Johnny Horton:

Greatest Hits: (1961)

I own this album for one reason, when I was a kid my folks would pointed out The Battle of New Orleans on a radio once, and I thought it was funny. What can I say? It stuck with me. I also found it to be an interesting story about Johnny Horton's death. Apparently he was really into psychics. One day his psychic told him he was going to die the following week in a car accident, and there would be nothing he could do to avoid it. So he went home, told his wife (who was Hank Williams widow) and started giving away possessions. One possession he gave away was a guitar to songwriter Merle Kilgore. Upon giving him the guitar he said to Merle, if there was an afterlife he'd get him a message, "The Drummer is a rummer, and can't keep the beat." He then told Merle he wouldn't tell anyone else that, and for Merle to not say anything either. Then on November 5, 1960 Johnny and his band were driving back home from Texas when, on an overpass, a drunk driver swerved into Johnny's lane, and there was no where for him to go. He died in the head on collision. Two years later, Merle Kilgore says he got a call from some strangers in New York who asked if he was the Merle Kilgore who was friends with Johnny Horton. He says, yes. Then they say that they've been conducting seances, and entertaining a spirit for several nights named Johnny Horton. They claimed to only have figured out who he was when The Battle of New Orleans came on the radio before one of the seances. Then they tell Merle, he has a message for you, "The Drummer is a rummer, and can't keep the beat."

Spooky!