Back Street Affair

"Back Street Affair" is a song written by country singer Billy Wallace and Nashville songwriter Jimmy Rule. The 1952 version by Webb Pierce was his third release on the country charts and his third number one in a row on the C&W Best Seller charts, where it stayed at number one for two weeks.^[1] The song was first offered to Hank Williams, then the undisputed "King" of country music. He was singing it on his early morning radio shows and that's how Webb Pierce first heard it. Fred Rose, Hank's music publisher and unofficial manager wouldn't let Hank record it saying it was too risky, as it was a little risque for the time. Hank told Webb ..."I think anyone's got guts enough to record it has got themselves a number one hit." ^[2]

• In 1953, Kitty Wells, had a hit song with an answer record entitled, "Paying For That Back Street Affair" which reached number six on the C&W Best Seller charts.^[3]
• John Prine covered the song on his 1999 album In Spite of Ourselves
• Van Morrison covered the song on his 2006 album Pay the Devil

References

1. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 267.
2. {cite book|title= Hank Williams The Biography by Colin Escott with George Merritt and William MacEwen|page=204
3. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 376.