Such is the case of Charlie Walker's 1958 hit record, "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down."

Harlan Howard was spending his days as a factory worker in California and spending his afterwork hours observing the night life in local honky tonks and clubs.

It was during one of those nights that Harlan overheard an argument between a young couple. According to Harlan, the two had worked up quite a fuss before the girl walked away, leaving the guy standing there--to which he yelled ,"you can pick me up on your way down."

Harlan carried the thought of that lovers quarrel and that line in the back of his mind for several months before deciding to use it as a basis for a song.

Harlan says that "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down" came together in just a few minutes---once he got started. But after completing the tune, he had no idea what to do with it.

But he just happened to have a friend who worked at Pamper Music Publishing in Nashville. During a telephone conversation, Harlan mentioned the new song he had just written and the friend asked Harlan to send it to him. SO Harlan mailed the song to Nashville and it wound up in the batch of songs being pitched to Charlie Walker for his Columbia recording session.

Charlie was a country music disc jockey in San Antonio, Texas and was trying to carve his niche as a recording artist. And he decided that "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down" was the song to make it happen.

But Charlie Walker was more sold on the song than Harlan Howard was on Charlie Walker.

According to Harlan, "I had never heard of Charlie Walker. I thought the song could be a hit and I sure wanted it to be but I wasn't sure of things at that point."

But the record soon removed any doubt that Harlan might have had!

The record opened the door for Charlie Walker as a recording artist and it opened some doors for Harlan Howard as a songwriter!

"Pick Me Up On Your Way Down" made the country charts October 20th, 1958 and peaked at number two, where it stayed for 4 weeks. The song was on the charts for 22 weeks.