I always felt the song was a response to all the wannabe cowboys after the movie Urban Cowboy. The song came out shortly after the movie and was making a point that some of us were country before the fad of the movie.

I miss Barbara Mandrel she has the most amazing voice

You must not be old enough to remember Barbara's television show with her sisters. This woman was country music back then.

Barbara Mandrell and I share the same exact birthday, December 25, 1948. I had a chance to see her before I went overseas before she was famous but for some reason I missed it. Oh, I recall why, my Marine buddies said she was great but just getting out of boot camp, I couldn't wait to get off base. The prejudices between country and the city people goes back to the children's tale of the city mouse and country mouse. In the Marines I had to deal with all kinds of people from all over the U.S. and I always connected quicker with people with country roots than city 'slickers' be they White, Black or Brown. I still have a N.Y. City prejudice where I don't with people from upstate N.Y. I did meet Crystal Gayle once and she said "If you can't pick out the instruments and hear the lyrics, it isn't music." Her sister, Loretta Lynn paid her way to Juliard School of music. Because our Dad worked in construction we moved around quite a bit from city to country. You had to go where the money was. I and my two siblings ended up in towns so small, you need a magnifying glass to read the name on a map. In small towns you have the same amount of bad people but you know who they are and either stay away from them or if you have to deal with them, to use extreme caution.

Barbara was one of those rare performers who could play tons of instruments, dance her butt off, sing ballads, make jokes and just keep the audience in the palm of her hand every second. Her band, The Do-Rights were the best in the business. Her tv show brought in 40 MILLION viewers each week, nbr 2 best selling autobiography on the NYT best seller list, every major country award plus People's Choice awards, you name it. There has never been a performer like her since she left the industry... she's missed terribly.

There is also a version of I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool she sings and George Jones actually joins in with her. Also in the 70's country was not really popular until Urban Cowboy came out and then everybody loved country! I was always a country fan.

Putting peanuts in a bottle coke and drinking it was a big thing back then(which I still do from time to time now). It was on the same lines as people drinking an RC cola and eating a moon pie. Some of the good things that made those times great that you dont see much of anymore. I miss those good ol days and that kinda country music

i was always country my dad played steel guitar in his band and i was rock and roll i am 71 still got country in me .

Her and sisters are amazing musicians as well and they play multiple instruments.

back in 60 they made fun of me when i listen to both country and rock and roll well hard when your dad has a country band even played on tv on sat nights lol

I've always listened to country. It was not cool when I was teenager. So glad it is now. Barbara Mandrell had a tv show with her sisters. She is also a very talented musician

This little lady could play any musical instrument that you put in front of her, Great song!

Country is more than music. It is a way of life. Those of us from the country know what I am talking about. City folks try to act country, but they don't have a clue as to what it is like living in the country.

Barbara Mandrell is my favorite!

Very unique video of Barbara Mandell and Reba McEntire singing this song. They were good friends. Barbara went on tour with George Jones when she was only 13. Peanuts in your Coke was a country 'thang'. Did it all the time! Can we address how beautiful she is! Second song is SLEEPIN' SINGLE IN A DOUBLE BED.

Hey Don. This lady can do anything. She can play drums, banjo, steel guitar, you name it man she can play it. Her & George Jones were smokin' hot on this song together. You gotta remember putting peanuts in your bottle of coke. I do but I'm older than you. Barbara is nothing but talent.

Barbara Mandrell was the ultimate entertainer . She has incredible beauty , played multiple instruments - known as the "Queen of the Steel Guitar " ,she also had an incredible voice . You were spot on when you talked about her being in her element on stage . She impressed the likes of Johnny Cash , George Jones , and Patsy Cline . She was touring with the aforementioned at the age of 11 . She even did Patsy Cline's hair ! She also was an incredible dancer . She had a hit variety show " Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sister , that garnered nearly 40 million viewers each week . Her sisters ( Louise and Irlene Mandrell ) are also incredible talents in their own right . The entire family was born to entertain . Barbara retired in 1997 after 38 years in the music business . She has won every major award in country music over 75 times . She was the first entertainer to win country music's entertainer of the year , two years in a row . Not Johnny Cash , George Jones , but Barbara Mandrell did it first . She also performed in front of 10,000 a night , 5 shows a week for several months straight . She also had well over 100,000 people attend several of her shows . She is my favorite country female singer . Her signature song is " I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool . Barbara Mandrell sure made country cool with what she did ! A fan for life !

