“A-Sleeping at the Foot of the Bed” (1949) – “Little” Jimmy Dickens * Written by Luther Patrick and Happy Wilson * 78: “A-Sleeping at the Foot of the Bed” / “I’m in Love Up to My Ears” * Label: Columbia
Little Jimmy Dickens’s first record was the #7 country hit “Take and Old Cold ‘Tater (And Wait),” a negative “company’s comin'” song, which is a country music rarity. Were there any others? Yes, in fact—Dickens’s own “A-Sleeping at the Foot of the Bed” from that same year, about the misery of getting bumped off your own mattress for the sake of hospitality. But the melody and subject matter perhaps inspired Jim Connor to write John Denver’s “Grandma’s Feather Bed,” a very positive “company” song that has no one sleeping on the floor. Songwriting credit for “A-Sleeping” goes to Happy Wilson and Luther Patrick, a former Alabama U.S. Representative.