For all of his recurring issues with medicine and alcohol and the collapse of his marriage, the Hank Williams of late 1952 may do little unsuitable amongst his legions of followers. It was the 12 months that produced such undisputed classics as “Honky Tonk Blues,” “Jambalaya (On The Bayou),” “Settin’ The Woods On Fire” and “You Win Again.”
That summer time, frail and sick, Williams was at Fortress Studio in Nashville recording a track that he and co-writer Fred Rose gave a intentionally jokey, irreverent title. Sadly, it was to change into poignant inside weeks. “I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive” entered the nation charts on December 20, 1952. Twelve days later, on the age of simply 29, Hank Williams was lifeless.
The lyric and tone of the track would have been amusing in the event that they didn’t quickly change into related to tragedy. “My distant uncle passed away and left me quite a batch,” sang Hank, “and I was livin’ high until the fatal day a lawyer proved I wasn’t born, I was only hatched.”
A posthumous No.1
The MGM single thus grew to become the final in an all-too-short profession that just about instantly assumed iconic proportions. En path to a gig in Canton, Ohio on New Yr’s Day, 1953, his coronary heart, worn down by the years of abuse he had put his physique via, merely gave out. Some three weeks later, “I’ll Never…” grew to become Hank’s eighth nation No.1.
Hearken to uDiscover Music’s Nation Music In 20 Songs playlist.
The reality is that Williams’ reputation was so widespread that the would in all probability have gone to the highest anyway, and certainly his subsequent three posthumous singles — the double-sided “Kaw-Liga” and “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “Take These Chains From My Heart” — have been all chart-topping songs too. Rose himself handed away on the finish of 1954; fittingly, he and Hank joined Jimmie Rodgers as the primary three inductees of the Nation Music Corridor of Fame, when it was based in 1961.
Purchase or stream “I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive” on 40 Biggest Hits.
