Hank Cochran photo by Marty Stuart, courtesy of So Much Moore Media.
June 17, 2009 — Legendary songwriter Hank Cochran — responsible for such classics as "Ocean Front Property," "I Fall To Pieces" and "Set ‘Em Up Joe" — was honored Monday with a special party at Nashville’s BMI where the guest list included such heavyweight performers as Merle Haggard and Elvis Costello.
Hank was completely surprised by the gathering, which comes 50 years after his October 1959 move to Nashville to write for Pamper Music, a publishing company founded by Ray Price. Willie Nelson, who also wrote for Pamper, called in during the party and spoke over the speaker system.
"I want everybody there to know how great you are — if you haven't already told them," Willie said, according to The Tennessean.
Lee Ann Womack, Gene Watson and Jamey Johnson were in attendance, as were Bobby Bare and Grand Ole Opry star Jeannie Seely, for whom Hank wrote "Don’t Touch Me" when he was married to her.
"You know," Bobby said, "Hank drove me and Jeannie [Bare] up to Springfield to get married. He said it was quicker to get married up there. He said, 'Why, you can get married in 20 minutes in Springfield. I've done it three times!'"
The party was particularly poignant given Hank’s recent health battles. He had surgery for pancreatic cancer last July and remained hospitalized for a full month.
Inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1974, Hank was added to the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame in 2003 and was one of the inaugural figures to have a tile in the Country Music Walkway of Stars when the first Country Music Hall of Fame structure opened on Music Row in 1967.
He’s written more than 40 hits, including Patsy Cline’s "She’s Got You," George Strait’s "The Chair," Vern Gosdin’s "Is It Raining At Your House," Merle Haggard’s "It’s Not Love (But It’s Not Bad)," Eddy Arnold’s "Make The World Go Away," Keith Whitley’s "Miami, My Amy," Ronnie Milsap’s "Don’t You Ever Get Tired (Of Hurting Me)" and Mickey Gilley’s "That’s All That Matters."
Hank also performed on the soundtrack to Willie’s Honeysuckle Rose and produced several of Merle’s late-1970s hits, including "Ramblin’ Fever" and "I’m Always On A Mountain When I Fall."
Among the numerous songwriters who helped celebrate were Dallas Frazier ("Elvira"), Dean Dillon ("A Lot Of Things Different"), Jack Clement ("Ballad Of A Teenage Queen"), Red Lane ("‘Til I Get It Right"), Jim Lauderdale ("You Don’t Seem To Miss Me") and Sanger D. "Whitey" Shafer ("All My Ex’s Live In Texas").