Saturday Song: Porter Wagoner
Porter Wagoner passed away on October 28, 2007, at the age of 80 from lung cancer. Porter joined the Grand Ole Opry on February 23, 1957 and was an Opry member until his death. His last Opry appearance was on Tuesday October 9, 2007.
On Saturday May 19, 2007, Porter was honored for his 50th anniversary as an Opry member. For trivia buffs I post the Grand Ole Opry line-up from that evening.
6:30: Jimmy Dickens(host); The Whites; Jeannie Seely
7:00: Marty Stuart(host); Patty Loveless; Opry Square Dancers; Dolly Parton; Porter Wagoner
8:00: John Conlee(host); Jimmy C. Newman; Connie Smith
8:30: Mike Snider(host); Jean Shepard; Mel Tillis
9:30: Jimmy Dickens(host); The Whites; John Conlee; Mike Snider
10:00: Marty Stuart(host); Patty Loveless; Opry Square Dancers; Dolly Parton; Porter Wagoner
11:00: Jean Shepard(host); Connie Smith; Mel Tillis
From the May19, 2007 show comes this classic.
The mixture of the blood that flowed through his veins
It killed his conscience and filled him with shame
He was part white part black part red
That’s how he’d got the name George Lorey Chickashea
He had no respect or feeling for anyone including himself
He resented every man in his soul there was no salvation
And he hated the sight of cotton fields and his thoughts of planned nations
The bitterness set his soul afire when he’d think of Indians and reservations
He had the coldest grey eyes I’ve ever saw on a man
He could look clear through you and back again
And they’d look like the pieces of stone when he’d stare
There was a mixture in the texture of his hair
That hung low around his chinbones never high above his chin
I saw him kill a man with his own bare hands never showin’ no mercy on him
He carried a pistol and a switchblade and a tomahawk with him night and day
The meanest man that ever lived George Lorey Chickashea