Never touch another mans hat!

[harleydavis]

Why and was there a reason why that was started,yep been watchin Wild Bill with Jeff Bridges~

Bill was noted to say "I will not be put upon". I suspect having one's hat messed with would qualify as "being put upon". Along that vein, a man's pocket watch in the day, was the equivalent of a Harley Davidson today.............do not walk outside wearing someone else's watch neither!!!!!!!!!

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Google says Lee Kernaghan, track #10 of 1959 album

http://www.releaselyrics.com/4faa/lee-kernaghan-this-cowboy%5C%27s-hat/

Wikipedia seems to say that Jake Brooks is the author? Now I'm perplexed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Underground

This says that Jake Brooks was the author; Ledoux seems to be the artist most closely associated with the song.

http://www.musicvf.com/songs.php?page=artist&artist=Jake+Brooks&tab=songaswriterchartstab

[Major 2]

Google ?   Google says Lee Kernaghan, track #10 of 1959 album 
is that the year the album came out....  

If so... I'd refer them to the line "...But back in '69 he was killed in Vietnam"
and Lee Kernaghan was born 1964 

No question Jake Brooks is the author...

[Advertising]

[Cliff Fendley]

Jake Brooks is attributed as the writer on Chris's albums. He also wrote and co-wrote other songs Chris recorded.

When some people see the name Brooks (referring to Jake Brooks) as the writer on Chris's albums they think Garth Brooks which did actually co-write "Whatcha going to do with a Cowboy" that he did as a duet with Ledoux.

Don't know of anything in the 1959 era for Ledoux, he started his recording career in the early 70's and sold his tapes at the rodeos. He was a professional bareback rider until he retired around 84 or so. That was my senior year in high school and was around that time when he retired.

Few people knew about Chris Ledoux until Garth Brooks mentioned him in the lyrics "a worn out tape of Chris Ledoux" in the song much too young to feel this damn old. Until then he was mostly just known by the folks who followed the rodeo circuit.

I only did some little britches stuff as a kid but my Dad rode saddle bronc. You didn't mess with Dad's had either.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Major2;  I saw 1959 on the google search list. The date 1995 also showed up.  I reported what I saw, and it could very well be wrong.  That is why I mentioned the source.  This little exercise took me down some unfamiliar paths.  Sorry if anyone was misled.

[GunClick Rick]

Well in all truth it was never about the hat but about a fellers gal,ya see fellers have two heads and the right woman fits perfect...

Just like the movie Jaws,it was never about the shark  

That's what an old indian told me~Grandpa was sorta funny that way..

[Major 2]

No biggie ... I listened to the Lee Kernaghan version and some lyric are changed some...

Still, Like the song thought  and Ledoux version, I believe is the first I ever heard 
 I don't know maybe he "Ledoux" collaborated with Brooks.

Truth is I had not heard it in many, many years , kinda glad to rediscover it ...

[Delmonico]

Someone can search it out if they want, but I believe, (am not sure) but I think Johnny Paycheck did a version in the late 70's that got radio play.

[Delmonico]

So as to hats, anyone ever notice that in most cases you can tell the approximate age of someone by looking at their hat, with out even having them there?  Even if they drift to something else to try, most guys wear about the same type hat that was in style when the bought their first hat when about 18 or so. 

It impresses folks when they come in to buy a hat and they can't really explain how they want it shaped and I look at them guess their age and tell them what I think they are trying to tell me.  BTW I'm right almost all the time.  The 21 year old kids buying a black one to go to the bars I just shape, never been wrong on one yet.    Rodeo people are more shaped like the event they do, some variation for regions where they are from.   4 1/4 inch brim or wider for most under 30, 4' for most of the rest till about 70 and then we start doing 3 3/4 or even 3 1/2 inches on the brim, taller crowns for the older ones also.

[Cliff Fendley]

Well I got curious and had to do some checking.

