‘How’s the World Treating You’ a product of boredom
This week in 1953: Washington reported the nations’ largest peacetime deficit of $9.4 billion: President Dwight D. Eisenhower asked the Kremlin to allow the U.S. to send $15 million in aid to East Berlin; the first big plant producing hydrazine opened in Lake Charles, Louisiana; and a singer from Henderson, Tennessee, had his 52nd hit record.
Songs are written for a lot of different reasons – some songs are even written out of boredom, and according to Chet Atkins, Eddy Arnolds’ 1953 hit, “How’s The World Treating You” started just that way.
Chet said, “I was in New York City at the time. I don’t remember exactly why I was there, but I’m sure it had to do with playing guitar – either recording sessions or concerts. But anyway, I was there for a week and was really bored. So I started playing around with that melody. And when I got back to Nashville, I played the melody for Boudleaux Bryant. He liked it and wrote the lyrics to it. Later I played the song for Eddy Arnold. He liked it and recorded it.”
Eddy Arnold’s RCA single “How’s The World Treating You” was released in May 1953 as the flipside of “Free Home Demonstration.”
Both sides of the record made the charts and each side peaked at No. 4 – “Free Home Demonstration” charted June 20, 1953 and “How’s The World Treating You” charted
July 18, 1953 and was Eddy Arnold’s 52nd charted song.
Eddy Arnold placed 146 songs on the country music charts from 1945 and 2008 – including 28 No. 1’s.
Richard Edward Arnold was born in 1918 and joined The Grand Ole Opry in 1943 and was inducted into The Country Music Hall Of Fame in 1966. He received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.
Eddy Arnold died in 2008 at age
89.
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