I'm Gonna Be a Swinger

AMG Review of I'm Gonna Be a Swinger

Greg Adams
All Music Guide

I'm Gonna Be a Swinger is a fascinating album for several reasons. First, it was Webb Pierce's last album for Decca, recorded at the end of a 21-year association, during which he sold a lot of records. Second, it's astounding how little his style changed over the years -- I'm Gonna Be a Swinger sounds like it could have been made ten years earlier. (If you love Pierce, that's not a bad thing). Finally, Pierce's name appears among the songwriting credits on half the songs, most notably on "Someday," which he apparently co-wrote with former Cricket Sonny Curtis. The cover photo shows Pierce in a gaudy suit and tie worthy of a used car salesman, grinning suggestively as the words "I'm Gonna Be a Swinger" float above him. Was this someone's idea of a hip makeover for the '70s? Some of the songs are quite unusual for Pierce, such as the recitation "Daddy's Not Dead" (featuring Koko the Clown from the Webb Pierce Road Show on the spoken word part) and the Bailes Brothers' moralistic "Whiskey Is the Devil (In Liquid Form)," on which Johnny Bailes himself guests. It's a little surprising to receive a temperance message from the King of the Honky-Tonks -- Pierce is, after all, the guy who once sang "There Stands the Glass." "I'm Gonna Be a Swinger" was a minor hit but, with this kind of throwback music, Pierce wasn't about to win many new fans.