Song Lyric Sunday – Flowers on the Wall

The prompt from Jim:

This week the Spring Blooming prompts of Blossoms/Cherry/Flowers are here for us to choose songs from, and the song that you choose must contain one of these prompt words in either the title or the lyrics.

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“Flowers on the Wall” was written in 1965 by Lew DeWitt, one of the founding members and the original tenor of the quartet The Statler Brothers. It was recorded in March and released in June of the same year. The song was an early crossover hit reaching #2 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles and #4 on Billboard’s Hot 100. The song would be awarded the Grammy for Best Contemporary (R&R) Performance – Group in 1966.

About The Statler Brothers

Before becoming The Statler Brothers, the group performed mainly gospel music under the names The Four Star Quartet and The Kingsmen. They abandoned the latter when when other groups used the name most notably in 1963 when the song “Louie, Louie” (by The Kingsmen) hit the charts.

Johnny Cash is given much credit for ‘discovering’ The Statler Brothers. They went on the road with him and served as his opening act for eight years.

The group would find their name while staying in a motel. The name on a box of tissues caught their eye: Statler. This would become the new name for the group, taken from The Statler paper company.

Lew Dewitt suffered from complications of Crohn’s disease and on the advice from his physician, left the group in 1983. He selected and was replaced by tenor Jimmy Fortune.

About the Song

As with anything on the internet these days, you get to pick your version of the gospel as far as the origins of the song. From the interviews I read it simply came from a night in a motel room when DeWitt was so bored he was counting the flowers on the wallpaper. He then began to think about what people do to waste time when they are stuck somewhere just waiting, thus the remainder of the lyrics.

The song was covered by Nancy Sinatra, Brenda Lee, and many, many others including The Muppets – although their version left out any mention of cigarettes.

Bruce Willis sings a few lines of the song in a classic scene from the movie “Pulp Fiction”. Not a clip for the tender hearted.

Flowers on the Wall
Lyrics from Songfacts.com

I keep hearin’ you’re concerned about my happiness
But all that thought you’re givin’ me is conscience I guess
If I was walkin’ in your shoes, I wouldn’t worry none
While you ‘n’ your friends are worried about me I’m havin’ lots of fun

Countin’ flowers on the wall
That don’t bother me at all
Playin’ solitaire till dawn with a deck of fifty-one
Smokin’ cigarettes and watchin’ Captain Kangaroo
Now don’t tell me I’ve nothin’ to do

Last night I dressed in tails, pretended I was on the town
As long as I can dream it’s hard to slow this swinger down
So please don’t give a thought to me, I’m really doin’ fine
You can always find me here, I’m havin’ quite a time

Countin’ flowers on the wall
That don’t bother me at all
Playin’ solitaire till dawn with a deck of fifty-one
Smokin’ cigarettes and watchin’ Captain Kangaroo
Now don’t tell me I’ve nothin’ to do

It’s good to see you, I must go, I know I look a fright
Anyway my eyes are not accustomed to this light
And my shoes are not accustomed to this hard concrete
So I must go back to my room and make my day complete

Countin’ flowers on the wall
That don’t bother me at all
Playin’ solitaire till dawn with a deck of fifty-one
Smokin’ cigarettes and watchin’ Captain Kangaroo
Now don’t tell me I’ve nothin’ to do

Don’t tell me I’ve nothin’ to do

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Song Lyric Sunday is hosted every Sunday by Jim Adams. If you would like to join in the fun, check out his blog for the rules and to take in all the other music posted by other bloggers.