"Flowers on the Wall" is a song originally recorded by American country music group The Statler Brothers. Written and composed by Lew DeWitt, the group's original tenor vocalist, the song peaked in popularity in January 1966, spending four weeks at number two on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart, and reaching number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The song won the 1966 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary (R&R) Performance - Group (Vocal or Instrumental).
The Statler Brothers re-recorded the song in 1975 for their first greatest-hits album for Mercury Records, The Best of The Statler Brothers.
Critical reception In 2024, Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 116 on its 200 Greatest Country Songs of All Time ranking.
Charts Chart (1965–1966) PeakpositionCanada RPM Top SinglesRPM Top Singles, March 1, 19661New Zealand Singles ChartFlavour of New Zealand, 24 February 19662South Africa (Springbok)7UK Singles Chart38
Eric Heatherly version
Eric Heatherly recorded the song in 2000 for his debut album, Swimming in Champagne. Released as his debut single, Heatherly's rendition reached number six on the Hot Country Songs chart and number 50 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Charts Chart (2000) Peakposition
Year-end charts Chart (2000)Position US Country Songs (Billboard) 30
In popular culture The song (its 1975 version) is used in the soundtrack to the 1994 film Pulp Fiction. In the film, Bruce Willis's character sings along to the line, "smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo" as he is driving. The song is also referenced in the 1995 film Die Hard with a Vengeance where Bruce Willis's character says he was "working on a nice fat suspension, smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo" . Kurt Vonnegut quotes the song's complete lyrics in his 1981 book Palm Sunday, calling the song "yet another great contemporary poem by the Statler Brothers" and using it to describe "the present condition" of an American man who had recently departed his family. "It is not a poem of escape or rebirth. It is a poem about the end of a man's usefulness", he adds. It is the theme song of the radio series Linda Smith's A Brief History of Timewasting.Country Classics Revisted: The Statler Brothers Make Boredom Fun in 'Flowers on the Wall' The Muppets covered the song in 2015, sung by a group of rats called 'The Ratler Brothers', (a clear reference to the Statler Brothers), and released an accompanying music video. The chorus lyrics were modernized and removed the reference to smoking, replacing it with activities such as Instagram stalking and playing sudoku. An instrumental version was used for the long-running TVNZ sheepdog trialling TV series A Dog's Show
References
Further reading Whitburn, Joel, Top Country Songs: 1944-2005 (2006)
External links Both the 1966 and 1975 versions on YouTube