The Controversy That Followed The Song Coward Of the County By Kenny Rodgers

Coward of The County

Coward of the County is a song well known all over the world. These lines have been repeated by sober and inebriated men and women in equal measure:

"Promise me, son, not to do the things I've done

Walk away from trouble if you can

Now it won't mean you're weak if you turn the other cheek

I hope you're old enough to understand

Son, you the don't have to fight to be a man"

Coward of the County was written by Roger Bowling and Billy Ed Wheeler and recorded by American country music superstar Kenny Rogers. According to LA Times, the song was released in 1979 and quickly became a hit, reaching the top of the charts and becoming one of Kenny Rogers' signature tunes.

This is the story about Kenny Rogers and Coward of the County.

See, the story starts in 1964 when Billy Ed Wheeler scored a significant milestone when his song “Ode To The Little Brown Shack Out Back” hit number 3 in the Billboard country chart. With this achievement, Wheeler had announced himself to the world, not just as a musician, but as a songwriter

It wasn’t strange therefore in 1979 when Wheeler teamed up with Roger Bowling, and the two dynamic talents came up with a mouth watering idea for a song. According to the LA Times, they had one man in their mind to sing this song: Kenny Rogers.

The idea on the flow and the lyrics began during a drive along a mountain road, as Bowling hummed a chorus he had titled “The Promise.” It was a pledge from a son to his father, with religious overtones.

The two guys went back and forth on what might work and sound good to a demanding country music fanbase. Wheeler felt that a story with an underdog theme might work, and he and Bowling tried to fit that idea with “The Promise.” It proved to be a cantankerous, heck tiring task, and they wrote three different versions before they finally created a storyline they were content with.

Eventually, the two gentleman were ready with the song. They had their man, Kenny Rogers. When the song was released, it became an instant hit. Then, controversy followed.

At its core, Coward of the County is a song about a man called Tommy who refuses to fight despite being challenged to a brawl by the Gatlin Boys.

And this is where the controversy lies

In Texas, there is a country music band known as the “Gatlin Brothers”

Now when the song came out, people thought that Kenny Rogers was singing about the Taxas based Gatlin brothers. As you know, the song implicates three fictitious Gatlin boys in a rape ordeal

In an interview with a popular country music magazine, Larry Gatlin said:

“It was really a great song, but after it came out, we started getting accused of being rapists. Even my mother came home one day and said she heard a song that accused her boys of rapin’ somebody. It kind of made me mad. I think they could have showed a little good taste and used somebody else’s name.”

There was another coincidence. Larry Gatlin had at one time dated a girl called Becky! Becky is the name of the girl who was violated in the song. That, of course, exacerbated the already tense situation

Wheeler and Bowling have maintained that they considered other names like Barlow, but at the end of the day, only “Gatlin” had a good ring to it.

At one time, Larry Gatlin confronted Kenny Rogers on live television about the song, seeing how much it had affected his life. Rogers exclaimed

“Don’t blame me, I didn’t write it!”

Controversy notwithstanding, Coward Of The County is such a great song!