Danny O’Keefe – Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues

I ran across this song a few weeks ago. It was the first time I heard this song in many years. I would hear it on local radio stations growing up.

Danny O’Keefe was from Spokane, Washington and he wrote the song during a period when he was struggling with his own demons. He had just gotten out of a bad relationship and was dealing with alcohol and drug addiction.

It was also recorded by Elvis using the same musicians as O’Keefe did on this recording. He also wrote the song “The Road” on Jackson Browne’s Running on Empty Album. It peaked at #9 in the Billboard 100 and #19 in Canada in 1972.  It was recorded at American Studios in Memphis with Arif Marden producing. Danny O’Keefe was a one-hit wonder with Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues his only Billboard hit.

The song has been featured in numerous films and television shows, including The Sopranos and Forrest Gump. It has also been recognized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which included it in its list of “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.”

Danny O’Keefe: “The success of one’s dreams is always exhilarating. Elvis cut the song with the same group of musicians I had, so there was a pride in continuity, but I didn’t think he brought anything new to it. Over the years I’ve come to appreciate it more as part of the song’s great legacy.”

Danny O’Keefe: “Maybe it was about hipsters drawn to the high life. I lived in interesting times and there was a lot of experimentation with every kind of drug. There were a lot of damages and strange intersections of lives that provided much grist for a young songwriter’s mill.”

Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues

Everybody’s goin’ away
Said they’re movin’ to LA
There’s not a soul I know around
Everybody’s leavin’ town
Some caught a freight, some caught a plane
Find the sunshine, leave the rain
They said this town’s a waste of time
I guess they’re right, it’s wastin’ mine
Some gotta win, some gotta lose
Good time Charlie’s got the blues
Good time Charlie’s got the blues
Ya know my heart keeps tellin’ me
“You’re not a kid at thirty-three”
“Ya play around, ya lose your wife”
“Ya play too long, you lose your life”
I got my pills to ease the pain
Can’t find a thing to ease the rain
I’d love to try and settle down
But everybody’s leavin’ town
Some gotta win, some gotta lose
Good time Charlie’s got the blues
Good time Charlie’s got the blues
Good time Charlie’s got the blues
(whistling to end)

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

33 thoughts on “Danny O’Keefe – Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues”

  1. A nice mellow song to start my day off with. I don’t remember hearing it before, but I do like the whistling at the end and there is a prompt on SLS for May 26, 2024 – Songs that incorporate whistling, that would be perfect for this.

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  2. I’ve gone through that list of the songs that shaped rock and roll a few times but this one escaped me. You seem to be able to find a needle in a record stack. Very interesting story and he had a great sound.

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    1. I’ll have to look that back up…I wrote this 4 years ago I believe lol. It was an older 500 but on there. I don’t think it belongs regardless…but I like it.

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  3. When you wrote “using the same musicians”, I wondered who they were. This is what I found: Personnel : Danny O’Keefe – vocals, guitar / Hayword Bishop – drums, percussion / David Brigati (The Rascals) – background vocals / Eddie Brigati (The Young Rascals) – background vocals / Gene Chrisman – drums / Johnny Christopher – guitar / Bobby Emmons – organ / Shane Keister – piano / Bobby Wood – piano, electric piano / Reggie Young – guitar / Leo LeBlanc – steel guitar / Mike Leech – bass / Irwin “Marky” Markowitz – trumpet / Howard McNatt – violin / Phil Olivella – clarinet / Ahmet Ertegün – producer.

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  4. This one isn’t showing on my ‘Reader’ (your Max Picks is) but hopefully it is on other people’s… it’s a great song. I remember it from when it was a hit and liked it then, may like it a little bit more now …actually I think I have it on a ’70s compilation CD somewhere but still,hadn’t heard it for a long time! Thanks for putting it up. I hadn’t noticed he had written ‘The Road’ too.

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    1. Thank you! I’ll republish it. Thats weird…
      I remember this as a kid….I always liked it…like I told Randy…I didn’t know it was covered by so many.

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      1. that surprises me, especially Elvis doing it. I do certainly recall it from AM radio around ’72-73 but since then I have barely ever heard it except for on Casey Kasem countdown re-runs

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      2. I heard it today CB…he uses his voice as a punch and then that music. It’s more clear and he does away with the pop feeling…of course I like it!

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      4. Jerry Lee Lewis is the best Jerry Lee Lewis imitator of anyone. He doesn’t conform to the song….the song conforms to him. I’m not trying to be funny either…but he stamps every song. A good example would be What Made Milwaukee Famous.
        Hell there are a few others…Neil Young and Van Morrison to name a couple…but there arent’ many.

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  6. Good contemplative Country song. I’ll say it again, when some of these good ol’ boys cut the barroom bullshit and put the God and Country sentiments to one side there is some really good songwriting comes out of Country music. Fair enough Spokane, Washington isn’t wide open windblown Walnut Springs or someplace more Country, but Danny got the right feel on this one.

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    1. He really did…it’s a song that takes me back. This one is actually a good song that takes me there….unlike some I know “goodbye pa pa it’s hard to die”

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  10. I don’t believe I had heard this song before, neither by Danny O’Keefe, nor Elvis. I also wasn’t aware O’Keefe had written “The Road” on Jackson Browne’s “Running On Empty”, an album I love and have heard many times, though not in more recent years.

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