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[23] Super Legend
- University of Illinois Press
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[23] Super Legend New Year’s Day, 1981, after returning home from a three-show New Year’s Eve performanceinEvansville,Indiana,Martyexperiencedchestpains.“Ithoughtit wasjustanextrabadcaseofindigestion,”hesaidlater,“becauseI’vehadaheart attack, and it was nothing like the one I had in ’69.”1 He waited from Thursday untilMondaytocallDoctorEwersforan appointment. “Itoldhim Ihadalittle pain in my chest, and he said come on over,” Marty remembered. “I said I was planning on coming over tomorrow, and he said get on over here right now.” It was almost five o’clock on January 5, and Marty was leaving his office to go home. Instead, he drove to the doctor’s office. 204 “I had on a big cowboy hat, a straw hat, I had on boots and jeans and a big jacket like real cowboys wear, y’know,” Marty recalled. The doctor checked him and called an ambulance. Marty thought he was kidding until ambulance attendants rolled in a stretcher. “Doctor Ewers,” Marty said, “I’m not dressed for the hospital.” The doctor insisted he get in the ambulance. Marty said later, “So I went out of there on my back, but I still had my boots on. I had that hat lying across, and I felt real silly, a little embarrassed, y’know.”2 The ambulance took him to St. Thomas Hospital where he’d had triple bypasssurgeryelevenyearsearlier .Hewasplacedinaspecialcareunit,diagnosed with a mild heart attack, and listed in serious but stable condition. A hospital spokesman said on Wednesday, “When I saw him this afternoon he was joking withhisdoctorandhadhisguitarinbedwithhim.”Aspokesmansaidthedamagewouldn ’tbeknownuntildoctorsrananarteriogram.EvelynLamb,Marty’s secretary, reported that Marty called the office frequently. “He laughs a lot and says he’s bored,” she said.3 Doctors determined no surgery would be required. The following week Marty called Ralph Emery’s WSM radio show from the hospital. Broadcasting live, Emery said, “I’ve been getting various reports on you—that you were improving, that you were bored, and that you wanted to get out of the hospital.” Marty answered, “Yeah, I’d like to get out. But you have to do what the doctors tell you to do. I think I’m getting out Saturday. But ifit’snotSaturday,thenI’llwaittillMonday.”Hesaidhe’dcancelledhisJanuary and February personal appearances. Marty told Emery he had written one song and started another, “Jumper Cable Man,” which he would finish when in the mood. “I’m gonna play around with that thing, ’cause it’s really cute,” he said.4 The double entendre song referred to working on a car and a woman’s emotions: “I’ve got a reputation I believeishardtobeat;Iknowwhatwirestoworkwithwhenyourbatteryneeds some heat.” The song idea occurred to him when a nurse taking his pulse asked a man who was cleaning nearby, “Henry, can you jump me off?” Marty had never heardthatterm,andeventhoughhewasdrowsywithmedication,thecomment caughthisattention,andhecamealertenoughtoseewhatwouldhappennext. The man asked, “What’s the matter—battery dead?” Marty realized the nurse referred to jumper cables, which he called booster cables. “Out in the west,” Marty explained to Emery, “if you wanted somebody to help you get your car started, you say, ‘Can you give me aboost?’”He added, “Ithought that’s agood [3.227.252.87] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 11:09 GMT) 205 [ CH 23 ] Super Legend title and a good idea for a song.” He never saw that nurse again, but he sang the song for several others, “and they got a big kick out of it.”5 During the interview, Emery asked, “Have you heard a lot from Marty’s Army?” Marty said he’d received three or four hundred pounds of mail, and callscamefrom“Ireland.London.Canada.Allovertheworld,really.”Themost unusual card arrived from El Paso, Texas. Measuring four feet by eight feet and weighing one hundred pounds, the sheet of wood showed El Paso’s location on an outline of Texas, with a note that read, “Get Well Marty!!” KHEY Radio displayed the card at a shopping mall for fans to sign and then shipped it to Marty’s office.6 When Emery referred to Marty as a superstar, Marty corrected him with, “super legend.” He said, “There’s already superstars, so I started calling myself a superlegend,andIevengetsomemail,‘SuperLegendMartyRobbins.’”Inlater interviews, Emery would introduce his friend as “Mr. Teardrop, Old Golden Throat, and Super Legend, Marty Robbins.” He’d started calling Marty “Old Golden Throat” more than a decade earlier, in response to Marty’s dislike of “Mr. Teardrop.”7 Emery asked if Doctor Ewers fussed at Marty about driving race cars, and Marty said, “Well, yeah, a...