hank williams

Published: Village Magazine, September 2005

The lonesome death of Hank Williams

This year does not mark the fiftieth anniversary of the lonesome death of Hank Williams. That was over two years ago, on New Year’s Day 2003. Nor is this the centenary of his birth – that milestone won’t be reached until September 17th 2023. A glossy, overpriced compilation of his greatest hits is not in stores now. And it doesn’t include underwhelming “new” tracks, or feature inane liner-notes penned by the director of some lame biopic. Read the rest of this entry »

Published: Village Magazine, September 2005

The lonesome death of Hank Williams

This year does not mark the fiftieth anniversary of the lonesome death of Hank Williams. That was over two years ago, on New Year’s Day 2003. Nor is this the centenary of his birth – that milestone won’t be reached until September 17th 2023. A glossy, overpriced compilation of his greatest hits is not in stores now. And it doesn’t include underwhelming “new” tracks, or feature inane liner-notes penned by the director of some lame biopic. Read the rest of this entry »

Move it on Over (1947)

Seven years later, the fat country music hack Bill Haley supposedly ‘invented’ rock and roll with a song whose chord structure was lifted almost verbatim from this one – Rock Around the Clock.

THE TOP TEN SONGS PEOPLE WROTE ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE

10. I’m Satisfied With You by Hank Williams

Although barely literate, and entirely degenerate, Hank Williams remains one of the most adroit lyricists in the history of popular music. He was, after all, the man who wrote masterpieces like You Win Again and Your Cheatin’ Heart. Its probably safe, therefore, to assume that he was aware of the tightrope he was walking with the song I’m Satisfied With You. Read the rest of this article here.

I’M SO LONESOME I COULD CRY (1949)

LONG GONE LONESOME BLUES (1949)

“Gonna find me a river, one that’s cold as ice / Gonna find me a river, one that’s cold as ice / I’m goin’ down in it three times / But Lord, I’m only comin’ up twice…”

NEW ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING (CONTD.)

I’ve been minding my niece Lola the last few mornings. When I volunteered to do this, before she was born, I envisaged a small child sleeping contentedly in a cot, or playing with a toy, while I worked away quietly at my desk. It would be fair to say that I knew fuck all about babies at that point.

I’m a little wiser now. Read the rest of this entry »

YOUR CHEATIN’ HEART (1952)

“I don’t fool myself, I know the game I’m in. When I wrote about Hank Williams ‘A hundred floors above me in the tower of song’, it’s not some kind of inverse modesty. I know where Hank Williams stands in the history of popular song. Your Cheatin’ Heart, songs like that, are sublime… I feel myself a very minor writer by comparison.” – Leonard Cohen

I’M SO LONESOME I COULD CRY (1949)

My favourite ever artist. My favourite ever song.

THE KING IS DEAD (SLIGHT RETURN)

Perhaps the most depressing aspect of Michael Jackson’s demise is that, for all the singer’s peculiarities, his death so exactly echoes the deaths of countless of other troubled, prodigiously talented entertainment icons down through the years (Elvis, Judy Garland, Hank Williams etc. etc.) It has the same basic plot (the gift as the curse) and exactly the same cast of characters (sycophants, leeches, quack doctors.) There will, no doubt, be further revelations about Michael Jackson’s personal life in the coming weeks and months, and it’s safe to assume that it won’t be pretty.

But on a happier note for now, this personal remembrance, written by Deepak Chopra’s (wonderfully monikered) son Gotham Chopra, is among the more interesting tributes to Jackson I’ve come across in the last few days. In it, he talks about planned strip club visits, sacks full of cash and doling out sex advice to a man seventeen years his senior – on the occasion of Jackson’s marriage to Lisa Marie Presley. Read the rest of this entry »