Song:Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile
Album:17 Greatest Hits
Country singer David Allan Coe had his biggest hit with Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile in 1984. He also wrote the Johnny Paycheck hit Take This Job and Shove It. He was born Sept. 5, 1939 in Akron, OH. he was in reform school at age nine and spent most of the next twenty years in prison for various crimes. BB King and Screamin' Jay Hawkins were among those who put Coe on the straight and narrow. Coe moved to Nashville in 1967 and lived in a hearse parked outside Ryman Auditorium. He signed with Shelby Singleton's Plantation Records and released his debut album Penitentiary Blues in 1968. Early in his career, Coe had success writing songs like the Tanya Tucker hit Would You Lay With Me (In A Field Of Stone). And this led to a record deal with Columbia Records and legendary producer Billy Sherrill. In 1975, Coe had his first top ten country hit with the Steve Goodman song you Never Even Called Me By My Name. Coe also wrote Johnny Paycheck's 1977 number one hit Take This Job and Shove It. This is probably Coe's best known song. Coe continued to record for Columbia in the 80s. But he didn't reach the top ten again until The Ride reached #4 on the Country Singles chart in 1983 and then Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile reached #2 in 1984. The song was written by Scottish musician Johnny Cunningham. He never broke the top ten again and left Columbia in 1989. You can get all his hits on this budget comp. Since then, Coe continues to record and tour. In 1999, he became friends with Dimebag Darrell of Pantera and the country metal CD Rebel Meets Rebel was released in 2006. Coe also toured with Kid Rock and wrote a song for him. David Allan Coe's latest CD was released in 2010. Here's David Allan Coe performing Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile on Nashville Now 1984.
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