"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" | ||||
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Single by Hank Williams With His Drifting Cowboys | ||||
A-side | "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It" [1] | |||
Published | October 31, 1949 Acuff-Rose Publications [2] | |||
Released | November 8, 1949 | |||
Recorded | August 30, 1949 [3] | |||
Studio | Herzog Studio, Cincinnati | |||
Genre | Hillbilly, honky-tonk, country blues | |||
Length | 2:48 | |||
Label | MGM 10560 | |||
Songwriter(s) | Hank Williams | |||
Hank Williams With His Drifting Cowboys singles chronology | ||||
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"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" is a song written and recorded by American country music singer-songwriter Hank Williams in 1949. The song has been covered by a wide range of musicians.
Various writers quoted Williams as saying he wrote the song originally intending the words be spoken rather than sung, as he had done on several of his Luke the Drifter recordings. [4] According to Colin Escott's 2004 book: Hank Williams: A Biography, the inspiration for the song came from the title to a different song Williams spotted on a list of forthcoming MGM record releases. The song was recorded on August 30, 1949, at Herzog Studio in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Williams was backed by members of the Pleasant Valley Boys: Zeke Turner (lead guitar), Jerry Byrd (steel guitar) and Louis Innis (rhythm guitar), as well as Tommy Jackson (fiddle) and Ernie Newton (bass). [5]
Music journalist Chet Flippo and Kentucky historian W. Lynn Nickell have both asserted that 21-year-old Kentuckian Paul Gilley wrote the lyrics, then sold them to Williams along with the rights, allowing Williams to take credit for it. Gilley also supposedly wrote the lyrics to "Cold, Cold Heart" and other hit country songs before drowning at the age of 27. [6] The claims have not been widely accepted. [7]
The song was released as the B-side to the blues "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It", because up-tempo numbers were deemed more appropriate for the jukebox trade than melancholy ballads. The single reached number four on the country chart in 1949. [8]
"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" has been identified with Williams's musical legacy, and has been widely praised. In the 2003 documentary The Road to Nashville, singer k.d. lang stated: "I think 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry' is one of the most classic American songs ever written, truly. Beautiful song." In his autobiography, Bob Dylan recalled: "Even at a young age, I identified with him. I didn't have to experience anything that Hank did to know what he was singing about. I'd never heard a robin weep, but could imagine it and it made me sad." [9] In its online biography of Williams, Rolling Stone notes:
In tracks like "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry", Williams expressed intense, personal emotions with country's traditional plainspoken directness, a then-revolutionary approach that has come to define the genre through the works of subsequent artists from George Jones and Willie Nelson to Gram Parsons and Dwight Yoakam.
Rolling Stone ranked it number 111 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, the oldest song on the list, and number 3 on its 100 Greatest Country Songs of All Time.
Many musical artists have covered the song:
Year | Chart | Position |
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1949 | Billboard Country Singles | B-side of "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It" |
1966 | Billboard Country Singles | No. 43 |
Williams' version ranked No. 29 in CMT's 100 Greatest Songs in Country Music in 2003.
HiramKing "Hank" Williams was an American singer-songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century. Williams recorded 55 singles that reached the top 10 of the Billboard Country & Western Best Sellers chart, five of which were released posthumously, and 12 of which reached No.1.
"Your Cheatin' Heart" is a song written and recorded by country music singer-songwriter Hank Williams in 1952. It is regarded as one of country's most important standards. Williams was inspired to write the song while driving with his fiancée from Nashville, Tennessee, to Shreveport, Louisiana. After describing his first wife Audrey Sheppard as a "cheatin' heart", in minutes he dictated the lyrics to Billie Jean Jones. Produced by Fred Rose, Williams recorded the song at his last session at Castle Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, on September 23.
"Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" is a song written and recorded by American country music singer Hank Williams that was first released in July 1952. It is Williams' most recorded song. Named for a Creole and Cajun dish, jambalaya, it spawned numerous recordings and has since achieved popularity in several different music genres.
"Cold, Cold Heart" is a country music and pop song written and first recorded by Hank Williams. This blues ballad is both a classic of honky-tonk and an entry in the Great American Songbook.
