Flowers On The Wall

Back around 1999-2001, I played bass for a regional Top 40 country band. I suppose admittance is the first step to recovery, but all in all, it was a good band and a good time. We had a six piece band, so we could cover a lot of ground, musically. One thing I learned quickly was that the country audience often knows those songs as well or better than the band does, so you'd best do the homework and always bring your 'A game' or you just won't cut it.

One of the tunes that was popular around that time was this cover of a song called "Flowers On The Wall", originally done by The Statler Brothers in the late 1960's. In 2000, a newcomer named Eric Heatherly kickstarted his music career with the song and walked away with the honor of the #3 Top Country Single of 2000 and also the #1 video designation from both the Great American Country (GAC) and Country Music Television (CMT) cable TV music channels. Not bad for a guy who could found playing at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge a few weeks prior.

Modern country music is something of a paradox, as anyone who works in that industry will readily admit. Songwriters are constantly faced with the choice of either sticking to what will get their song picked up by publishers that sell them to major name performers, who do not want to rock the boat with ultra-conservative country radio, or honoring their country music ancestors with honest story lines that cut to the bone with credible depictions of the often less than glamorous side of life. Often, in order to successfully do the latter, a writer or performer will forego the blessings of airplay and award shows. Oh, they'll get an occasional nod of respect from the industry, but it remains known by both parties that they are outsiders. I find it interesting that the Country Music Hall of Fame is loaded with pioneers who told the truth of life in their songs, but what passes for country anymore is more concerned with image than truth.

All of that makes me wonder how on Earth a song like "Flowers On The Wall" ever got recorded in the first place, especially in 1968. The song, written by a fellow named Lew DeWitt, was the first major hit for the Statlers, but what an odd way to get in the game. It sure has a jaunty little melody during the verses, but jumps to a minor key for the chorus, indicating that behind the public smile lives a very sad and possibly disturbed personality.

Back when this song was written, it was not uncommon for patients living in psychiatric hospitals to have absolutely nothing or very little to do. They were allowed to smoke in their rooms and sometimes watch television, both activities that were highly desired by patients with nothing to do but count the flowers on the wall (obviously, flowered wallpaper), play solitaire, smoke cigarettes and watch TV. It has often been speculated that the narrator of this song is struggling with anxiety and reluctance for leaving the privacy of his hospital room, probably having to do with agoraphobia or some other form of social anxiety. The speaker is content being bored in his room because he wants nothing to do with the outside world. As far as songwriting is concerned, that's just as dark a subject matter as any other song that might concern a broken marriage, poverty, alcoholism, crime and punishment, death or any of the other topics that are so deeply ingrained in the bloodline of country music.

Here's the Statler Brothers on a 1968 TV show, doing their thing. Give the lyric another listen and think about it. Not so sun-shiney, is it?

You can easily find a suitable Statler Brothers 'best-of' at Amazon, of course. The album, "Swimming In Champagne" from Eric Heatherly, can be had there too, used, for the embarrassing price of one red cent. Further proof that Nashville fame is both fickle and fleeting.