Old joke inspired hit song title
This week in 1964: The United States and Japan were linked by underwater communications cable; Ted Kennedy was severely injured in a plane crash; The FTC announced it would require health warnings on all cigarette packages; and a singer from Rainsville, Ala., had his first hit record.
Several hit songs have been written from lines or thoughts from old jokes and according to Bill Anderson—Charlie Louvin’s 1964 hit “I Don’t Love You Anymore” was just such a tune.
Anderson commented, “That song came from the punchline of the old joke, “he doesn’t drink any more because he doesn’t drink any less.” I was on tour with Ray Price up in Canada and we were just standing on the side of the stage one afternoon and Ray used to pull that line on one of his band members—“We’re really proud of him—he doesn’t drink anymore—and all the people would applaud—and then he’s say “of course he doesn’t drink any less.” And I kind of have this “songwriter’s antenna” and I’m always thinking of things in terms of a song and
I went back to the hotel that night and wrote “I Don’t Love You Anymore,” based strictly on that old joke.”
Charlie Louvin’s Capitol Records single “I Don’t Love You Anymore” came on the country music charts June 20, 1964, and peaked at No. 4. It was his first charted song as a single act and was on the charts for 27 weeks.
Charlie Louvin (born Charlie Loudermilk) placed 30 songs on the country music charts between 1964 and 1989—including duets with Emmylou Harris, Jim & Jesse, Roy Acuff and Melba Montgomery.
Charlie and his brother Ira placed 12 songs on the country charts as The Louvin Brothers between 1955 and 1962. The brothers joined The Grand Ole Opry in 1955 and were inducted into The Country Music Hall Of Fame in 2001. Ira Louvin died in a car crash in 1965. Charlie Louvin died in 2011.