About The Song
“Set ‘Em Up Joe” is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Vern Gosdin. It was released in April 1988 as the second single from the album Chiseled in Stone. The song was Gosdin’s second number one on the country chart. The single went to number one for one week and spent a total of fifteen weeks within the Top 40. Gosdin wrote the song with Dean Dillon, Buddy Cannon and Hank Cochran.
The song was a tribute to country music legend Ernest Tubb. The narrator is bereft that his partner has left him and takes to playing “Walking the Floor Over You” on the jukebox at the bar. The lyrics reference other famed country stars like Lefty Frizzell and Hank Williams Sr.
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Lyrics
They got a vintage Victrola 1951
Full of my favorite records that I grew up on
They got ole Hank and Lefty and there’s B24
Set ’em up Joe and play? Walking The Floor?
Set ’em up Joe and play? Walking The Floor?
I’m gonna spend the night like every night before
Playin E.T. and I’ll play him some more
I’ve gotta have a shot of them old troubadours
Set ’em up Joe and play? Walking The Floor?
Set ’em up Joe and play? Walking The Floor?
All my neon neighbors they like what I play
‘Cause they’ve heard it every night since you’ve walked away
Every day they replace old B24
‘Cause every night I run a needle through? Walking The Floor?
Every night I run a needle through? Walking The Floor?
I’m gonna spend the night like every night before
Playin E.T. and I’ll play him some more
I’ve gotta have a shot of them old troubadours
Set ’em up Joe and play? Walking The Floor?
Set ’em up Joe and play? Walking The Floor?
I said “Set ’em up Joe and play? Walking The Floor'”
Set ’em up Joe and play? Walking The Floor’