"I Ain't Never" is a song co-written by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artists

Webb Pierce Michael Webb Pierce (August 8, 1921 – February 24, 1991) was an American honky-tonk vocalist, songwriter and guitarist of the 1950s, one of the most popular of the genre, charting more number one hits than any other country artist during the ...

and

Mel Tillis Lonnie Melvin Tillis (August 8, 1932 – November 19, 2017) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Although he recorded songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the 1970s as part of the outlaw country movement, ...

. Each co-writer recorded the song separately, with both Pierce's (1959), and years later Tillis's (1972), versions resulting in major hits.

Background

According to Tillis, he wrote the song himself, and agreed to credit Pierce as a co-writer in exchange for a pair of boots Pierce was wearing when Tillis pitched him the song. In Tillis's words, "Them old boots cost me over eight hundred thousand dollars" in royalties.

Chart performance

Pierce's version was released in 1959, eventually spending nine weeks at No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot C&W Sides chart that year (held out by " The Three Bells (Les Trois Cloches)" by

The Browns The Browns were an United States, American country music, country and folk music vocal trio best known for their 1959 Grammy-nominated hit, "The Three Bells". The group, composed of Jim Ed Brown and his sisters Maxine Brown (country singer), Ma ...

). The pop market accepted the Webb Pierce version, crossing it into the Billboard Top 40 and peaking at #24.

Webb Pierce

Mel Tillis

Tillis's 1972 recording of the song was his first No. 1 hit on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Hot Country Singles (now

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

) charts. The success of this version was limited to country music stations.

The Lowes

Additional recordings

Since its original release, the song has been recorded by several other artists, including: *

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(as ''

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'') * BR5-49 *

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* Perfect Stranger *

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* Hank Thompson *

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References

{{authority control 1959 singles 1972 singles Webb Pierce songs Mel Tillis songs Perfect Stranger (band) songs BR549 songs Songs written by Mel Tillis Decca Records singles MGM Records singles Songs written by Webb Pierce 1959 songs