Ted Daffan (September 21, 1912 – October 6, 1996) was an American country musician noted for composing the seminal “Truck Driver’s Blues”….along with two often covered country anthems of unrequited love, “Born to Lose” and “I’m a Fool to Care”….when in the 1930’s Western Swing bandleader Milton Brown convinced Daffan to start performing….and soon there after he scored his first success as a songwriter with “Truck Drivers’ Blues”….which is one of the first truck-driving songs, a motif which would come to dominate country music for decades….as Daffan wrote “Truck Drivers’ Blues” after he stopped at a roadside diner and noticed that every time a trucker parked his rig and strolled into the cafe, the first thing he did, even before ordering a cup of coffee, was push a coin in the jukebox. He decided to write a song to capture some of the truck drivers’ nickels and make himself rich and famous. Recorded by western swing artist Cliff Bruner with Moon Mullican on lead vocal in 1939….when the song sold more than 100,000 copies, the best-selling record of that year.
After forming his own band, The Texans, Daffan scored a string of hits, including “Worried Mind”, “Those Blue Eyes Are Not Shining Anymore”, “She Goes The Other Way”, “No Letter Today” and “Born to Lose” ….which was also a platinum single for Ray Charles in 1962….as sung by Brother Ray in the video herewith…..during a live stage performance by The Genius in 1980 at Austin City Limits.
