“Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues” by Danny O'Keefe

Danny O'Keefe wrote "Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues" alone, words and music, and the song took its sweet time finding an audience. He first cut it in 1967 and left it in the can; a band from Moses Lake, Washington, called the Bards got it out first, as the flip of their 1968 Parrot single "Tunesmith". The American folk singer then put it on his self-titled debut album.

A year later he recorded it again for his second album, O'Keefe, slower and more downcast this time, and that remake was the single that broke through. It climbed to number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and went to 5 on the adult contemporary side, while the country chart took it to 63. Leon Russell's version matched that country showing in 1984, and Mel Tormé sang it for a 1986 episode of NBC's Night Court.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.