"How's My Ex Treating You" is a song written by Vic McAlpin and originally recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis, who released it as a single, with "Sweet Little Sixteen" on the other side, in 1962 on Sun Records.
| "How's My Ex Treating You" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Jerry Lee Lewis | ||||
| A-side | "How's My Ex Treating You" "Sweet Little Sixteen"[1] | |||
| Released | July 21, 1962 (1962-07-21)[2] | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 2:35 | |||
| Label | Sun | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Vic McAlpin | |||
| Producer(s) | Jerry Kennedy | |||
| Jerry Lee Lewis singles chronology | ||||
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| Audio | ||||
| "How's My Ex Treating You" on YouTube | ||||
Hank Williams, Jr. released his version, sounding "very much like Lewis's without a flashy piano",[3] in 1977 or early 1978.[4]
The circumstances of writing this song as recalled by Vic McAlpin are described in the Roger M. Williams's book Sing a Sad Song: The Life of Hank Williams:
[McAlpin] was sitting in Linebaugh's restaurant, a country music hangout in Nashville, when singer-composer Roger Miller walked in. After exchanging hellos, McAlpin asked jokingly, "How's my ex-girl friend treatin' you?" "About like she's treatin' you," Miller replied.
"That really hit me," recalls McAlpin. "I jumped up, got a pencil, and wrote eight lines of a song based on that on a napkin. Then I turned the napkin over and over and wrote eight more. Jerry Lee Lewis recorded it, and it sold over a hundred thousand."[5]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sweet Little Sixteen" | 2:52 |
| 2. | "How's My Ex Treating You" | 2:35 |
The first, Jerry Lee Lewis's “How's My Ex Treating You” sounds very much like Lewis without a flashy piano.