The genius of Dennis Linde.
Even if you happen to’re not aware of the hit songwriter Dennis Linde, you little doubt know his work. Linde was the mastermind behind many nation hits of the ’90s, from “Bubba Shot The Jukebox” by Mark Chesnutt to Joe Diffie’s traditional “John Deere Inexperienced.” However his catalog truly goes again fairly a bit farther: Linde had his first main hit within the Nineteen Sixties, and wrote the most important tune of his profession when Elvis Presley file “Burning Love” again in 1972.
Over his practically 5 decade profession, Linde managed to provide hits like “Callin’ Baton Rouge,” which was initially recorded by the Oak Ridge Boys earlier than turning into a large tune for Garth Brooks, “Janie Baker’s Love Slave” by Shenandoah, and several other hit songs for Roger Miller.
However one factor that was distinctive about Linde was the world he created in his songs.
In reality, Linde was so dedicated to the world that he created that he additionally saved a map in his dwelling that confirmed the “places” he included in his songs, issues just like the water tower that Billy Bob painted in “John Deere Inexperienced,” explaining that he needed to have some method to sustain with the individuals he wrote about in his songs.
And that’s why a number of recurring characters pop up in Linde’s songs.
One of the vital well-known characters is a man named Earl. We don’t know a ton about him, however we all know from Sammy Kershaw’s hit “Queen of My Double Vast Trailer” that he rebuilds engines and he’s “the Charlie Daniels of the torque wrench.”
The following time we hear about Earl is, in fact, when he meets his premature dying in “Goodbye Earl” by the Dixie Chicks (now simply referred to as The Chicks) by the hands of two finest associates named Mary Ann and Wanda, who was being abused by Earl after getting married.
However do you know that Earl isn’t the one character from the tune that Linde had already launched in his songwriting? In reality, by the point they fed Earl these black-eyed peas, we had already met each Mary Ann and Wanda in earlier songs written by Linde.
Mary Ann was the title character in a tune first recorded by nation duo Brother Phelps again in 1993 known as “Mary Ann Is A Pistol.” Within the tune, we be taught that Mary Ann is a tomboy who may get the eye of all the boys on the town – however even again then, she didn’t put up with any nonsense from the blokes:
“You would possibly drink a number of, and shoot some pool along with her
On a Friday night time
Don’t you place no strikes on her, buddy
She’ll punch out your lights”
Wanda, however, first appeared within the 1994 tune “Junior’s In Love” by Joe Diffie, which was launched on his Third Rock From The Solar album. There, we be taught that Wanda is relationship a man named Shorty (apparently earlier than she discovered Earl – or possibly that was simply his nickname), however one other man on the town named Junior is greater than somewhat obsessed along with her – and mainly kidnaps her from her entrance porch after tying up Shorty and throwing him in his truck mattress.
“Wanda walked down the entrance steps and stated
‘I hate to interrupt up the get together
However I’ve received to get to work by 5
Would you run me over there, Shorty?’
That’s when Junior turned vivid pink and stated
‘I’m taking her to the diner’
And he threw Shorty within the truck mattress
With a busted nostril and a shiner”
Appears like Wanda actually knew the way to decide ’em…and Junior wasn’t the brightest crayon within the field.
Nicely with all that backstory we all know what occurred from there: Wanda finally ends up marrying Earl, he’s an actual piece of sh**, and will get what’s coming to him due to Mary Ann and Wanda.
And it’s all due to the genius of Dennis Linde.