Beautiful talented lady and a bonus Don, she can play the steel.

I have an old soul, so always loved country. Could have had to with my dad being from deep back in the blue ridge mountains.

I remember watching her & her sisters on their own show. Barbara Mandrell & the Mandrel Sisters!! Irlene & Louise Mandrel were the sisters!

I love Barbara. She is one of the best singers. She can sing any genre.

she also plays a hell of steel guitar

I was going to suggest this song until I saw that you had reacted to this song four years ago. In your final comments, you hoped your reaction did the song justice. You did it more than justice. Since I discovered your channel several months ago, I have learned that you have a compassionate, loving heart. You are GENUINE. I am pretty sure that is what your subscribers love the most about you, as I do. Thank you for being you and bringing joy into this world.

That performance was from her HBO special The Lady is a Champ..... it was her Vegas show in 1982/3 that was filmed for TV

Such a wonderful performer! I loved her variety show she did with her sisters and with the Kroft puppets in the 80s. PUTTING PEANUTS IN YOUR COKE....I did that at my gradmas with my cousin. Granny would open the bottle for us and for some reason it got to be a big thing to put peanuts in the coke. Other times we wouldnt want the cap off but for her to punch holes in the top and drink it like that! ha!🤣 She would use the ice pick. I dont think i did that at home cuz that what grandmas are for! My parents saw her at a fair performance and they remarked how tiny she was. I saw Eddie Arnold, a little of Crystal Gayle, Don Williams, Ray Stevens and fantastic J. Denver in concert.

She's freaking awesome and so was her sisters. They are know as the mandrell sisters

I used to like to watch the Barbara Mandrel show loved most of her stuff. I think it was an answer to Urban Cowboy fad of the early 1980s Then many people were into country. She was country way before that .

barbara is awesome

Yes, there was a time when country wasn't cool.. I was a country girl but there was no way I would tell anyone I liked country music because I would have been laughed at.. Until the 90's, most of my family and friends thought I was crazy for listening to country... Now everyone is on the band wagon.. So, I was country when country wasn't cool.

I would say she meant as a teenager she was into country. I was the same way in the late 60's and 70's all the younger people were more into rock. I remember a teacher in a 10 th grade English class asking what kind of music only me and one other person said country however it was popular in the adult crowd. I got to see Barbara and Glenn Campbell open up the Grand Palace in Branson Mo. She is a hard worker she has a sister Louis Mandrell that is just as good and even better looking (my opinion) and worked just as hard She also played at the Grand Palace. I think Barbara performed the first year then Louise came down the second year and stayed for quite some time

She also plays the Steel

She started out been discovered by playing the steel guitar at a young age a very talented musician

Country Western Country Country rock they are all different.

she grew up in Calif she was a Beauty Queen

Super sweet lady. She started a conversation with my grandfather when they were shopping for the same artists...lol...did i mention my grandparents moved to Franklin, TN in the 90s. My second home!!

I love Barbara Mandrell. She can play almost any instrument. Hope you do more of her.

Sleeping Single in a Double Bed is the name

such a pretty lady one of my fav songs of hers Loved Crackers and some other ones

In the 1970s, I was the only country fan in my high school class (and I grew up in Mississippi) and my classmates thought that was so 'uncool.' While the other guys were going crazy over Marcia Brady, I was falling in love with Tanya Tucker. Country didn't become cool until the 'urban cowboy' craze. I didn't have to fake being country; I was born and raised country! I've been a lot of places and seen a lot of things, but I ain't nothin' but an ole country boy, and proud to be so!

My parents used to own a bar in a small country town and this song would play on the juke box all the time. This is a great song that I always liked. I grew up liking Glen Campbell, The Byrds & Flying Burrito Brothers and then Eagles & Skynyrd. Thanks Don! And you should go back now and listen to the version of this song live with Barbara & George Jones, It's even better!

She once was part of the Mandrel sisters. She was truly amazing

I've put a "pack" of peanuts in a Coke when I was a kid, so I got the line in the song. I prefer to eat the peanuts out of the pack. The Coke washed off the salt. I was hoping this was the performance where The Possum joined in, walking on stage from the darkness of the wings..

