The Tough-Love Meaning Behind “Tulsa Time” by Don Williams
Merle Haggard asked us to “Tell Me Something Bad About Tulsa” and Gene Pitney lamented that he was “24 Hours from Tulsa.” But no song about “T-Town” has ever made quite the impression that “Tulsa Time” has managed to make.
It was both a smash hit for country star Don Williams and a sneaky winner for Eric Clapton. And it’s since become a popular cover choice for both country and rock artists. How did this classic track come to be? What’s it all about? And how did Slowhand himself get involved? Let’s take a look back at this geographic groover.
Making the Most of a Boring Hotel Stay
No country artist did as much damage on the charts as Don Williams in the ‘70s and early ‘80s. The “Gentle Giant” was right at the peak of that incredible stretch, which would include 17 country No. 1 singles, when he and his band arrived in Tulsa in 1978 to deal with a business engagement at his talent agency in town. Before they could leave, bad weather rolled in and forced them to hunker down in their hotel, which led to a bout of boredom for Williams’ guitarist Danny Flowers.
Flowers went out and grabbed an acoustic guitar from the tour bus and started fiddling around with it, formulating a song inspired by his current location. Within 30 minutes, it was all finished, and he was excited to share what he had.
“I had a lot of friends there,” Flowers recalled in an interview with Tulsa World. “I was thinking about my friends in Tulsa and what my experience there was like, so I just started writing this song. About halfway through it, I called the bass player down the hall. ‘Hey, man, do you want to come help me finish a song?’ He said, ‘No, I’ve got my clothes off and I’m in bed and I’m watching “Rockford Files.”’ I said, ‘OK, but it’s going to be a big hit, and you’re really going to miss out on it.’ He said, ‘OK, I’ll see you in the morning.’”
At rehearsal the next day, Flowers played his new song for the band. Williams immediately took to it and told Flowers he wanted to record it. But that wouldn’t happen before a certain British rock legend got involved.
