Did The Songwriter Of “Friends In Low Places” Really Sell The Publishing Rights To The Song To Settle A Bar Tab?

Separating myth from reality.

Of course everybody knows the Garth Brooks hit “Friends In Low Places,” from his 1990 album No Fences. It was one of the biggest country songs of the ’90s, and it’s still a classic and a staple of concerts, bars, karaoke…pretty much anywhere you hear country music.

Written by Earl Bud Lee and Dewayne Blackwell, “Friends in Low Places” spent four weeks at #1 back in 1990, and it’s been a barroom staple ever since. It led to Garth’s album, No Fences, selling over 10 MILLION copies. And since that first release, “Friends in Low Places” has been released on two greatest hits albums, three live albums, and about 100 box sets.

That’s a lot of sales – and a nice paycheck for the songwriters.

Well, maybe…

There’s an legend around Nashville that the songwriter for one of the biggest hits in country music actually gave away his publishing rights to the song – to pay for a bar tab. In one version of the story, Lee even offered a portion of the rights to any patrons at the bar who helped him pay off his bar tab.

If that’s true, that would have to be one of the most expensive bar tabs in history. Just imagine how you would feel watching your song climb the charts, knowing that some bartender is getting rich from it instead of you, all because you couldn’t afford to pay for your night out on the town.

So what’s the real story?

It’s easy to see why there’s confusion surrounding the song’s history, because the songwriter himself has told a couple of different versions of how “Friends In Low Places” came to be.

In one version of the story from co-writer Earl Bud Lee, as recounted in the 1996 book The Stories Behind Country Music’s All-Time Greatest 100 Songs by Ace Collins, the idea for the song came when Lee and fellow co-writer Dewayne Blackwell were out to lunch in Nashville and realized that they didn’t have enough money with them to cover their bill. When asked how he was going to pay their tab, Lee replied, “Don’t worry. I have friends in low places. I know the cook.”

Lee and Blackwell realized that the line had potential, but didn’t do anything with it until months later at a party to celebrate a number one song for another songwriter. Looking around the “black-tie” affair, the pair went back to their “friends in low places” idea and scribbled down the words on paper napkins.

But in another interview with AXS TV, Lee told a slightly different version of the song’s history – and revealed the truth behind the legend that he sold his rights to the song.

In this version, Lee and Blackwell were out to lunch on a Sunday (skipping church, as he admitted), and having themselves a little Sunday Funday, throwing back a few drinks.

And after “a couple of bottles of champagne,” the songwriters began jotting down lyrics on a napkin:

“I got a bar napkin…and I wrote, ‘Blame it all on my roots, I showed up in boots, and ruined your black tie.”

They went back and forth writing lines for the song, but when it came time to pay for their brunch, Blackwell realized he had forgotten his wallet and asked how they were going to pay for it – which is when the song came together with Lee’s response, “Don’t worry, I have friends in low places.”

But apparently, those friends in low places weren’t willing to let Lee just walk out without paying his tab, which by that point was $1,200:

“They gave me an ultimatum. You’re going to jail because your credit card didn’t work, or you can pay to stay out of jail.

So I peddled the song around and three publishers finally came together and each of them gave me $400, and I paid the innkeeper, drove back, signed the contract, gave the song away.”

Ouch.

According to Lee, it ended up being quite the costly bar tab:

“According to how they want to value it, I probably have lost a good $20 million, maybe. I ended up getting the Mona Lisa and then selling the Mona Lisa for $1,200 to pay a bar tab.”

Of course all wasn’t lost for Lee. Copyright law is complicated, but there are two sets of rights that belong to the songwriter: Publishing and songwriting. Lee may have signed away his publishing rights, but he kept his songwriting credit, which earned him royalties from the airplay of the song…although not as much as he would have made if he had kept all of his rights to one of the biggest songs in country music.

After finishing the song, the writers contacted a singer they had met while he was selling shoes in Nashville, a guy named Garth Brooks, to record a demo. Brooks, who had recently been signed to Capitol Records, liked the song so much that he wanted it for himself – but his debut single and album had already been recorded, and it would be another year and a half before his next album would be released.

In the meantime, Mark Chesnutt recorded a version of the song for his 1990 album Too Cold At Home, but Garth still decided to include it on his sophomore album – though before either of them, it was actually first recorded by David Chamberlain in 1989.

Of course Garth’s version would go on to become the most well-known recording of the song. And that bar tab apparently ended up costing a lot more than $1,200.

The post Did The Songwriter Of “Friends In Low Places” Really Sell The Publishing Rights To The Song To Settle A Bar Tab? first appeared on Whiskey Riff.