Yee Haw, that's funny. Let er' ride!

A time when country wasn’t cool? Most of what comes out of Nashville right now

Her and her sisters had a TV show years ago on Saturday night. Also listen this song with George Jones.

When I was in high school it wasn't cool to like country music.

The time that country and all the outlaw , that WHEN COUNTRY WAS ON THE UP SWING !

I am 65 and grew up in the country, but my besties were from town 12 miles away. I grew up with all kinds of music since there was only the family hi fi for a while. Mostly I recall we had records from my sisters generation 13 years my senior and my brother 7 years older. So we had gospel from Tennesse Ernie Ford, but sister had wide variety from Purple People Eater to Harry Belafonte. Most of my teen years i watched Hee Haw some weeks and other times Lawrence Welk since dad was the master of the tv. I enjoyed it all. Mostly tho i wasnt popular in school anyway, i listened to rock but i cant say i was against country either. on the radio mostly rock but other times i would listen to country. Todays world i am an oldie but goodie. i have little idea who is popular in either genre so i stick to oldies.

One of the things she referred to was putting peanuts in your Coke. That was something we did when I was a kid. You don't see folks doing that much anymore, though. She had a variety show with her sisters in the early 80s that we loved to watch as a family.

Barbara has performed since early 1970's, and Sleeping Single In A Double Bed came out in 1978 (first appeared on her 1978 MOODS album). Another song of Barbara's which is a cover version (If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want To Be Right," is a great song and Barbara's version is way better than others versions (that's my opinion because I've been a Barbara Mandrell fan since 1980 since I was 3 and I am still a fan of hers at 42 1/2 years old. If some of you don't know, Barbara retired in October 1997, and she doesn't miss performing but from what I was told, Barbara does miss the fans. I love you Barbara!

Yes there was a time and this came out in the 70s

April 1981 as lead single from the album Barbara Mandrell ... The song was the first track released from Mandrell's 1981 "Live" album. So no this is not her first rodeo! But it is exactly the best version!

Barbara Mandrell hit song.

When I was in high school I had friends that made fun of me for listening to country music. When I pulled out my Goerge Straight 8 track they really laughed at me. I bet now most of them listen to him

Sleeping Single in a Double Bed. She plays many instruments including the steele guitar.

Growing into the North East, my parents were not into country, they thought it was hillbilly stuff. But they liked Barbara Mandell cause it was more regular pop music, really. And when we were kids and teens in the 80s we thought the same because we were into pop and rock no roll and thought country was low brow or old. But now all my nieces and nephews are into the new country. Which is a strange development to say the least. lol Their parents are like "why are listening to that stuff?". But they made me discover this new stuff and it's good. Now I have started going back and I love the old country.

I feel this song is after the 1980 movie, Urban Cowboy. Everyone was digging Country in the early 80s...I was in my late teens/early 20s. As a Tennessean and being raised in the foothills of the appalachians country has always been big part of my culture.

Love the version when George Jones joins her and i think thats how the original song is and what was heard on radio.

In 1979 I moved from Texas to Michigan and started high school in my boots jeans flannel shirt and stetson. I was immediately made fun of and nicknamed Tex. I didn't let it change me. In 1982, the year I graduated. This was our class song.

It was a combination of Wanted: The Outlaws with Waylon, Willie, Jessie Colter, and Tompall Glaser being released and being the first country album to sell 1 million copies, then 4 years later Urban Cowboy came out.

This song applies as much now about today's Country as it did back when it first came out while Urban Cowboy was in theatres

Use to watch The Mandrel Sister variety show and had a big crush on her sister Irlene

Second song is called "Sleeping single in a double bed"

Yes....We got picked on and got into alot of fights as I went to city schools as we moved around quite a bit. My dad was a country preacher and one of the best fiddle players that ever lived! That's another story!!!

That performance was from an HBO Special she did, "The Lady is a Champ" from 1984. This was her Vegas show and she came back home to Nashville to TPAC and filmed this for HBO. 🙂

I use to love watching the Barbara Mandrell show with her two sisters!!! Please do more Blake Shelton!!!!

She could also play just about every instrument. Watch the Mandrell Show

I felt this was me in '91-'93. All my friends were into MTV listening to AC/DC, G & R, Boyz 2 Men. Here I was Country. I never knew any of the things they listen to. And yes I put peanuts in my Coke. The salt adds a lot to a Coke.

