Dave Dudley – Listen Betty

About The Song

“Listen Betty (I’m Singing Your Song)” is a narrative country song by Dave Dudley, released in January 1971 as the lead single and title track from his Mercury Records album. Written by Tom T. Hall, it peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, charting for 12 weeks. The 2:51 track tells the story of a trucker who stops at a Knoxville truck stop and meets Betty, a waitress who asks him to sing about the broken promises and hardships faced by waitresses dealing with transient drivers. The lyrics—“Now listen Betty, I’m singing your song / About the drivers that have done you wrong”—capture a sympathetic yet gritty perspective, with Dudley’s semi-slurred baritone delivering a conversational tone, as AllMusic notes: “It’s classic Dudley, blending honky-tonk with a trucker’s tale.” Dudley told Country Music in 1972, “Tom’s song gave voice to those gals working the late shift—it’s real life on the road.” The song reflects Dudley’s truck-driving anthem niche, resonating with blue-collar audiences.

Recorded in late 1970 at Mercury Custom Recording Studio in Nashville, the track was produced by Jerry Kennedy, with uncredited Nashville A-Team players likely including Harold Bradley on guitar, Pete Drake on steel guitar, and Charlie McCoy on piano, per Discogs. The arrangement features a prominent piano interlude and steady rhythm, complementing the storytelling, as Beth’s Record Blog praises: “It’s one of the album’s best, with that raw truck-stop vibe.” The album reached No. 22 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. The G-C-D chord progression and “listen Betty, I’m singing your song” refrain, per Chordify, made it a jukebox favorite. Its inclusion on the 2004 compilation Truck Drivin’ Son of a Gun: The Mercury Hit Singles 1963-1973 underscores its enduring appeal, per Amazon.

Dave Dudley, born David Darwin Pedruska on May 3, 1928, in Spencer, Wisconsin, was a pioneer of truck-driving country, best known for his 1963 hit “Six Days on the Road.” With over 70 albums and a career spanning the 1960s and 1970s, his semi-slurred bass voice defined anthems like “Truck Drivin’ Son-of-a-Gun” and “Vietnam Blues,” per Wikipedia. “Listen Betty” was a live staple, performed at his 1971 shows at Staples Lake Resort, which he owned, and on The Porter Wagoner Show, with a YouTube clip capturing his rugged charm. No notable covers exist, per SecondHandSongs, but Reddit fans on r/country and X posts from 2023 praise its “underrated storytelling,” with one user noting, “It’s Dudley doing what he does best—singing for the road.”

The song appeared in no major films or TV shows but thrives on streaming platforms, with Shazam users tagging its catchy chorus. No controversies surround it, just Dudley’s knack for giving voice to working-class struggles, as No Depression notes: “It’s a snapshot of the trucker’s world, raw and unfiltered.” Dudley, who died December 22, 2003, left a legacy of road-ready anthems, and “Listen Betty” remains a vivid portrait of the unsung waitresses along America’s highways.

Video

Lyric

A friend and I made one shot run to Knoxville one day
We got the apple pie and coffee hungries on the way
We pulled into a little truck stop just outside of town
Pretty soon the waitress came around

She said my name is Betty and I’d know you anywhere
I’d like to have a minute of your time if you don’t care
Would you sing a song about me and the waitresses you’ve met
About the broken promises we get

Now listen Betty, I’m singing your song
About the drivers that have done you wrong
All I wanna do is lay the blame where it belongs
Listen Betty, I’m singing your song

There’s a broken heart for every truck stop on the right
There’s a lonesome driver for each passing set of lights
Now I can’t tell you how to love or tell you how to live
All I can do is tell it like it is

There’s a million waitresses all up and down the line
I’ve seen some that were laughin’ and I’ve seen some that were cryin’
I’ve left some that were happy and I’ve left some that were blue
If you’re a waitress, here’s a song for you

Now listen Betty
The highway is a part of hell that never caught on fire
The driver is the kinda man the devil wouldn’t hire
That’s what you’re sayin’ Betty, but you can’t stand the heat
Quit that job and let those drivers be

Now listen Betty, I’m singing your song
Now listen Betty, I’m singing your song