Don't Wait on Me - Misplaced Pages

"Don't Wait on Me" is a song written by Don Reid and Harold Reid, and recorded by American country music group The Statler Brothers. It was released in June 1981 as the first single from their album Years Ago. The song peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.

Group members Don Reid and Lew DeWitt trade call-and-response lead vocals on the verses.

Content

The song is an affirmation of a breakup, with one half of the ex-couple using "when pigs fly"-type hyperboles – including the sun rising in the west and setting in the east, San Diego sailors not getting tattooed, the wind not blowing in Chicago (opposing the city's nickname "The Windy City"), L.A. being cold and clear (opposing the city's warm climate and smog), winter weather for the Fourth of July, and so forth – to impress upon the other half that they should not expect to reunite as a couple.

Several cultural references are made, including infamous atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair (though the song was released years before her tragic and untimely death, in any event she could never have been ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic Church, as the office is reserved for men), and Wrigley Field (when the lights go on), which, at the time of the recording, was the only unlighted field in Major League Baseball. On the Statlers' live 1989 album Live-Sold Out, on which they performed the song, the lyric referring to Wrigley Field was revised as putting a dome on the ballpark (as lights for night games had been installed in the ballpark in 1988, since the song's studio recording).

Chart performance

Chart (1981)	Peak position
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)	5
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	36

Re-recording (LIVE)

Chart (1989)	Peak position
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)	67

References

"The Statler Brothers singles". Allmusic. Retrieved December 24, 2011.
^ "The Statler Brothers Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.

v t e The Statler Brothers
Phil Balsley Lew DeWitt Jimmy Fortune Don Reid Harold Reid
Studio albums	Flowers on the Wall Sing the Big Hits How Great Thou Art Bed of Rose's Pictures of Moments to Remember Short Stories Entertainers...On and Off the Record Christmas Card The Originals 10th Anniversary Years Ago The Legend Goes On Today Atlanta Blue Pardners in Rhyme Christmas Present Four for the Show Maple Street Memories
Notable singles	"I Still Miss Someone" "Flowers on the Wall" "Oh Happy Day" "Bed of Rose's" "Do You Remember These" "The Class of '57" "I'll Go to My Grave Loving You" "How Great Thou Art" "Do You Know You Are My Sunshine" "Who Am I to Say" "The Official Historian on Shirley Jean Berrell" "How to Be a Country Star" "Nothing as Original as You" "Charlotte's Web" "In the Garden" "Don't Wait on Me" "Years Ago" "You'll Be Back (Every Night in My Dreams)" "Whatever" "A Child of the Fifties" "Oh Baby Mine (I Get So Lonely)" "Guilty" "Elizabeth" "Atlanta Blue" "One Takes the Blame" "My Only Love" "Hello Mary Lou" "Too Much on My Heart" "Sweeter and Sweeter" "Count On Me" "Only You" "Forever" "I'll Be the One" "The Best I Know How" "Let's Get Started If We're Gonna Break My Heart" "More Than a Name on a Wall"
Related articles	Discography

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