Prop Me Up Beside The Jukebox (If I Die)
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"Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die)" is a song written by Kerry Kurt Phillips, Howard Perdew and Rick Blaylock, and recorded by American
country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
singer
Joe Diffie Joe Logan Diffie (December 28, 1958 – March 29, 2020) was an American country music singer and songwriter. After working as a demo (music), demo singer in the mid 1980s, he signed with Epic Records' Nashville division in 1990. Between then and ...
. It was released in July 1993 as the second single from his CD ''
Honky Tonk Attitude ''Honky Tonk Attitude'' is the third studio album by American country music artist Joe Diffie. Released in 1993, it features the singles "Honky Tonk Attitude", "Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die)", "John Deere Green", and "In My Own Backyard ...
''. It peaked at number 3 on the ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''
Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...
(now
Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...
) chart.


Content

The song begins at a slow pace accompanied by
piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
, with the narrator explaining that he has no fear of dying, but that he wants to go on being himself after he has died. After the introduction, the tempo increases and the narrator elaborates on his initial point, by stating that he wishes to have his body placed against a
jukebox A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that plays a user-selected song from a self-contained media library. Traditional jukeboxes contain records, compact discs, or digital files, and allow user ...
should he die, so that he will still be in a familiar atmosphere after death. The radio edit omits one repetition of the chorus.


Lawsuit

In 1999, the song was part of a lawsuit when another songwriter named Everett Ellis attempted to sue the writers of "Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox", as he thought that the song infringed on a copyright to his own composition, "Lay Me Out by the Jukebox When I Die".


Music video

The music video for the song begins with two men smuggling a fully dressed male corpse out of a funeral home. They proceed to take it out for a night on the town. The night of fun ends with the now-abandoned corpse (wearing sunglasses and a party hat) propped up next to the jukebox. Diffie (who plays the song at the bar) walks up to the corpse afterwards, thinking it's a living person, and tells him that, since its closing time, he needs to leave... adding " you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here". Diffie then claps the corpse on his shoulder and leaves. The corpse begins to sway and collapses next to the jukebox. The video has been described as "''
Weekend at Bernie's ''Weekend at Bernie's'' is a 1989 American black comedy film directed by Ted Kotcheff, written by Robert Klane, and starring Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silverman, Catherine Mary Stewart, and Terry Kiser. It tells the story of two young in ...
'' goes country" (The
sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
had been released the same month as the single). The dead man became a recurring gag in Diffie's music videos, as he also makes appearances in the music videos for "
Third Rock from the Sun ''Third Rock from the Sun'' is the fourth studio album by American country music artist Joe Diffie. Diffie's breakthrough album, the first five tracks were all released as singles, and all charted on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Hot C ...
", " Pickup Man", and " Bigger Than the Beatles".


Chart positions

"Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die)" debuted on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of July 24, 1993.


Year-end charts


Other versions

Lainey Wilson Lainey Denay Wilson (born May 19, 1992) is an American country music, country singer-songwriter. She performed at an early age, before going to Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville to pursue a career as a country performer. In 2014, she released her f ...
,
Tracy Lawrence Tracy Lee Lawrence (born January 27, 1968) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born in Atlanta, Texas, and raised in Foreman, Arkansas, Lawrence began performing at age 15 and moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 19 ...
& The Difftones covered the song on
Hardy Hardy may refer to: People * Hardy (surname) * Hardy (given name) * Hardy (singer), American singer-songwriter Places Antarctica * Mount Hardy, Enderby Land * Hardy Cove, Greenwich Island * Hardy Rocks, Biscoe Islands Australia * Hardy, ...
's 2024 mixtape, '' Hixtape: Vol. 3: Difftape''.


References

{{Joe Diffie singles 1993 songs 1993 singles Joe Diffie songs Tracy Lawrence songs Lainey Wilson songs Music videos directed by Deaton-Flanigen Productions Song recordings produced by Bob Montgomery (songwriter) Epic Records singles Songs written by Kerry Kurt Phillips Songs about jukeboxes