“Little Green Apples” (O.C. Smith/Roger Miller)

Today’s classic song of the day is “Little Green Apples,” a mainstream hit for O.C. Smith and a country hit for Roger Miller. Miller recorded it first, in January of 1968, and his version hit #6 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, #5 on the Adult Contemporary Chart, and #39 on the Hot 100. O.C. Smith’s version, originally an album cut that DJs around the country picked up on, came out later in the year and went all the way to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and #4 on the Adult Contemporary chart). Smith’s version ended up as Billboard’s #12 song for the entire year of 1968.

“Little Green Apples” is best known for the lines “God didn’t make little green apples/And it don’t rain in Indianapolis in the summertime” and the follow up line that “it don’t snow in Minneapolis when the winter comes.” I have lived in both Indianapolis and Minneapolis and I can assure you that it does indeed rain in the former and snow in the latter. Of course, the lyrics make it a negative, prefacing both those claims that “if that’s not lovin’ me, then…” He also comments about Disneyland, Mother Goose, and nursery rhymes, all of which also exist.

The song “Little Green Apples” was written by songwriter Bobby Russell, who also wrote Bobby Goldsboro’s chart-topping, tear-jerking hit “Honey” and Vicki Lawrence’s #1 single “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.” (FYI, Vicki Lawrence was his wife at the time.) Russell also had a hit performing his own song, “Saturday Morning Confusion,” which went to #28 in 1971. (This explains why I always thought “Saturday Morning Confusion” was a Bobby Goldsboro song.) Bobby Russell died young, however, passing away in 1992 at just 52 years of age.

Before hitting it big with “Little Green Apples,” O.C. Smith (born Ocie Lee Smith) had a previous top forty hit with “The Son of Hickory Holler’s Tramp.” He had another minor hit in 1969 with “Daddy’s Little Man.” He continued recording through 1987 then became a pastor and founded the City of Angels Church in Los Angeles. He passed away in 2001 of a heart attack, age 69.

Roger Miller, of course, had a long and successful career as a country artist with several of his songs crossing over onto the mainstream charts. You’ve probably heard a few of them, such as “Dang Me,” “Chug-a-Lug,” “Do-Wacka-Do,” “King of the Road,” “Engine #9,” and “England Swings.” He continued recording and performing up till his death in 1992 of lung cancer. He was just 56 years old.