Tommy Collins | OohYeah

Leonard Raymond Sipes, 28 September 1930, Bethany, Oklahoma, USA, d. 14 March 2000, Ashland City, Tennessee, USA. Collins reflected upon his childhood in his song about being raised on a farm, ‘The Roots Of My Raising’, a US country number 1 for Merle Haggard in 1976. As a young man Collins was an avid follower of Jimmie Rodgers and, for a while, he dated the singer Wanda Jackson (although, contrary to some reports, it was the lesser-known Wanda Shahan that Collins later married). On moving to Bakersfield, California, Ferlin Husky named him after a drink, Tom Collins, and, like Buck Owens, he played on his Capitol Records recordings of the mid-50s. Collins stated he was ‘singing as high as I could - Webb Pierce was in fashion’ and his songs were largely light-hearted, mildly suggestive narratives about courting, such as his first records, ‘You Gotta Have A License’, ‘You Better Not Do That’ (a number 2 hit in 1954), ‘Whatcha Gonna Do Now’, ‘Untied’, ‘It Tickles’, ‘I Guess I’m Crazy’/‘You Oughta See PIckles Now’ and ‘I Always Get A Souvenir’. ‘All Of The Monkeys Ain’t In The Zoo’ applied to numerous politicians and he also wrote the sensitive ‘High On A Hilltop’ and ‘Those Old Love Letters From You’. Many songs stemmed from personal experience.Collins entered a seminary in 1957 and was ordained in 1961 and, for some years, had little involvement in country music. He returned to recording in 1964 and enjoyed a Top 50 hit with ‘I Can Do That’, a duet with his wife Wanda. Following a tour of Vietnam in the mid-60s, he switched to Columbia Records, his new songs including the Top 10 hit ‘If You Can’t Bite, Don’t Growl’ and ‘I Made The Prison Band’. His 20 compositions for Merle Haggard included their co-written, nostalgic ‘I Wish Things Were Simple Again’. After writing ‘Hello Hag’, Haggard retaliated with ‘Leonard’, which voiced his concern for Collins’ drinking. Haggard needed to be persuaded to record the touching ‘Carolyn’ as he felt it wasn’t country music, but it was the high point of their partnership. In reality, ‘Carolyn’ was a coded message to Collins’ wife, and he said, ‘I didn’t set out to mess up my life but tragedies have a habit of working for you.’ Wanda filed for divorce in 1971 citing her husband’s alcohol and drugs addictions, and as a result Collins spiralled into a deep depression.Hardly recognizable as the 50s star, Collins sometimes performed rough-voiced versions of his past successes around country clubs, but newer songs such as ‘Tilt Me A Little Toward Tilly’ reflected his ingenuity. From the late 70s onwards he concentrated on songwriting, with the most notable success the 1984 Mel Tillis hit ‘New Patches’. George Strait also enjoyed a number 1 hit with Collins’ ‘If You Ain’t Lovin’ (You Ain’t Livin’)’. Collins died in 2000 after being debilitated for some years with emphysema.