This is according to Cindy Brooks (Jakes wife)

Concerning a song about a cowboy hat that Porter Wagoner recorded in the early '80s. The songwriter is my husband, Jake Brooks, and the song is based on a true story. Jake is from New Mexico and while attending college there in the early '70s he would go to the local cantina, all the older cowboys would take off their hats as they walked in and would hang them on hooks. The hippies and the motorcycle gang members would make fun of them and there the song developed. Each character in the song was a true person in Jake's life. Porter recorded it and did a good job, but when Chris LeDoux recorded it, he really added his personality to it, and years later told Charlie Daniels that it was his signature song. It has been on more than 6 of Chris' albums. Chris LeDoux was one of a kind, a great family man, friend, artist and true cowboy.
(Cindy Brooks, Nashville, TN)

Now we know the rest of the story.

[Delmonico]

OK it was Porter, not Johnny Paycheck that recorded it.  I knew I'd heard that song long before Cris was palyed on the mainstream stations. 

[Tsalagidave]

I think its just common courtesy to leave someone's hat alone. This is especially true if its an everyday item that is readily associated with that individual. If I ever sit at the bar and one of my friends or acquaintances has their hat in the way, I ask if I can move it and they have almost always moved it themselves without me ever touching it. Its kinda like touching someone's face or head. Its just impolite and a great way to start something with a stranger especially.

-Dave

[GunClick Rick]

So as to hats, anyone ever notice that in most cases you can tell the approximate age of someone by looking at their hat, with out even having them there?  Even if they drift to something else to try, most guys wear about the same type hat that was in style when the bought their first hat when about 18 or so.  

It impresses folks when they come in to buy a hat and they can't really explain how they want it shaped and I look at them guess their age and tell them what I think they are trying to tell me.  BTW I'm right almost all the time.  The 21 year old kids buying a black one to go to the bars I just shape, never been wrong on one yet.   Rodeo people are more shaped like the event they do, some variation for regions where they are from.   4 1/4 inch brim or wider for most under 30, 4' for most of the rest till about 70 and then we start doing 3 3/4 or even 3 1/2 inches on the brim, taller crowns for the older ones also.

You ain never seen my brother in law!!!   He's worn the same hat ever since i met him with a real barb wire hatband!He was just here from Idaho and i gave him one of my old Festus style hats he liked,we wear the same size,it looks more like a Hoss hat,but what Festus wore when he first started appearing on Gunsmoke. Guess which one he is   I gave him the one on the right..

[Blair]

I think the idea, concept or premise is based off of an invasion of ones personal space.

Hats can be a pretty personal thing, and if you are close enough to grab my hat... then you are too "close to my personal space'.
It is a matter of individual respect for another individual and his belongings.

I don't understand why there would be an issue with this idea?
My best,
Blair

[dusty texian]

Ya dont touch another Man's Hat, and Ya dont  pet another Man's dog! At least in Texas Ya dont ,,,,,,,Dusty

[Blair]

Dusty,

Like the dog wont let you know when your intruding into his Personal space??? 
It is just a matter of "respect" for others.
If a stupid dog knows this... why do people have trouble?
My best,
Blair

[dusty texian]

That's the way I was raised Blair. It is a matter of respect. Ya never get in another Man's space or fool with somthin that dont belong to Ya. ,,,,,,,Dusty

[Mean Bob Mean]

Ya dont touch another Man's Hat, and Ya dont  pet another Man's dog! At least in Texas Ya dont ,,,,,,,Dusty

Drop by my house, you have to pet my dog and say hello or it won't stop yammering for attention.  So, anyone dropping by feel free to shut my pup up by petting it--please.

[flyingcollie]

. . . If a stupid dog knows this... why do people have trouble? . . .

All due respect Blair, longer I live, the more I'm prone to believe dogs are 'way smarter than the average population . . .

No one has yet mentioned the fact that in the "old days", a "gent" would tip his hat, to ladies, to persons deserving of respect, and remove it as a sign of respect in certain places (church) or on certain occasions (funerals), and this was a standard of behavior. The crux of it being that the wearer voluntarily gave these signs of respect . . . to have someone impose on that (by touching your hat) was an incredible insult that no real man could brook.

[Delmonico]

Hell I've wished I could have a pistol and shoot the dang hats off the ill manner folks who wear them sitting at a table eating.  But those are the same type fools who leave their hat in their pick=up or more likely their SUV in the summer and wonder what happened to them.

Most folks don't know it's bad luck to place your hat on a bed or why it is.