This is funny:
His "The Wild Side of Life," which reached No. 1 in 1952, inspired a famous "answer song" written by J.D. Miller, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels." Recorded by Kitty Wells, the song was the first No. 1 hit by a woman soloist on the country music charts and made Wells a star.
Thompson's song was about a guy who'd lost his wife when she left him "and went back to the wild side of life." The song says, "I didn't know God made honky-tonk angels."
"It wasn't God who made honky-tonk angels, as you said in the words of your song," sang Wells, who worked with Thompson for many years. "Too many times married men think they're still single, that has caused many a good girl to go wrong."
Wells, 88, said Wednesday she never took Thompson's tune personally and didn't record the response for personal reasons.
"It was just a song," she said from her Nashville home.
More details are here.
