Theron Eugene "Ted" Daffan (September 21, 1912 – October 6, 1996) was an 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, ...

ian noted for composing the seminal "Truck Driver's Blues" and two much covered country anthems of unrequited love, " Born to Lose" and "I'm a Fool to Care".

Early years

Daffan was born in

Beauregard Parish, Louisiana Beauregard Parish (french: Paroisse de Beauregard) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 35,654. The parish seat is DeRidder. The parish was formed on January 1, 1913. Beauregard Parish ...

, United States. He lived in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

in the 1930s, working in an instrument repair shop in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Music career

In the 1930s,

Western Swing Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the Western United States, West and Southern United States, South among the region's Western music (North America), Western string bands. It is dan ...

bandleader

Milton Brown Milton Brown (September 8, 1903 – April 18, 1936) was an American band leader and vocalist who co-founded the genre of Western swing. His band was the first to fuse hillbilly hokum, jazz, and pop together into a unique, distinctly American hy ...

convinced Daffan to start performing. Soon after he scored his first success as a songwriter with "Truck Drivers' Blues", one of the first truck-driving songs, a motif which would come to dominate country music for decades.

"Truck Drivers' Blues"

Daffan wrote "Truck Drivers' Blues" after he stopped at a roadside diner, and noticed that every time a trucker parked his rig and strolled into the cafe, the first thing he did, even before ordering a cup of coffee, was push a coin in the jukebox. He decided to write a song to capture some of the truck drivers' nickels and make himself rich and famous. Recorded by western swing artist

Cliff Bruner Clifton Lafayette Bruner (April 25, 1915 – August 25, 2000) was a fiddler and bandleader of the Western Swing era of the 1930s and 1940s. Bruner's music combined elements of traditional string band music, improvisation, blues, folk, and popula ...

(with

Moon Mullican Aubrey Wilson Mullican (March 29, 1909 – January 1, 1967), known professionally as Moon Mullican and nicknamed "King of the Hillbilly Piano Players", was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and pianist. He was associated with t ...

on lead vocal) in 1939, the song sold more than 100,000 copies.

"Worried Mind"

It was such a big hit that

Art Satherley Arthur Edward Satherley (October 19, 1889 – February 10, 1986) was an American record producer and A&R man. Often called Uncle Art Satherley, he made major contributions to the recording industry and has been described as "one of the most impo ...

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

gave him a recording contract, and Ted recorded his first song ‘Worried Mind’ on April 25, 1940, at Burrus Sawmill Studio, Saginaw, Texas. It was released July 1940 on Vocalion 05668, then on Okeh 05668. It was also his own composition and sold over 350,000 copies, in spite of being covered by 12 other prominent artists including

Bob Wills James Robert Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American Western swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Considered by music authorities as the founder of Western swing, he was known widely as the King of Western Swing (although ...

Roy Acuff Roy Claxton Acuff (September 15, 1903 – November 23, 1992) was an American country music singer, fiddler, and promoter. Known as the "King of Country Music", Acuff is often credited with moving the genre from its early string band and "hoedown ...

and

Wayne King Harold Wayne King (February 16, 1901 – July 16, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter, and bandleader with a long association with both NBC and CBS. He was referred to as "the Waltz King" because much of his most popular music involved wa ...

" Born to Lose"

Forming his own band, The Texans, Daffan scored a string of hits, including "Those Blue Eyes Are Not Shining Anymore", "She Goes The Other Way", "No Letter Today", and " Born to Lose", which was also a platinum disc for

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

in 1962. Daffan's version of "Born to Lose" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

Other hits

"I'm a Fool to Care" was first released by Ted Daffan's Texans in 1940. Its enduring lament, "I'm a fool to care, when you don't care for me", was recorded by numerous artists over the ensuing 75 years. The Les Paul and Mary Ford version went to No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1954, and was featured in a popular

Southern Comfort Southern Comfort (often abbreviated SoCo) is an American, naturally fruit-flavored, whiskey liqueur with fruit and spice accents. The brand was created by bartender Martin Wilkes Heron in New Orleans in 1874, using whiskey as the base spirit. W ...

commercial in 2013.

Joe Barry Joe Barry (born July 5, 1970) is an American football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the assistant head coach and linebackers coach for the Los A ...

's 1961

swamp pop Swamp pop is a music genre indigenous to the Acadiana region of south Louisiana and an adjoining section of southeast Texas. Created in the 1950s by young Cajuns and Creoles, it combines New Orleans–style rhythm and blues, country and western ...

version sold over one million copies.

recorded it in 1965;

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

included it on his first solo album in 1970; and

Boz Scaggs William Royce "Boz" Scaggs (born June 8, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. An early bandmate of Steve Miller in The Ardells and the Steve Miller Band, he began his solo career in 1969, though he lacked a major hit until h ...

made it the title song on his 2015 release, which went to No. 1 on the Billboard blues chart.

Retirement and death

Daffan left active performance in the 1960s, and founded a

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

-based publishing house with

Hank Snow Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow (May 9, 1914 – December 20, 1999) was a Canadian-American country music artist. Most popular in the 1950s, he had a career that spanned more than 50 years, he recorded 140 albums and charted more than 85 singles on t ...

. He retired to Houston, but retained interests in the publishing business for a time. He died in 1996 in Houston, Texas.

Discography

Singles

*Conqueror 9697: "Put Your Little Arms Around Me / I'm A Fool To Care" (1940) *Conqueror 9698: "She Goes The Other Way / Gray Eyed Darling" (1940) *Conqueror 9699: "Blue Steel Blues / Worried Mind" (1940) *Conqueror 9700: "Rainy Day Blues / Let Her Go" (1940) *Conqueror 9701: "I'm Sorry I Said Goodbye / I Told You So" (1940) *Okeh 5668: "Worried Mind / Blue Steel Blues" *Okeh 5741: "Crying The Blues Again / Where The Deep Waters Flow" (1940) *Okeh 6172: "Because / Those Blue Eyes Don't Sparkle Anymore" (1941) *Okeh 6253: "Weary, Worried And Blue / Too Late, Little Girl, Too Late" (1941) *Okeh 6504: "I'll Travel Alone / I Lost My Sunshine" (1941) *Okeh 6542: "Breakin' My Heart Over You / Car Hop's Blues" (1941) *Okeh 6706: " Born to Lose / No Letter Today" (1942) *Columbia 20077: "Shut That Gate / Broken Vows" (1946) *Columbia 20103: "Baby You Can't Get Me Down / You Better Change Your Ways Baby" (1946) *Columbia 20358: "Long John / Lonesome Highway" (1945) *Columbia 20567: "Flame Of Love / I'm That Kind Of Guy" (1949) *Columbia 20628: "That's A Dad Blamed Lie / Take That Leash Off Of Me" (1949) *Columbia 20678: "I've Got Five Dollars And It's Saturday Night / I'm Gonna Leave This Darned Old Town" (1950) *Columbia 20707: "Ain't Got No Name Rag / Kiss Me Goodnight" (1950)

References

External links

Ted Daffan Theron Eugene "Ted" Daffan (September 21, 1912 – October 6, 1996) was an American country musician noted for composing the seminal "Truck Driver's Blues" and two much covered country anthems of unrequited love, " Born to Lose" and "I'm a Fo ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Online Discographical ProjectNashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Daffan, Ted 1912 births 1996 deaths American country singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Louisiana 20th-century American singers Country musicians from Louisiana