For those inquiring minds...... "Rocky Top" was written by husband and wife team, Boudleaux and Felice Bryant in the spring of 1967. We recorded the song in October of '67 and it was released on Christmas day, December 25, 1967. At the time it was written, according to the writers, there was no such place. It was purely a fictitious place from their imagination. Since then, I'm told, there is such a place. Not a town mind you, just a place. If you stand on top of the hill above the Holiday Inn in Gatlinburg, and look across and above the Holiday Inn, there is a mountain peak which is called Rocky Top. I've never been able to see it myself. All I can see is the lift going up the side of that mountain. It was written in room number 9, in the Gatlinburg Inn, on the strip in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Later, after "Rocky" was a hit, they wrote 9 more NATIONAL chart songs for us there in the same room. "Tennessee Hound Dog," "Georgia Pineywoods," "Muddy Bottom," "I Can Hear Kentucky Calling Me," etc. For us, they also wrote "Lovey Told Me Good-bye" and "Poor Old Cora." (Those two were from the early 60's when we were on the MGM label.) I understand more of their hits were written in the same room. It was their "writing place" away from home. I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but Boudleaux (pronounced..Boo d low) and Felice also were writers on a jillion more hits. Their songs in 1975 had sold more than 200 million records. "All I Have To Do Is Dream," "Bye Bye Love," "Wake Up Little Susie," "Love Hurts," "We Could," "Take Me As I Am Or Let Me Go," "Let's Think About Living," "Country Boy," "Things," and on, and on. Two of my closest, life long friends. Boud has been gone about 10 years and Felice still lives in Gatlinburg. They moved there a few years before Boud passed away, built the Rocky Top Inn motel and just enjoyed their life. They have two sons living here in Nashville. Del, and Dane. I first met Boudleaux when I was 14. He sang bass on Bill Monroe's "Walking In Jerusalem Just Like John." This information has been requested of me so many times so I just thought I would put it here for all to see. These two people were truly in love with one another. Felice wrote "We Could" and gave it to Boud for his birthday, before they could afford very much more than food and rent. Listen to those words sometime. They both believed, and lived every one of them.
--Sonny Osborne
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