A lot of country music hit songs were written while riding down the road or driving somewhere! According to Willie Nelson, the song “Funny How Time Slips Away” was just such a song!

Willie said, “I was writing for Pamper Music in Nashville at the time and I was living in a trailer house which was only about ten minutes drive from Pamper’s office. I had heard the line ‘It's funny how time slips away’ at least a thousand times and for some reason, that line kept coming to my mind one afternoon as I was driving from home to the Pamper Music office.”

“And I started thinking that it was a good idea for a song and wondered why there had never been a song written from that line. I started working with the line and had the song written by the time I got to the office. The song was a hit and was one of my most financially successful songs and most recorded.  For quite a while, someone was recording the song at least once a month!”

“Funny How Times Slips Away” was Billy Walker’s 4th chart single and peaked at # 23 in1961. The song was a # 22 pop music hit for Jimmy Elledge in 1962. It also made it to  # 12 for Narvel Felts in 1975 and peaked at # 41 in 1980 for Danny Davis/Willie Nelson, and The Nashville Brass. It has been in dozens of albums.

Doug Davis
Country Music Classics