'70s Country Flop Songs We Can't Help But Love

Although country music has always had a meaningful presence in American culture, it wasn't until the '60s and '70s when the genre started to compete with pop in the charts. However, as legendary and loveable as many of these songs and artists were, getting to the top is not something that can be done on merit alone.

These '70s country flops are primarily defined by low rankings on the Billboard Country Charts. We can also use the success of covers by other artists to showcase how impactful these tunes were despite underperforming. The same thing could be said about some of the best flop songs from the decade prior — most of which may not have been viable commercial options for the decade, but could easily pass as classics today.

Ultimately, you don't need a clear metric like a chart number or album sales to justify loving a song. If they tell a story that resonates with people, prove to have been ahead of their time, or simply just make people want to dance along, then that's truly all the success an artist could ask for. These '70s country bombs are truly beloved regardless of what the charts may have indicated, and they deserve to have their praises sung 50 years later.

As beautiful as the melodies and lyrics of the tracks off of Willie Nelson's 1971 album "Yesterday's Wine" are, they didn't see major chart success — at least not for the country legend himself. 

As the story goes, Nelson had suffered a series of losses before setting out to write the album. The "On The Road Again" singer poured all the devastation of his second divorce and the fire that consumed his Tennessee home and all of his demos into a profoundly existential collection of songs. While many of the tracks explicitly draw from religious influence, the titular work draws on the divine in a more metaphorical sense. The strong opening lyrics of "Miracles appear / In the strangest of places" already points to the unpredictable, yet ultimately beneficial, turns of fate that can change our lives. The chorus' "I'm yesterday's wine / Aging with time / Like yesterday's wine" also paints a picture of the inevitable passage of time, ultimately making the subject stronger and more desirable despite it.

However, while the track beams out of Nelson's discography as one of his finest and most inspired works, Billboard's country charts reflected a very different story. "Yesterday's Wine" peaked at No. 62, and its lackluster reception may have even pushed Nelson to quit music altogether. It evidently did not, and we have his resilience and jaded attitude following this flop to thank for the outlaw movement in country. "Yesterday's Wine" was also vindicated thanks to a cover by George Jones and Merle Haggard in 1982, finally earning the No. 1 spot on the country charts.

Country star Waylon Jennings doesn't need any help climbing to the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, boasting 16 No. 1s and 54 Top 10 hits today. However, even if the 1969 version of "Suspicious Minds" earned Elvis Presley his last No. 1 hit, that magic didn't quite transfer to Jennings' 1970 duet rendition with his wife, Jessi Colter. 

This country cover added an entirely new dimension to the song — especially given the strong bond between its singers. Although Presley's version undoubtedly brings its own country flair with the guitar riff intro, Jennings and Colter's version ditches the sweeping strings for soaring electric guitar twangs. The angelic vocals backing the chorus only helps to distinguish the song further, adding a triumphant edge to composer Mark James' cynical lyrics. The song tells the tale of a relationship where "We're caught in a trap, I can't walk out" and jealousy plagues their dynamic. Their real-life romance, especially considering how Jennings had been married several times before spending the rest of his life with Colter, only adds to the weight behind the track. 

Their initial release of "Suspicious Minds" only reached No. 25 on the country charts, but it did earn the couple a Grammy nomination for Best Country Vocal Performance By A Duo Or Group. They managed to make the track a No. 2 hit in 1976 upon rereleasing it as part of their album "Wanted! The Outlaws."

Although Townes Van Zandt was a close associate of the bad boys of the outlaw country movement, he scarcely got the chart recognition he deserved. Even as his 1972 track, "Pancho and Lefty," has been heralded as one of the greatest country songs ever written (and certainly has gained its deserved recognition in the decades following its release), it never charted on the Billboard Hot 100 or Hot Country charts.

The song itself is a poetry epic, following its titular protagonists through a tale of friendship, betrayal, and death. It's by no means a light and feel-good song; rather, the melancholy swell of strings creates such a vivid atmosphere of the tragedy playing out through his lyrics. Despite lines such as "And Lefty, he can't sing the blues / All night long like he used to / The dust that Pancho bit down south / Ended up in Lefty's mouth" clearly imply a sense of guilt, there is no rage or deceit explained throughout — just a choice that will follow a man until the end of his life. An incredibly haunting song, it still remains as such a vibrant and profound addition to the American myth, reportedly coming to him from a place of sudden inspiration.

Evidently, despite his genius being realized posthumously, the tale of "Pancho and Lefty" only managed to see commercial success on the charts in 1983, after a cover by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard took the song to No. 1 on the Billboard country charts. A must-listen for any country fan who hasn't somehow managed to hear the harrowing tale.