B-side "Sweet Sweetheart" Format Single Length 3:07 | Released February 1973 Genre Country | |
Recorded December 29, 1972
Mount Juliet, Tennessee | ||
"Satin Sheets" is a song written by John Volinkaty, and recorded by American country music artist Jeanne Pruett. It was released in February 1973 as the first single and title track from the album of the same name. The song was Pruett's only Number One country hit, as well as her only chart entry on the Billboard Hot 100.
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Song history
Jeanne Pruett struggled for years under RCA Records in the 1960s, before signing successfully with Decca Records in 1969, which then became MCA Records the year "Satin Sheets" was released. She finally started charting the Country list in 1971, then by 1972, she was hitting the Top 40 with her self-penned "Love Me" (later a bigger Country hit for Marty Robbins). "Satin Sheets" was written by John Volinkaty, New Ulm, Minnesota. The song was released as a single in February 1973. Writer Volinkaty said the idea came to him in 1970 while he was grocery shopping in Minneapolis. He went home and wrote this, his first song, in 30 minutes. It took 3 years to get someone to listen to it. He sent a tape to Jeanne and she listened. Volinkaty died in 1992.
"Satin Sheets" hit country radio in March 1973, aided by 1,600 pink satin sheets that Jeanne cut by hand and sent to radio programmers and music executives across the nation. The international hit topped the country charts that May.
The song was such a big hit it became a modest crossover hit, reaching No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Satin Sheets" went on to become Pruett's biggest hit and career hit, as well as a signature Country tune of the 1970s. The song was revolutionary for Country music at the time, for its open discussion of sex. The song talks of how a housewife is unhappy with her marriage to a man who only gives gifts to his wife instead of giving her real love. An album of the same name was released that year, that topped the "Top Country Albums" chart as well. The album featured Pruett lying in a pink bed, with pink satin clothes and satin sheets. Because of the song's success, Pruett was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry.
Pruett referenced the song in her 1979 single "Please Sing Satin Sheets for Me", which included a portion of her recording of "Satin Sheets" at the end.
Cover versions
"Satin Sheets" has been recorded by artists including Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Hank Williams Jr and Martina McBride. It has been spoofed as "Santa's Sheets" by New Orleans act Benny Grunch and Kathy Savoie,sung from the perspective of Mrs. Santa Claus.