Slipping Around

Floyd Tillman (1914–2003)

1949 was the year Billboard magazine changed their labels, Race Music and Hillbilly music to Rhythm and Blues and Country and Western. What Floyd Tillman did was also called Honky Tonk music. The King of Honky Tonk was, of course, Hank Williams. During World War Two Tillman had a hit, “Each Night At Nine”, about a soldier missing his girl back home. Germany and Japan each had woman DJs (Axis Sally and Tokyo Rose) broadcasting American popular music laced with, hopefully, demoralizing propaganda. Tokyo Rose had “Each Night At Nine” in heavy rotation in the hopes of getting our boys so sad they would desert. Sorry, not our guys, lady. The Japanese, before an attack would, in hope of causing our men to lose their shit, holler, “To hell with Babe Ruth!” and “To hell with Roy Acuff!” Tillman also had a big crossover hit, “I Love You So Much It Hurts Me”. “Slipping Around” was the first cheating song and invented a genre all by itself.