"Sin Wagon" is a song written by

Natalie Maines Natalie Louise Maines (born October 14, 1974) is an American singer. She is the lead vocalist for the all-female country band The Chicks. In 1995, after leaving Berklee College of Music, Maines was recruited by the Dixie Chicks to replace their ...

, Emily Erwin, and Stephony Smith and recorded by the

Dixie Chicks The Chicks (previously known as Dixie Chicks) are an American country music band from Dallas, Texas. Since 1995, the band has consisted of Natalie Maines (lead vocals, guitar) and sisters Martie Maguire (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) and ...

for their 1999 album '' Fly''. Though never released as a single, it charted as an album cut. It has been featured in five tours: Fly, Top of the World, Accidents & Accusations, Eagles with Dixie Chicks and the

DCX MMXVI World Tour The DCX MMXVI World Tour was the fifth headlining concert tour from American country music trio Dixie Chicks. It started on April 16, 2016, in Antwerp, Belgium and finished on April 18, 2017, in London, Ontario, Canada. This tour is the first t ...

History

The song's title was conceived by Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines. It is a reference to a scene in '' Grease''; after Danny tries to make a move on Sandy at the drive-in, and she furiously calls his car a "sin wagon". "Sin Wagon" was written "really quickly". The song's message is that "even the most good girl just has that wild side and you got to let it out occasionally," a contrast to country music's "stay-at-home" stereotype. It was released as a downloadable song in the '' Rock Band'' series.

Controversy

According to Maines,

Monument Records Monument Records is an American record label in Washington, D.C. named for the Washington Monument, founded in 1958 by Fred Foster, Buddy Deane (a prominent Baltimore disc jockey at WTTG), and business manager Jack Kirby. Buddy Deane soon left ...

was "scared to death" about the song's reference to " mattress dancing", and refrained from discussing the subject publicly. In 2000, the family of

Albert E. Brumley Albert Edward Brumley (October 29, 1905 – November 15, 1977) was an American shape note music composer and publisher, prolific in the genre of southern gospel. Biography Brumley was born near Spiro, Oklahoma on October 29, 1905, into a famil ...

filed a $500,000 lawsuit against

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...

over the song's sampling of the

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

hymn "

I'll Fly Away "I'll Fly Away" is a hymn written in 1929 by Albert E. Brumley and published in 1932 by the Hartford Music company in a collection titled ''Wonderful Message''.Richard Matteson, Jr.''The Bluegrass Picker's Tune Book'' Mel Bay Publications, 2006 ...

". The Dixie Chicks have made no comment on the case.

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of

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 databa ...

gave "Sin Wagon" a positive review, calling it "rip-roaring" and "wickedly clever".

Chart performance

Although the song was not an official single, it received sufficient airplay to chart as high as number 52 on Hot Country Songs over a 20-week run. It was one of four songs charted by the Dixie Chicks on the chart dated for September 11, 1999, the others being "

Cowboy Take Me Away "Cowboy Take Me Away" is a song by recorded American country music group Dixie Chicks, written by Martie Maguire and Marcus Hummon. It was released in November 1999 as the second single from their album ''Fly''. The song's title is derived from ...

", " Without You", and "

Goodbye Earl "Goodbye Earl", written by Dennis Linde, is a country music song. Initially recorded by the band Sons of the Desert for an unreleased album in the late 1990s, the song gained fame when it was recorded by Dixie Chicks on their fifth studio album, '' ...

", all three of which were eventually released as singles in 2000.

Cover versions and parodies

"Sin Wagon" has been performed on ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' by Amy Adams and Carrie Underwood. On

season 3 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In tempera ...

of ''

The Voice The Voice may refer to: Fictional entities * The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics * The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe * The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...

'', 2Steel Girls and Gracia Harrison performed the song as part of the Battle Rounds. *American country music parody artist

Cledus T. Judd James Barry Poole (born December 18, 1964) is an American country music artist who records under the name Cledus T. Judd. Known primarily for his parodies of popular country songs, he has been called the "Weird Al" Yankovic of country music, and ...

released a parody of "Sin Wagon" on his album Just Another Day in Parodies titled "Wife Naggin'".

References

{{Authority control The Chicks songs Song recordings produced by Paul Worley Monument Records singles Song recordings produced by Blake Chancey Songs written by Natalie Maines Songs written by Emily Robison Songs written by Stephony Smith