'Blood Red' a different sort of song

This week in 1973: Sources revealed that President Richard Nixon approved a "partly illegal" '70 internal security plan; The United States asked Costa Rica to extradite financier Robert Vesco; Nixon ordered a 60-day freeze on all retail prices; and a singer from Seminole, Texas, released what would become her 5th hit record.

A lot of hit songs have had strange titles and Curly Putman admits that Tanya Tucker's 1973 No. 1, "Blood Red and Goin' Down" was a strange one.

Curly commented, "I'm a big Erskine Caldwell fan and he wrote books about poor Southern whites with titles like "Tobacco Road" and "Trouble In July." And his writings did influence my songs. I've written several songs around towns in Georgia and the phrase "Blood Red and Goin' Down" just sounded different. But the phrase actually refers to a Georgia sunset. The song just seemed to set a mood for the lonely looking part of the day when you see that redness in the sky as the sun is going down. And that just sort of set the stage for a little boy - or it could have been a little girl who was searching for their mom who had left."

He added, "I took the song to Billy Sherrill. He liked it and picked it for a Tanya Tucker recording session.

Tanya's single "Blood Red and Goin' Down" was released in June 1973. It made the charts July 21st and was at the top of the charts the week of September 29th. It was her 5th charted song and her 2nd No. 1.

The Columbia single also scored a No. 74 on the pop charts.

 

 

Join Doug Davis weekends on KPIG-FM Radio 103.9 and 98.5 from 6 a.m. to noon for "Roots of Country" on Saturdays and "Sunday Country" on Sundays. You can also listen on the internet at Mypigradio.com and on the My Pig Radio Facebook page.