Meanwhile, co-writer Mark Irwin was still bartending at the Bluebird Café. He hadn’t seen any royalty checks yet because they take several months, sometimes longer, to start coming in. Patrons knew that Irwin had co-written “Here In The Real World,” one of the biggest hits on the national playlist at the time, and didn’t think that he needed any of the usual tips, but at that point in time, he still did!
After Alan became one of country music’s biggest stars, he purchased a vacation house on Center Hill Lake near Nashville and named it “The Real World” after his first big hit. He had that inscription written in huge letters on the brick entrance to his home there. When Irwin heard that Alan had done that, he bought some paint, took it home to his house in Nashville and painted “The Real World” on his mailbox.
