//mp3

I've been reading Waylon's autobiography "Waylon: An Autobiography" for a week and a half or so now, and although I've been a Waylon fan for quite awhile it was really re-hearing this week's MP3 of the week "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?" while watching the actually pretty good film Crazy Heart about a month ago.

What a song. The beat itself is worth the price of admission, and every time Waylon gets to the line "Well I've seen the world with a five piece-piece band looking at the backside of me" I get the chills. I really do, no lie.

Anyways, this is what Waylon has to say about the song in the book:

Driving to Hillbilly Central one morning during the Dreaming My Dream sessions, I was thinking about Hank's influence and the example he'd set for us, both good and bad. I grabbed an envelope from the seat and started writing, one hand on the wheel, the other balancing pencil and paper on my knee. When I got to the studio, we immediately recorded it—me and Richie managed to turn the beat completely around—and I read it off the envelope. Two weeks later, our bus driver, Billy, came to me and asked if he could have the envelope with the original lyrics. he'd found it on my music stand. I looked at it,a nd I swear I couldn't read a word. It was just scribbling.

Lord it's the same old tune, fiddle and guitar
Where do we take it from here?
Rhinestone suits and big shiny cars, Lord
It's been the same way for years.
We need a change.
Somebody told me, when I came to Nashville
Son, you finally got it made
Old Hank made it here, and we're all sure that youw ill
But I don't think Hank done it this way
I don't think Hank done it this way
Ten years on the road pickin' one-night stands
Speeding my young life away.
Tell me one more time just so's I understand
Are you sure Hank done it this way
Did old Hank really do it this way
Lord I've seen the world with a five-piece band
Looking at the back side of me
Singing my songs, one of his now and then
But I don't think Hank done 'em this way
I don't think Hank done 'em this way

With its relentless four-on-the-floor rhythm, phased guitars, and eerie drones, "Hank" didn't sound like a standard country record. There was no clear-cut verse and chrous, no fiddle middle break, no bridge, nothing but an endless bakc-and-forth seesaw between two chords. Jack mixed the guitars together so they sounded like one huge instrument, matching their equalization settings so you couldn't tell where one blended into the other.

It felt like a different music, and Outlaw awas as good a description as any. We mostly though it was funny; Tompall immediately made up Outlaw Membership certificates and handed them out to select visitors at Hillbilly Central.

I can listen to this song a thousand times and never get tired of it. I sure wish Waylon was still around.

//talktalk

I haven't added a new blog to the links in a long while, instead I've just watched as more and more of my regular reads disappeard. But today, welcome Korovieva.