M is for mudflaps, O is for oil, T is for T-Bird, H is for Haggard, E is for eggs…? eggs? What’s the significance of eggs?
Without Mom’s egg, it’s unlikely the singer would exist?
I actually used to know the guy who wrote that song. Well, I was 9; my mom knew him. I doubt if she still keeps in touch with him, but I’ll ask my sister to ask her.
Which only serves to make me wonder what the Father’s Day song is like …
True, and thanks for the guess. However, although that part of the song spells out “mother,” all the items listed (including the final R for redneck) relate to characteristics of the son, so I think that’s probably not it.
I appreciate the attempt. If it pans out, it would be awesome to get such an authoritative answer.
Remind me who that is. It’s on the tip of my tongue…
(headsmack) Ray Wylie Hubbard
Huh. I’m just now learning that it wasn’t my brother who wrote that song.
He spend at least 20 years in various bands, and would occasionally send home concert recordings. When I was really little, I loved a particular tape of him playing that song — and in standard eight-year-old logic, figured that if he was playing the song, he must’ve wrote it!
I always took it to mean eggs, like fresh from the farm home cooked eggs every morning for breakfast.
E has to be for something. What other possibilities are there? Earnhardt, maybe?
“Eggs” at least brings up some rednecky imagery.
Maybe the songwriter had just seen Cool Hand Luke.
The song was a favorite of The Lost Gonzo Band, whom I heard many times when they toured with Jerry Jeff Walker or Michael Murphey–before he added the “Martin” because there was already a famous Michael Murphy/Murphey. (I never cared for Michael, but he wrote some pretty good songs. Until “Wildfire.”)
The word for “E” was originally Enema. Not that it’s a specifically “redneck” word–but I think Ray Wiley Hubbard just wanted something rude. To be rude to all the rednecks who were all too glad to strum the heads of those commie-pinko-faggot-dopefiend-longhairs. (Eventually the rednecks grew their hair longer.)
Probably some record company suit didn’t care for the rudeness. Thus: eggs.
Thanks Bridget. By adding “enema” to a Google search, I found a few examples of the song using that word. Interestingly, there’s a video of Hubbard doing the song (somewhat recently) using “eggs.” Anyway, I can envision him saying “E is for enema” and thinking “you need one to flush your head out of your ass, jerk.”
You’re welcome. “Up Against The Wall…” is a great sing along song. But the Lost Gonzo Band (especially when backing up Jacky Jack) had lots of sing along songs–“Amazing Grace” sounded great at the end of a long evening with the band & the audience bent in various directions. Then they’d take us “Home With the Armadillo.”
It took RWH a long time to live down writing that song. But he finally bettered it with “Screw You, I’m From Texas.” Which is somewhat satirical–fans of the 3rd Wave Texas Singer Songwriters must scream loudly every time a song mentions the state.
This bit is good:
Of course, Ray Wiley Hubbard is from Oklahoma…
Used to see ol’ Gary P. Nunn w/ your Michael M. Murphy at Wunsche Bros. Cafe in Spring. You remember Murphy… She ran calling Wildfire.
I do believe “Elvis” might have worked as well as “eggs”.
Naw, RWH liked Elvis. He really didn’t like rednecks–back in the days before Willie Nelson raised their consciousness.
“Wildfire” is elevator music on the Elevator to Hell. Along with “Horse With No Name.”
Amen, sister. Express Elevator to Hell, in fact. It’s hard for me to reconcile that someone who wrote “Cherokee Fiddle” and “Rollin’ Nowhere” could somehow come up with saccharine pap like “Wildfire.”