Van Dyke - Walk On By Johnny Cash - I Walk The Line Roger Miller - Dang Me The Statler Brothers - Flowers On The Wall Sonny James - Young Love Marty Robbins - A White Sport Coat Ray Price or Guy Mitchell - Heartaches By The Number Guy Mitchell - Singing The Blues Hank Williams - Hey Good Lookin’ Johnny Cash - Ring Of Fire Jim Reeves - He’ll Have To Go Kenny Rogers & The First Edition - Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town Sorry, that’s 13. I could go on! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-top-10-favorite-country-songs-of-all-time/324400.md?page=2)