That’s what Lee Williams, the British country music radio host, wanted to know in his thick accent during our interview. “I mean, really ‘AhhDubbleyu’, it’s a lovely recording, but you’re an American cowboy music singer and you are singing an English rock song. We’re talking none other than Freddie Mercury and Queen!”

“Well, I know,” I drawled, and proceeded to give him the story which I’ve told many times since in radio and magazine interviews both in the United Kingdom and here at home.

Ya see, I’ve always liked that old rockabilly style, and especially that song, so it’s been rattling around in the back of my mind for about 40 years now. But it wasn’t until I awoke to the fact that I was a 50 year old Dad with an infant son that the song held real meaning for me. That’s right, and one who refused to let his mother and I sleep for MONTHS on end! Lisa and I were not new to parenting by any stretch of the imagination, but our five previous kids didn’t hold a candle to the challenges our precious Ethan Wayne was presenting.

Ethan Wayne Hampton

We were both at our wits end and living the sleep-deprived blur when I found myself in an LA studio recording the tracks for my latest album, Austin To Boston. I was resting between takes of some other song and started strumming my guitar and singing, “This thing called love, it cries in the cradle all night, it swings and jives; it shakes all over like a jelly fish. I kind of like it. This crazy little thing called love.” Everyone stopped what they were doing and listened until I was finished. It was then Joe and Gary, my producers, jumped on me like a duck on a June bug, “That’s cool, man. Let’s record it!”

For a minute I thought they had gone “Crazy,” but it didn’t take me long to warm up to the idea. After all, I’m a man who likes to sing and record material he can relate to, and man, I could – and still can – relate to that song! And the rest is, as they say, “recorded, mixed and in the can.”

Well, crazy as it may seem, that’s the story. And you know, some of the craziest little things turn out to be the biggest blessings. I love you, Ethan, and although Freddie Mercury wrote it, it will always be our song, because you are your momma’s and my Crazy Little Thing Called Love!

Click here to listen to my version of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” from my new CD, Austin To Boston.