Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way

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"Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way"
Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way US vinyl.png
One of A-side labels of the U.S. vinyl single
Single by Waylon Jennings
from the album Dreaming My Dreams
B-side "Bob Wills Is Still the King"
ReleasedAugust 1975
RecordedSeptember 2, 1974 [1]
Genre Outlaw country [2]
Length3:02
Label RCA Nashville
Songwriter(s) Waylon Jennings
Producer(s)
Waylon Jennings singles chronology
"Dreaming My Dreams with You"
(1975)
"Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way"
(1975)
"Can't You See"
(1976)

"Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Waylon Jennings. It was released in August 1975 as the first single from the album Dreaming My Dreams . The song was Jennings' fourth number one on the country chart as a solo artist, and it remained at number one for one week and spent a total of sixteen weeks on the country charts. [3] The song was one of many major hits for Jennings, and became an anthem of the outlaw country movement, as well as the wider genre.

Contents

The B-side to "Are You Sure ..." was "Bob Wills is Still the King", a tribute to the music of Wills. Although it never charted on its own, "Bob Wills ... " gained airplay and continues to be a staple at classic country radio stations.

Content

The song pays homage to the influence of Hank Williams Sr. on country music, and criticizes the glitz that had come to characterize top-selling country artists in the 1970s, through references to "rhinestone suits" and "new shiny cars"; as well as the stagnant, uninspired sound that resulted from the commercially-focused Nashville producers: "Lord it's the same old tune, fiddle and guitar; Where do we take it from here?" [4]

Jennings, one of the driving forces of the outlaw country movement, released Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way at the beginning of the movement's period of peak success. The song, penned by Jennings on the back of an envelope, captured the singer's frustration with the direction country music had taken over the previous two decades, largely driven by the control the record labels held over their artists, and the resultant "Nashville sound".

The song's lyrics also refer to the recording industry's treatment of artists, including relentless touring schedules leading to singers such as Jennings relying heavily on amphetamines and other drugs: "Ten years on the road making one night stands, speeding my young life away". The end of each verse rhetorically questions whether the legendary Hank Williams made music this way: "Tell me one more time, just so's I'll understand: are you sure Hank done it this way? Did ol' Hank really do it this way?"

At a concert in 1975, in the introduction to the song, Jennings remarked: "I wrote this song in ten minutes; took me ten years to think it up, though", referencing his decade-long struggle to fight for artistic control and challenge the Nashville establishment.

Rolling Stone labelled it the "closest things outlaw country has to a mission statement". [5]

Chart performance

Waylon Jennings

Chart (1975)Peak
position
US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [6] 1
US Billboard Hot 100 [7] 60
Canadian RPM Country Tracks21

Alabama

Chart (2011)Peak
position
US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [8] 53

Cover versions

Country band Alabama covered the song in 2010 for the Waylon Jennings tribute album, The Music Inside: A Collaboration Dedicated to Waylon Jennings, Volume One, which was released on February 8, 2011. Alabama's version was released as a single on December 13, 2010, via The Valory Music Co.

Related Research Articles

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Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He is considered a chief pioneer of the outlaw movement in country music, and was one of the most commercially successful country artists from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, with a string of number one hits and critically acclaimed albums following his rebellion against the conservative Nashville recording industry.

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References

  1. Saving Country Music (September 2, 2024). "50 Years Ago: Waylon Jennings Records the Ultimate Country Protest Song". Saving Country Music. Retrieved September 2, 2024.
  2. Pitchfork Staff (August 22, 2016). "The 200 Best Songs of the 1970s". Pitchfork . Retrieved October 13, 2022. Like the best outlaw country, "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?" looks backwards and forwards simultaneously...
  3. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944-2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 174.
  4. Ronnie D. Lankford Jr. "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way - Waylon Jennings | Song Info". AllMusic . Retrieved 2016-10-10.
  5. https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/the-200-greatest-country-songs-of-all-time-60414/waylon-jennings-are-you-sure-hank-done-it-this-way-60582/
  6. "Waylon Jennings Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
  7. "Waylon Jennings Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  8. "Alabama Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
  9. Kanoniuk, Lachlan (21 October 2016). "Cakes, Brexit, and country music: We chat with Morrissey". FasterLouder. Archived from the original on October 23, 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.