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Country Music Hall of Fame,
Class of 1961
About the record: B-side of MGM K10932, recorded Dec. 21, 1950, at Castle Studio in downtown Nashville. Released March 16, 1951, under artist name Luke The Drifter.
I’m of the opinion that death was a great career move for Hank Williams. He was a super peformer, for sure, and a top-notch songwriter. But with a personal life in shambles and some rough hillbilly edges that were certain to resist smoothing, it’s not clear he’d have fared well in the coming Nashville Sound and countrypolitan eras.
In that vein, here’s one of a series of performances that were so preachy and un-commercial that he and his mentor Fred Rose developed a separate personna and nom de sermon under which to market them: Luke The Drifter. I suppose you could say ol’ Hank was a charter Hall of Famer despite works like this. But they do point to his ability to paint a picture with his lyrics, and it’s hard to get long-gone-lonesomer than this recitation.
Longtime followers here know that a song can’t be too treacly for me; “Men With Broken Hearts” is proof. After all, as Luke himself says, it’s written that the greatest men never get too big to cry.
Hank Williams’ Hall of Fame profile.
Next up: Roy Acuff
4 comments
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August 13, 2010 at 7:03 AM
Glenn Ford
“Some were porpers”? Oh, man—I guess that’s the kind of thing that would give a guy a broken heart.
August 13, 2010 at 7:50 PM
3chordsaday
Funny story about another Hank mispronunciation. On Williams’ very first session for Sterling Records back in 1947, producer Fred Rose hired the Willis Brothers (later of the Grand Ole Opry, then billing themselves as the Oklahoma Wranglers) as the musicians. On the song “Wealth Won’t Save Your Soul,” each verse ends with words “it won’t save your poor wicked soul.” Trouble is, Hank pronounced “poor” as though it were spelled “purr.” After the last verse, the line “My friends, it won’t save your poor wicked soul” is repeated by itself, and the Willises join in as a vocal trio. They, of course, pronounced “poor” correctly, but it didn’t mesh with the way Hank said it. Over their objections, Rose told the brothers to follow Hank. So Hank Williams’ debut record ends with four powerful voices belting out “your purr wicked soul.”
I’ve sometimes wondered if “some were porpers” signaled that Rose had a little to do with the writing of “Men With Broken Hearts,” despite Hank’s solo composer credit.
August 14, 2010 at 9:20 PM
Kyle Cantrell
On a Mother’s Best Flour show, Hank performed “Deck of Cards.” What jumps out at me is when he delivers that line about the “leopards our savior cleansed.”
August 14, 2010 at 7:45 AM
Glenn Ford
Is that why someone else was given the vocal on the Ballad of Jed Clampett? Because Lester Flatt said “purr mountaineer”?