Freddy Fender : Wasted Days and Wasted Nights
In August of 1975, Freddy Fender had the top selling country single, a remake of his 1960 hit "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" as well as the top selling album, Before the Next Teardrop Falls. The last time his "Wasted Days" was a hit, in 1960, Fender and his bass player were arrested and sent to Louisiana's notorious Angola prison farm.
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| Fender in 1960 |
He was released after three years on the condition he stay away from bars. Fender became a mechanic and might have vanished for good had it not been for a record producer named Huey P Meaux, aka "The Crazy Cajun". Meaux asked Fender to overdub some vocals on an instrumental version of a minor country hit written in the late 1960's. Fender sang the song in English and then Spanish and thought nothing of it. That song was the #1 country and #1 pop hit, "Before The Next Teardrop Falls". Fender's follow-up nearly duplicated "Teardrop"'s success selling a million copies in the US where it became a Top 10 pop hit.
In New Zealand the song topped the pop charts for twelve weeks.
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