"Wine Me Up" is a song first recorded 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, ...

artist

Faron Young Faron Young (February 25, 1932 – December 10, 1996) was an American country music producer, musician, and songwriter from the early 1950s into the mid-1980s. Hits including "If You Ain't Lovin' (You Ain't Livin')" and " Live Fast, Love Hard, D ...

. It was released in May 1969 as the first single from his album, ''Wine Me Up''. The song peaked at number 2 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 and reached number 3 on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' Country Tracks chart in Canada. The authorship of the song has been a source of confusion. Various combinations of Faron Young, Eddie Crandell and Billy Deaton have been credited on the many different artist releases of the song over the years. To paraphrase Faron Young and Frank Oakley, on P. 120-121 of his 2007 biography, "Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story" by Diane Diekman, Carl Belew and Van Givens wrote "Wine Me Up". They were working for

4 Star Records 4 Star Records was a record label that recorded many well-known country music acts in the 1950s. The label, founded after World War II, was home to singers such as Hank Locklin, Maddox Brothers and Rose, Rose Maddox, Webb Pierce, Cousin Ford Le ...

at the time and without permission, Belew and Givens sold the song rights to Faron Young and Frank Oakley under the premise that their wives had written the song. At the same time, Belew also sold the song rights to a man named Eddie Crandell. Faron's original single listed his name and Crandell's as the "songwriters". Once the song hit the charts 4 Star sued Faron and Oakley (and presumably Crandell). Faron and Oakley eventually ceded the publishing rights back to 4 Star, but retained ownership of the song (75% Faron/25% Oakley). At a later date Oakley sold his interest in the song to Faron's new manager, Billy Deaton.

Chart performance

Larry Boone version

"Wine Me Up" was covered by American country music artist

Larry Boone Larry Eugene Boone (born June 7, 1956) is an American country music artist and songwriter. Between 1985 and 1993, Boone recorded five major label studio albums, in addition to charting several singles on the '' Billboard'' Hot Country Singles c ...

on his album ''Swingin' Doors, Sawdust Floors''. It was released in February 1989 as the album's second single. Boone's version peaked at number 19 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles chart and reached number 36 on the ''RPM'' Country Tracks chart in Canada.

Chart performance

Other versions

Ernest Tubb Ernest Dale Tubb (February 9, 1914 – September 6, 1984), nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, "Walking the Floor Over You" (1941), m ...

covered the song on his 1970 album '' Good Year for the Wine''. *

Gary Allan Gary Allan Herzberg (born December 5, 1967) is an American country music singer. Signed to Decca Records in 1996, Allan made his country music debut with the release of his single " Her Man", the lead-off to his gold-certified debut album '' U ...

covered the song on his 1996 album '' Used Heart for Sale''. *

Tanya Tucker Tanya Denise Tucker (born October 10, 1958) is an American country music singer and songwriter who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13. Over the succeeding decades, Tucker became one of the few child performers to mature int ...

covered the song on her 2009 album '' My Turn''. *

Lorrie Morgan Loretta Lynn Morgan (born June 27, 1959) is an American country music singer and actress. She is the daughter of George Morgan, widow of Keith Whitley, and ex-wife of Jon Randall and Sammy Kershaw, all of whom are also country music singers. Mo ...

covered the song on her 2009 album '' A Moment in Time''. *

Mel Street King Malachi "Mel" Street (October 21, 1935 – October 21, 1978) was an American country music singer who had 13 top-20 hits on the Billboard charts, Billboard country charts. Biography Street was born near Grundy, Virginia, United States.Nel ...

covered the song on his 1975 album '' Smokey mountain memories''. *

Jerry Wallace Jerry Leon Wallace (December 15, 1928 – May 5, 2008) was an American country and pop singer. Between 1958 and 1964, Wallace charted nine hits on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, including the No. 8 "Primrose Lane" that was later used as the theme ...

covered the song on his 1972 album '' To get to you''.

References

{{Faron Young 1969 singles 1989 singles Faron Young songs Larry Boone songs Mercury Records singles Song recordings produced by Jerry Kennedy Song recordings produced by Ray Baker (music producer) 1969 songs