"Standing Room Only" is a song written by Susan Manchester and Charles Silver, 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 ...

artist

Barbara Mandrell Barbara Ann Mandrell (born December 25, 1948) is an American retired country music singer and musician. She is also credited as an actress and author. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, she was considered among country's most successful mus ...

. It was released in December 1975 as the first single from the album '' This Is Barbara Mandrell''. It was one of her first top ten singles in her career.

Background and recording

Although had several charting singles for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

in the early 1970s, she did not achieve greater commercial success until switching to ABC/Dot Records in 1975. She started working with producer

Tom Collins The Tom Collins is a Collins cocktail made from gin, lemon juice, sugar, and carbonated water. This "gin and sparkling lemonade" drink is typically served in a Collins glass over ice with a cherry garnish. A non-alcoholic "Collins mix" drink mi ...

, who crafted a Countrypolitan sound that helped her music reach larger audiences. Among these songs was 1975's "Standing Room Only". The song was described by writers Robert K. Oermann and Mary A. Bufwack as a "cheating song" where Mandrell portrays the character of "an angry wife". Collins produced Mandrell's first ABC/Dot session in September 1975 in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. On the same session, Mandrell cut one additional track called "I Can't Help But Wonder".

Release and chart performance

"Standing Room Only" was released as a single on ABC/Dot Records on December 1, 1975. It was backed on the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

by the song "Can't Help But Wonder". The track was issued by the label as a seven inch vinyl single. The single spent 17 weeks on America's ''

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 ...

'' country songs chart, peaking at number five by March 1976. It was Mandrell's first single issued by the label and her highest-charting single up to that point. In Canada, the single climbed to the number 37 position on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' country chart. The song was released on Mandrell's first album for the label, which was titled '' This Is Barbara Mandrell''. The album was released in 1976.

Track listing

7" vinyl single * "Standing Room Only" – 3:04 * "Can't Help But Wonder" – 3:00

Charts

References

{{Barbara Mandrell songs 1975 singles 1975 songs ABC Records singles Dot Records singles Barbara Mandrell songs Song recordings produced by Tom Collins (record producer)