So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed

"So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed"
Single by Merle Travis
B-side	"Sweet Temptaton"
Published	January 8, 1947 (1947-01-08) by American Music, Inc., Hollywood[1]
Released	January 1947 (1947-01)[2]
Recorded	October 19, 1946 (1946-10-19)[3]
Studio	Radio Recorders, Los Angeles
Genre	Hillbilly
Length	2:59
Label	Capitol 349
Songwriter(s)	Merle Travis, Cliffie Stone, Eddie Kirk
Producer(s)	Lee Gillette
Merle Travis singles chronology
"Divorce Me C.O.D." (1946) "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed" (1947) "Steel Guitar Rag" (1947)

"So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed" is a 1947 song by Merle Travis, written by Travis, Eddie Kirk, and Cliffie Stone.

Background

The song describes a woman through the use of advertising slogans. The slogan "So round, so firm, so fully packed, so free and easy on the draw" was used in the Lucky Strike brand cigarette advertising of the time, first heard in 1944 on the Jack Benny and Your Hit Parade radio programs.^[citation needed] "I'd walk a mile" is a slogan for Camel cigarettes. "Just ask the man who owns one" refers to Packard automobiles.[4] "She's got the pause that's so refreshing" is a reference to the Coca-Cola slogan "The Pause that Refreshes".

Chart performance

The song was Travis' second number one on the Folk Juke Box charts, where it stayed at number one for 14 weeks and a total of 21 weeks on the chart.[5]

Cover versions

• In 1947 it was also a #3 hit for Johnny Bond, and a #5 hit for Ernest Tubb.
• Eddy Arnold covered the song on his 1954 album Eddy Arnold: An American Institution and his 1956 album A Dozen Hits.
• Ricky Skaggs covered the song on his 1981 album Waitin' for the Sun to Shine.

References

1. Library of Congress. Copyright Office. (1947). Catalog of Copyright Entries 1947 Published Music Jan-Dec 3D Ser Vol 1 Pt 5A. United States Copyright Office. U.S. Govt. Print. Off.
2. Patrick Milligan; Richard Weize; Michel Ruppli; Praguefrank; Mario Manciotti; Murray Kirch (May 23, 2022). "Merle Travis". Praguefrank's Country Music Discographies. Retrieved 2022-05-23.
3. "Capitol 100 - 499, 78rpm numerical listing discography". www.78discography.com. Retrieved 2022-05-23.
4. Einstein, Arthur (2010). Ask the Man Who Owns One: An Illustrated History of Packard Advertising.
5. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 351.

Preceded by "Rainbow at Midnight" by Ernest Tubb

Most Played Juke Box Folk Records number one single by Merle Travis February 8, 1947

Succeeded by "New Jolie Blonde (New Pretty Blonde)" by Red Foley