A column dedicated to great songs, old and new.
November 22, 2005
Written by Hank Williams
From 20 of Hank Williams' Greatest Hits, Mercury Records,
1990
When Hank Williams comes up on our iTunes at home, my wife always looks over at me and simply says "Hank." I always know what she means when she says his name like that: try as folks might, nobody sounds or writes like Hank. Ask Bob Dylan, and he'll tell you the same thing.
20 of Hank Williams' Greatest Hits
Hank Williams
Oh, Hank Williams will get you sooner or later. You might consider yourself a lofty-minded jazz snob who can't bear to listen to bone-simple country tunes, but whoops---your girl Cassandra Wilson covered Hank on her New Moon Daughter record. You might consider yourself too funkafied to listen to anything from the Grand Ole Opry, but hel-lo---your man George Clinton is a big Hank fan, and even blatantly boosted a title of a Hank tune ("Hey, Good Lookin'") in 1986. If you like your music with a little more Monday Night Football™ attitude, then Hank will get to you via his very capable son, Hank Williams Jr., and, finally, if you're a sullen Gen Y-er, then Hank will have to get you through his country-punkin' grandson, Hank III. If you like music, Hank Williams will find his way to you, and trust me, you'll be the better for it.
"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" is probably the quintessential Hank Williams song; it's been covered many times over. Al Green's version will make you weep like your mama just died, and even B.J. Thomas' soft-rock version possesses a strange magnetism. The harmonic foundation, which bears some resemblance to "Amazing Grace", is the perfect anchor for Hank's soul-stirring melody and lyric, right from the beginning:
"Hear that lonesome whippoorwill
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is whining low
I'm so lonesome I could cry"
Hank is not the only songwriter to locate existential loneliness in the sad song of a bird or the low whine of a train, but his stark simplicity here is what sets him apart; it's nothing short of poetic. The second stanza, wherein Hank describes the way a depressive, dark night seems to drag on and on, is equally succinct and powerful:
"I've never seen a night so long
When time goes crawling by
The moon just went behind a cloud
To hide its face and cry"
The next couplet is the one that really slays me, personally. Utilizing a brutal directness about his own state of mind, Hank cuts right to the core:
"Did you ever see a robin weep
When leaves begin to die?
Like me, he's lost the will to live
I'm so lonesome I could cry"
The last two lines are the only ones which hint that the protagonist's melancholy might be related to some sort of lost love or friend:
"The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple sky
And as I wonder where you are
I'm so lonesome I could cry"
Hank Williams' distinctive vocal here possesses more emotion than a thousand melismatic over-singers. All of the notes he hits are clear and strong, but somehow still overwhelmingly sad. You get the feeling he drove home from the session weeping.
Readers familiar with my work know that I like to include at least one country song on each record. It's usually the only song like it on the album. My interest in country music as a listener began as a child with Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton, but I actually didn't start writing country songs until after I heard Hank, which was in the early 1990s. Now, I can't imagine what my own writing would be like without that crucial influence.
Probably mighty lonesome.
pcm
Purchase:
20 of Hank Williams' Greatest Hits
$9.99 at Amazon.com
$13.99 at Tower
Records
Free Download!
In 1991, I wrote and recorded a Hank-influenced demo called "i
just assumed." It's a favorite of some of my musician friends,
but I haven't yet re-recorded it with p-tac.
"i just assumed" -
(MP3, 6.3 MB)
Written and arranged by pcm
Drums, keyboards, vocals: pcm
Keyboards, keyboard solos: Ira Kamin
Recorded by Dan Olmos