The authorship of the song has been a source of confusion. Various combinations of Faron Young, Eddie Crandell and Billy Deaton have been credited on the many different artist releases of the song over the years. To paraphrase Faron Young and Frank Oakley, on P. 120-121 of his 2007 biography, "Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story" by Diane Diekman, Carl Belew and Van Givens wrote "Wine Me Up". They were working for 4 Star Records at the time and without permission, Belew and Givens sold the song rights to Faron Young and Frank Oakley under the premise that their wives had written the song. At the same time, Belew also sold the song rights to a man named Eddie Crandell. Faron's original single listed his name and Crandell's as the "songwriters". Once the song hit the charts 4 Star sued Faron and Oakley (and presumably Crandell). Faron and Oakley eventually ceded the publishing rights back to 4 Star, but retained ownership of the song (75% Faron/25% Oakley). At a later date Oakley sold his interest in the song to Faron's new manager, Billy Deaton.