Hey Don! I used to watch her show. I love anything she sings. Gorgeous lady!

I miss her

I miss Barbara but she walked away from the music years ago to be a private person. Much love and Catoosa to her

Peanuts in coke was def country. I remember and it was in glass bottled coke

I forgot how beautiful she was The 2nd song is called SLEEPING SINGLE IN A DOUBLE BED

Oh yeah...hierarchy in my high school was jocks, kids whose parents had money, hippies, nerds, Rotc, then ag students

Love her! My guess would be the 90’s. She is referencing the 50’s and 60’s.

Red Sovine is hands down best country story teller!! Most are true stories, like "Vietnam Deck of Cards" he draws you in and makes you feel like you were actually there.

Has not every one put peanuts in their 6 oz bottled coke? Great treat

Great singer, great song. Please check out, The Midnight Oil, and another favorite , Sleeping Single In A Double Bed.

Yes, there a time when country wasn’t cool back in the fifties we were all called hillbillies, and considered not too bright. I was in high school at the time in a small South Texas town so I didn’t see it so much personally, because everyone liked country to some extent. But the mainstream did not have much use for country. They looked down on country singers and had the idea that it was not good music. But after that country kind of grew up and just got more and more popular. There has never been a time country fans ever thought country was in danger of disappearing.

True i wouldnt admit to liking country music tho back then, everybody was a rocker, it wasnt cool prolly til after Urban Cowboy.

My theme song ❤ nope, country was always cool as far as I’m concerned 😉 second song she sang is called “Sleeping single in a double bed”

Country was always just a way of life for us country people. At some point it became cool I guess, lol.

Country wasn't cool in the mid-60s all the way through the 70 it started to come back 83. R.I.P Charlie Daniels

Check out I was country when country wasn't cool with George Jones. Amazing!!!

You should give woman to woman by Barbara a spin!

she did a free concert on the green at the college I went to, good show. best show i ever saw was the Oak ridge boys they did the same thing. one of the few country groups i know that don't have any drinking and cheating songs or at least i don't know of any, they are all happy songs. Need to put "Elvira " by the Oaks on your list, they said at this concert that when they debut that song in concert years ago they had to do 15 encores before the crowed would let them leave. Oaks are also known for there Gospel music might be why they stay away from the drinkin and cheatin.

React to john anderson just a swingin

Before the outlaw movement alot of people called country goat ropin music. I'll leave it to you to figure out what you do with a goat after you rope it. To your other question the nashville establishment said outlaw country was a fad and wouldn't last, that's what they were hoping.

Hypeman here onto fb

Country not being cool is what she probably experienced in her circles. I had the same experiences. Most of my schoolmates were not into it or it was their second choice.

Barbara is always fabulous. Do Crackers.

She sang my life, except I was slipping Jim Beam in my coke not peanuts...an excellent Barbara Mandrell song is "Midnight Oil" it's pretty damn tough.the second song is "Sleepin single in a double bed"

Country was not cool when it was only associated with mountain people or cowboys. It was more of a regional thing and not mainstream. Especially for Barbara's generation. I was born 9 years later than her and the times were starting to change when I was in high school. I had grown up with folk and country (Army brat stationed south of Nashville for 3 years and originally from Wyoming ranch country), but most of my friends were exclusively rock oriented. I have an eclectic taste in music. Anyway, she is commenting on those who "found" country later, thinking they could put on the jeans, western cut shirt, boots, and hat and be country. As we say, "all hat and no cattle".

Oh yeah, there was a time when Country wasn’t cool. Country was looked down on as “hick” music. Country has always been Around, it was just considered low class, I was fortunate enough to be born and raised in South Texas where we did not care if people thought we weren’t cool.

@Don When YeeHaw just pops out, you're definitely country!

Try her song If Loving You Is Wrong.

I’ve been requesting it for like 2 months bro, you gotta do Shotgun Rider - Dancing Without Me It’s a jam you will love it. Very catchy

Oh you should the peanuts in a Coke. My daddy put peanuts in Pepsi. I am from NC and because Pepsi was founded in NC that is what he drank

If you love the stories told in country music you have to check out Bobbie Gentry's song Ode to Billie Joe.

In the late 70's and the 80s, in the city and suburbs there was a lot of disdain for country.