Several features of the song stand out: the primacy of the lyric and the role of mic in supporting it, the sincerity and lack of artifice in Wells's singing, and the newly traditional sound of the accompanying instruments. The song is a modern (for 1952) version of a long-established practice in British and American mic: fitting new words to old songs. Thomas Moore had gentrified the practice with his Irish Melodies. In 1831, Samuel Francis Smith had given "God Save the King," the British national anthem, new words; Americans know the song as "My Country 'Tis of Thee." Woody Guthrie had given several old songs new lyrics. Thompson continued this practice by ing the melody of "Great Speckled Bird," a white gospel song recorded by Roy Acuff in 1936. Miller's ree of Thompson's melody was an obvio way of highlighting the fact that "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" was an answer song.