Welcome back to Country Music 4 Ever! Today, I will continue my series on debut singles. We will be looking at a song that was written 121 years ago, but wasn't made popular until later.

"Great Speckled Bird" was written by an evangelist named Guy Smith in 1905, after being inspired by the Bible. The lyrics to this song were taken straight from Jeremiah 12:9, which says, "Has not my inheritance become to me like a speckled bird of prey that other birds of prey surround and attack?"

Years after the song was written, Roy Acuff heard it being performed by a little-known band and he instantly fell in love with the song. He liked it so much that he paid one of the band members 50 cents to write down the lyrics for him to perform at his shows. Within weeks, it became Roy's most requested song at his shows.

In 1939, Roy performed "Great Speckled Bird" on the Grand Ole Opry for the first time. The Opry received so much positive mail about the performance that they invited Roy back to become a regular performer on the Opry.

Thanks for reading. I'll be back soon with part three of this series.