On 4 August 1947, Hank Williams recorded "On the Banks of the Old Pontchartrain" at Castle Studio in Nashville, a single he later held up as his benchmark for failure. Released a month later with the novelty B-side "Fly Trouble," neither track charted, a stark contrast to the success he was beginning to enjoy after signing with MGM Records, and the flop became a recurring point of reference throughout his career whenever a new song succeeded.

The song came after "Move It On Over," Williams's first release for MGM, had reached No. 4 and raised expectations for his follow-up. He did not write "On the Banks of the Old Pontchartrain" himself; the lyrics originated as a poem by a disabled woman named Ramona Vincent, which he set to music. It was not his only early miss, as "I Saw the Light" and "My Sweet Love Ain't Around" also failed to chart, but after "Lovesick Blues" topped the charts in 1949, nearly all of his subsequent singles reached the top 10 for the remainder of his short life.