Hank Williams' Greatest Hits
From the original vinyl LP
14 of Hank's All-Time Best
MGM High Fidelity
STEREO
E3918
SE3918
Side 1
RCA Music Service Edition
STEREO
SE 3918
63 ST 330
R 123656 A
1. Cold, Cold Heart (2:45)
(Williams)
Fred-Rose Music Inc., BMI
2. Jambalaya (On The Bayou) (2:47)
(Williams)
Fred-Rose Music Inc., BMI
3. You Win Again (2:33)
(Williams)
Fred-Rose Music Inc., BMI
4. Kaw-liga (2:33)
(Williams-Rose)
Acuff-Rose Publ. BMI
5. Take These Chains From My Heart (2:35)
(Heath-Rose)
Milene Music ASCAP
6. There'll Be No Tear-Drops Tonight (2:42)
(Williams)
Fred-Rose Music Inc., BMI
7. Settin' The Woods On Fire (2:33)
(Nelson-Rose)
Acuff-Rose Publ. BMI
Side 2
RCA Music Service Edition
STEREO
SE 3918
63 ST 331
R 123656 B
1. Your Cheatin' Heart (2:38)
(Williams)
Fred-Rose Music Inc., BMI
2. Hey, Good Looking (2:35)
(Williams)
Fred-Rose Music Inc., BMI
3. Honky Tonkin' (2:40)
(Williams)
Fred-Rose Music Inc., BMI
4. I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You) (2:23)
(Williams)
Fred-Rose Music Inc., BMI
5. Why Don't You Love Me (2:23)
(Williams)
Fred-Rose Music Inc., BMI
6. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (2:43)
(Williams)
Fred-Rose Music Inc., BMI
7. Half As Much (2:39)
(Curly Williams)
Fred-Rose Music Inc., BMI
__________________________________________________
If Madison Avenue admen set out to create an "image" for country music, they would never top Hank Williams.
Hank Williams is the image of country music.
However, it doesn't end there. The words and music that poured out of this star-crossed troubador dot the musical landscape of that unique bordertown of music-dom which is both pop and country.
Almost a decade ago, Hank Williams died ... but that is not a completely true statement. hank left so much behind him, it is difficult to say that he really died on that New Years Day in 1953.
The spirit of this wandering minstrel walks the hallowed boards of the Grand Ole Opry every Saturday night as his songs are sung and played. And too, the record industry blooms with the evergreens which sprung effervescently from the soul of the sad-faced cowboy.
The love, happiness, misery and lonesomeness Hank wrote and sang about will disappear before the baleful balladeer from Montgomery will be forgotten.
Whether he was spotlighted in his tightcut show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville ... or whether he was strumming and crooning over the turbulent backdrop of a noisy cafe ... or whether he was sitting in the back seat of an automobile scribbling a fresh inspiration on the back of an envelope ... or whether he was lounging on the banks of a placid Bayou deep in Louisiana Cajun country with a hound dog for a companion ... no matter where he was and no matter whom he was with, he was always the same compassionate symbol of humility.
This is Hank Williams the man - the image of country music. In the early 30's he ran barefooted across the Alabama lowlands with nothing but ragged blue jeans and a heavy tan to keep him warm. He was an eight year old plunking a cheap guitar, unaware that he was the heir-apparent to the folk-music throne.
But even as the King of Country Music, Hank retained the childhood simplicity and humility of his farm boy days.
Analyzing and explaining the success of his songs is another matter. Some say that when Hank Williams died, the Legend was born and his songs became great.
Some say Hank just had a way of saying what other men could only think deep in their hearts. This is true, but it's not the whole story.
To explain the secret of the Alabama Troubador's triumph, perhaps we should slip back through time and recapture a moment of his life.
Standing before a radio microphone in the WSM studios, Hank was asked which of his songs was his favorite. With his guitar slung to one side, his white Stetson in hand, he hunched forward and in his quiet drawl said, "I don't have any favorite. I reckon a man feels something special for EVERY song he writes."
That's the key - Hank felt something "special" for every song he wrote.
And what songs!! America has sung them in the corn fields of Iowa; in the factories of Michigan; in the smog of Los Angeles and they still ring from juke boxes and radios everywhere. Country artists will go on recording Hank's material ... and so will the big pop artists. And so the Legend grows. Hank's heirs will make more money than he ever did in his lifetime.
However, making money was the least of Hank's worries. Lyrics, not loot, were his life. Music, not money. And the music he made has become a part of our American heritage.
The kind of wealth that mattered to that easy-going, country-bred poet is stamped in vinylite on the two sides of this album, "Hank Williams' Greatest Hits."
Inside this cover is a wealth of musical Americana that no record library should be without. The immortal Hank Williams singing about his mythical Kaw-liga ... the teardrops, cold hearts, lonesome days and honky tonkin' nights of broken love that Hank seemed to have such a deep feeling and understanding for. in this album are what MGM Records considers the 14 greatest songs ever turned out by the greatest of them all - Hank Williams.
As you listen, you may hear the phantom voice of Hank himself saying, "Thank you kindly for listenin', neighbor."
Charlie Lamb, Nashville, Tennessee
Printed in U.S.A.
Manufactured by RCA Music Service, Indianapolis, Ind., under license from MGM Records, Inc.
R - 123656
