Vince Matthews; Songwriter (Love in the Hot Afternoon)
Hyfler/Rosner
Vince Matthews, who wrote songs including 'Love In The Hot Afternoon,' dies
at 63
By PETER COOPER
Staff Writer
The Tennesean
Vince Matthews, the wild-eyed songsmith whose compositions found favor with
Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Gordon Lightfoot and others, died Saturday at
Saint Thomas Hospital. He was 63 and recently had been diagnosed with
lymphatic cancer.
''He's probably one of the greatest writers this business has ever had,''
Cash told journalist Frye Gaillard in the mid-'70s. ''I sure would like to
see him make it.''
Mr. Matthews never ''made it,'' at least not as could be measured by
traditional Nashville barometers of fame and wealth.
His On Susan's Floor was covered by Lightfoot and Hank Williams Jr., Cash
cut Wrinkled, Crinkled, Wadded Dollar Bill, Jennings recorded several songs,
Crystal Gayle cut This Is My Year For Mexico and Gene Watson had a No. 3 hit
in 1975 with Love In The Hot Afternoon. But the proceeds from such successes
never stayed in Mr. Matthews' pockets long. He recorded only one solo album,
Kingston Springs Suite, and though Cash, Kris Kristofferson and
songwriter/poet Shel Silverstein assisted him on it, it was never
commercially available.
''He was one of those, I suppose you might say 'tragic figures' who fell
through the cracks,'' said the Rev. Will Campbell, who served as a sort of
spiritual adviser to the group of unruly songwriters that included Cash and
Kristofferson. ''The trouble wasn't a lack of talent. Sometimes it's just
luck.''
That luck wasn't aided by Mr. Matthews' prodigious appetites for alcohol and
pills. Some called his behavior excessive. He called it ''living the life''
in an interview with Gaillard.
''Vince was different,'' said Jack Clement, the legendary Nashville producer
who ended up publishing many of Mr. Matthews' songs. ''He was very
different, so his songs were different. He was a free-thinker and a rebel.''
Yesterday, Ring of Fire co-writer Merle Kilgore called Mr. Matthews ''too
d..n brilliant for his own good,'' while Campbell noted that the writer held
his own with anyone in town. Songwriter Kenny Hicks recalled that Cash once
called Mr. Matthews' Melva's Wine ''the best contemporary folk song in
American music,'' and longtime friend and co-writer Jim Casey said the song
''chokes me up every time I hear it.''
In the end, such praise did not aid Mr. Matthews' fame or bank account. At
his death, he was living in the West Tennessee town of Waverly, making phone
calls for a mortgage company to earn extra money. Few who picked up his
calls would have known about Melva's Wine or On Susan's Floor, and few would
connect the aging man to the young one who, fueled by song and spirits, was
the rollicking life of some of Nashville's most memorable parties.
About 27 years ago, friends Silverstein and Larry Wilkerson wrote his
epitaph in a song that went, ''That great speckled bird sang her song in his
ear/ Whisperin' words of magic that only Vince could hear.''
A memorial is being planned, but no details were available last night. Mr.
Matthews leaves no survivors.