Flirtin’ With Disaster – Molly Hatchet | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#42); 1980
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
Among the many bands scrambling for dates around Jacksonville, FL was a sextet without a name. Well, at least not a permanent one. Every few gigs the guys would change their billing.
Trouble was: their fans couldn’t find them from one week to the next. Finally, the players tossed 18 possibilities into a John Deere Tractor hat and pulled out…Molly Hatchet: a real (or maybe not) murderess who lived in 17th Salem.
Molly Hatchet’s debut album was to be Lynyrd leader Ronnie Van Zant’s first outside production effort, however, he was killed before the project got off the ground. The band released its debut in 1978 and, even without a hit single, it went platinum.
MH’s sophomore effort appeared a year later, and its title track – Flirtin’ With Disaster – reached #42 on the Hot 100. In 1980, singer Danny Joe Brown was diagnosed with diabetes. He left for two albums, then returned to Molly Hatchet until its final performance on July 8, 1990.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Tom Werman
Lyrics Written by:
- Danny Joe Brown
- Dave Hlubek
- Banner Thomas
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).