"Slippin' Away" is a

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, ...

song written by singer-songwriter Bill Anderson, and made famous in 1973 by

Jean Shepard Ollie Imogene "Jean" Shepard (November 21, 1933 – September 25, 2016) was an American honky-tonk singer-songwriter who pioneered for women in country music. Shepard released a total of 73 singles to the Hot Country Songs chart, one of which ...

Background

Her first single since signing with

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

records in 1973. A mid-tempoed song in the

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

tradition, it became Shepard's biggest hit in a decade (since 1964's "Second Fiddle (To An Old Guitar)" — and also her last top 10 hit.

Chart performance

"Slippin' Away" peaked at No. 4 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 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 ...

chart in 1973 and marked at least the second time Shepard had a top 10 on the chart hit with an Anderson-penned tune; she had hit No. 8 on the Hot Country Singles chart in early 1970 with "Then He Touched Me." Shepard went on to enjoy success with one other Anderson-written song: 1975's "The Tips of My Fingers."

References

1973 singles Jean Shepard songs Songs written by Bill Anderson (singer) Song recordings produced by Larry Butler (producer) 1973 songs United Artists Records singles {{1970s-single-stub