"Hey, Good Lookin'" is a 1951 song written and recorded by Hank Williams, and his version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001. In 2003, CMT voted the Hank Williams version No. 19 on CMT's 100 Greatest Songs of Country Music. Since its original 1951 recording it has been covered by a variety of artists.
"I Saw the Light" is a country gospel song written by Hank Williams. Williams was inspired to write the song while returning from a concert by a remark his mother made while they were arriving in Montgomery, Alabama. He recorded the song during his first session for MGM Records, and released in September 1948. Williams' version did not enjoy major success during its initial release, but eventually it became one of his most popular songs and the closing number for his live shows. It was soon covered by other acts, and has become a country gospel standard and often a classic for summer camps.
"Honky Tonk Blues" was a hit country and western song written and performed by Hank Williams. The original 1952 recording was a major hit, and it later became a hit for Charley Pride.
"Why Don't You Love Me" is a song by American singer and guitarist Hank Williams. The song reached number one on the U.S. Country & Western chart. It was released as a single in 1950 with the B-side, "A House Without Love".
"Long Gone Lonesome Blues" is a 1950 song by Hank Williams. It was Williams' second number-one single on the Country & Western chart. "Long Gone Lonesome Blues" stayed on the charts for 21 weeks, with five weeks at the top.
"Take These Chains from My Heart" is a song by Hank Williams. It was written by Fred Rose and Hy Heath and was recorded at Williams' final recording session on September 23, 1952, in Nashville. The song has been widely praised; Williams' biographer Colin Escott deems it "perhaps the best song [Rose] ever presented to Hank...It was one of the very few songs that sounded somewhat similar to a Hank Williams song." Williams is backed by Tommy Jackson (fiddle), Don Helms, Chet Atkins, Jack Shook, and Floyd "Lightnin'" Chance (bass). In the wake of Williams' death on New Year's Day, 1953, the song shot to No. 1, his final chart-topping hit for MGM Records. Like "Your Cheatin' Heart," the song's theme of despair, so vividly articulated by Williams' typically impassioned singing, reinforced the image of Hank as a tortured, mythic figure.
"You Win Again" is a 1952 song by Hank Williams. In style, the song is a blues ballad and deals with the singer's despair with his partner. The song has been widely covered, including chart successes by Tommy Edwards and Charley Pride.
"Honky Tonkin'" is a 1947 country music song, written and recorded by Hank Williams. His song went to #14 on the Billboard country music chart in 1948. In 1982, it became the sixth chart topping single for Williams' son, Hank Williams Jr.
"Mind Your Own Business" is a 1949 song written and originally performed by Hank Williams.
"My Bucket's Got a Hole in It" is a song widely attributed to Clarence Williams, who obtained a copyright in 1933, although the melody was recorded under various names years earlier. The song became popular performed by Hank Williams for MGM and reached number 4 on the country chart in 1949.
"A Mansion on the Hill" is a song written by Hank Williams and Fred Rose and originally recorded by Williams on MGM Records. It peaked at No. 12 on the Most Played Jukebox Folk Records chart in March 1949.
"A House Without Love" is a song composed by Hank Williams. It was released as the B-side to "Why Don't You Love Me" in 1950 on MGM Records.
"They'll Never Take Her Love from Me" is a country song popularized by Hank Williams in 1950. In 1961, Johnny Horton also had a hit with the song, and many others have covered it.
"(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle" is a song written by Hank Williams and Jimmie Davis. It became his fourteenth consecutive Top 10 single in 1951.
Memorial Album is the first Hank Williams LP issued by MGM Records after the singer's death on New Year's Day 1953.
Herbert Paul Gilley was an American country music lyricist and promoter from Kentucky. In his lifetime, he was little known as a songwriter, but decades after his death by drowning at age 27, he was identified more widely as likely having written the lyrics to a dozen famous songs, including two that were hits for Hank Williams: "Cold, Cold Heart" and "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry". He may have also written "I Overlooked an Orchid", which was a number-one country hit in 1974 for Mickey Gilley. Other songs that have been attributed to Gilley include "If Teardrops Were Pennies", "Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes", and "Crazy Arms".