Conway had millions of male fans, but it's pretty obvious that he had a special magic with the ladies. He often stated that he chose songs with women in mind - ones that said things women wanted to hear but men had a hard time saying.
That philosophy temporarily went out the window with the recording of Tight Fittin' Jeans, the first single off Conway's Mr. T album. "Every once in a while, you've got to do something for the guys," he said.
Sure enough, men loved the toe-tapping song, but women did too. It became a nationwide phenomenon over the summer of 1981, inspiring "tight fittin' jeans" contests across the country as it climbed the charts, landing at #1 on both Billboard and Cashbox in late September. It remained a perennial concert favorite and is consistently one of the top 10 most downloaded/streamed Conway songs on the various digital music services.
A few interesting bits of trivia...
1) Conway's wife Dee hated the song so much she would change the station when it came on the radio!
2) The original album cut did not include the electric guitar leads; those were overdubbed for the single version after Mr. T was released.
3) The song came from Charlie Pride's publishing company, and after turning it down a number of times he regretted not recording it himself.
4) Tight Fittin' Jeans was certified gold by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) over the summer, marking 500,000 digital downloads.
When you stop and think about it, Tight Fittin' Jeans actually is a "classic Conway" song in that it shows no disrespect to the woman in the story. Did the cowboy and the socialite do more than dance that fateful night? Probably. But always a gentleman, Conway just sings, "In my mind she's still a lady, that's all I'm gonna say..."
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