Home | Songs By Year | Songs from 1965
Flowers on the Wall
Buy Flowers on the Wall now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the song. And once you've experienced the song, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'"Flowers on the Wall"' is a song made famous by American country music group The Statler Brothers. Written and composed by Lew DeWitt, the group's original tenor vocalist, the song peaked in popularity in January 1966, spending four weeks at number two on the 'Billboard' magazine Hot Country Singles chart, and reaching number four on the 'Billboard' Hot 100 chart.
The song won the 1966 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary (R&R) Performance - Group (Vocal or Instrumental).
The Statler Brothers re-recorded the song in 1975 for their first greatest-hits album for Mercury Records, 'The Best of The Statler Brothers'. The song is also featured on Nancy Sinatra's album 'Boots' (1966).
Chart performance
Eric Heatherly version
Eric Heatherly recorded the song in 2000 on his debut album, 'Swimming In Champagne.' Also released as his debut single, Heatherly's rendition reached number six on the Hot Country Songs charts and number 50 on the 'Billboard' Hot 100.
Chart history
Year-end charts
In popular culture
* The song (its 1975 version) is used in the soundtrack to the 1994 film 'Pulp Fiction'. In the film, Bruce Willis's character sings along to the line, "smoking cigarettes and watching 'Captain Kangaroo'" as he is driving. In the 1995 film 'Die Hard with a Vengeance', when Willis' character John McClane is describing his suspension from the police force, he says he was "smoking cigarettes and watching 'Captain Kangaroo'."
* The song was frequently employed as bumper music on the syndicated radio talk show 'Coast to Coast AM', particularly in the earlier days when Art Bell was the host.
* Kurt Vonnegut quotes the song's complete lyrics in his 1981 book 'Palm Sunday', calling the song "yet another great contemporary poem by the Statler Brothers" and using it to describe "the present condition" of an American man who had recently departed his family. "It is not a poem of escape or rebirth. It is a poem about the end of a man's usefulness", he adds.
* In a video by The Muppets, a band of rats, The Ratler Brothers, sing the song while Beaker struggles with insomnia after being the subject of an experiment that involved consuming a large amount of coffee. The line in the chorus "smoking cigarettes and watching 'Captain Kangaroo'" is changed to be about other activities.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uIlNtonvr8 Flowers On The Wall | with Bunsen and Beaker | Muppets Music Video | The Muppets]
* Nancy Sinatra covered the song for her album 'Boots'.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvdHi0smyp8 Flowers On The Wall by Nancy Sinatra-Topic on YouTube]
* Jean Shepard covered the song for her 1975 album 'Jean Shepard and the Second Fiddles'
* An instrumental version of the song was used in the New Zealand TV programme 'A Dog's Show'.[https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/a-dogs-show-1981 NZ On Screen: A Dog's Show - 1981 final]
* It is the theme song of the radio series 'Linda Smith's A Brief History of Timewasting'.[https://www.wideopencountry.com/country-classics-revisited-the-statler-brothers-make-boredom-fun-in-flowers-on-the-wall/ Country Classics Revisted: The Statler Brothers Make Boredom Fun in 'Flowers on the Wall']
*Home Free covered the song in May 2020 to pay tribute to Harold Reid, who had passed away earlier that year in April.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1AA1Qswmh4&ab_channel=HomeFree Home Free - Flowers On the Wall]
References
Further reading
* Whitburn, Joel, 'Top Country Songs: 1944-2005' (2006)
Buy Flowers on the Wall now from Amazon
<-- Return to songs from 1965