Little Jimmy Dickens, oldest Grand Ole Opry cast member, dies at 94

Little Jimmy Dickens, a diminutive singer-songwriter who had been the oldest cast member of the Grand Ole Opry, has died. He was 94.

Dickens died Jan. 2 at a Nashville-area hospital of cardiac arrest after suffering a stroke on Christmas Day, Opry spokeswoman Jessie Schmidt said.

Dickens, who stood 4 feet 11, had performed on the Opry almost continuously since 1948. His last performance was Dec. 20 as part of his birthday celebration. He had turned 94 a day earlier.

Country legend Hank Williams Sr. nicknamed him “Tater” based on Dickens’ song “Take an Old Cold Tater (And Wait).”

Dickens’ novelty songs, including his biggest hit “May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose” about good and bad luck, earned him a spot in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1983.

It crossed over from a country hit to become a hit on the pop charts — a rarity in those days — with its rollicking chorus: “May the bird of paradise fly up your nose; May an elephant caress you with its toes; May your wife be plagued with runners in her hose; May the bird of paradise fly up your nose.”

Dickens said in a 2009 Associated Press interview that his first impression of the song was “it was a nice piece of material to inject in my show. Then I went to Vietnam [to perform] for two months and when I got home it was my pay: a No. 1 song.”

His other hits included “A-Sleepin’ at the Foot of the Bed,” ’’Out Behind the Barn,” ’’Country Boy” and “I’m Little But I’m Loud.”

He is credited with introducing rhinestone suits to country music around 1950, taking a suggestion from Los Angeles clothing designer Nudie Cohn.

“He said that when the lights hit them, the audience would go ‘Wow,’ ” Dickens recalled in the 2009 interview. “He was 100% right.”

Dickens was born in 1920 in Bolt, W.Va., the 13th and youngest child in a coal-mining family. Coal mining was the main industry in his area, but it wasn’t for him. “I wouldn’t have worked the mines. I wasn’t large enough,” he once said.

Before becoming a nationally known country singer, he worked at radio stations in the Midwest.