“Thanks a Lot” was written by Eddie Miller and Don Sessions. Miller was an Oklahoma-born songwriter best known for co-writing “Release Me”; he received a BMI performance award for “Thanks a Lot” in 1964. Ernest Tubb made the first recording, at Columbia Recording Studio on 16th Avenue South in Nashville with Owen Bradley producing. A first attempt on the night of 9 July 1963 was not issued. The master came from the next evening’s session on 10 July, with Harold Bradley, Cal Smith and Leon Rhodes on guitars, Buddy Charleton on steel, Jack Drake on bass, Jack Greene on drums and Hargus Robbins on piano.
Decca released it that August as Decca 31526, with “The Way That You’re Living” on the other side. It peaked at No. 3 on Billboard’s country chart that September, stayed on the chart for 23 weeks, and was No. 49 on Billboard’s year-end list of the top country singles of 1963. Tubb made it the title song of his 1964 album Thanks a Lot. On 17 October 1977 he recorded it again as a duet with Loretta Lynn for The Legend and the Legacy, issued in 1979.
The lyric is a sarcastic thank-you. His former sweetheart has told his friends, within his hearing, that she is not sorry she made him cry and that he deserved everything he got. He answers, “if that’s how you feel, honey, thanks a lot.” He admits he played the fool she ordered, and he sums up the affair: “we loved a little, you laughed a lot, and then you were gone.” The chorus tallies what he’s left with, a broken heart and a lot of crying.
Brenda Lee cut it as a single in October 1964 with Owen Bradley directing. Other country recordings include Hank Williams Jr. (1987), Ricky Van Shelton (1994), Martina McBride (2005) and Randy Travis (2013). Bluegrass bands took it up as well. IIIrd Tyme Out recorded it at Music Row Audio in Nashville in June 1991 for their self-titled Rebel album, with Russell Moore singing lead, Terry Baucom and Alan Bibey on harmony, and Mike Hartgrove on fiddle. Ronnie and Rob McCoury included it on their 1995 album, and Nothin’ Fancy on Bluegrass in a Plain Brown Wrapper (1997).
