Hank Williams - 40 Greatest Hits POLL

Is that the blueish double? I'd need to relisten to be sure, but "Why Don't You Love Me (Like You Used to Do)?" Like a lot of people I bet, came to HW as a teenager via The Last Picture Show.

Isn't it the yellow one? Back in the 70s it had a bust of Hank on a white background.

My copy has a yellow cover. This one:

https://www.allmusic.com/album/40-greatest-hits-mw0000652598

My bad, the one with the bust was only 20 greatest hits.

Ha, I have that one, too, but the yellow one is where it's at

I was thinking of this one, which is actually Vol. 2.

https://turntablerevival.com/products/mg-2-5401

I can’t decide between numerous uptempo ones, so going for a ballad. “Your Cheating Heart” tears me up.

So many great songs! The collection I have is the "Jambalaya" comp on Living Era which has 28 tracks. There's a lot of overlap with this one. "(Last Night) I Heard You Crying in Your Sleep" is a pretty great one that's not here. Of course "Ramblin' Man" and "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive" are iconic and showcase the doom-haunted side of Williams, but I think I'll go with "My Son Calls Another Man Daddy", which always stops me in my tracks with the richness of characterization it achieves in two and a half minutes.

i'm always amazed by the consistency of the track lengths of hank williams songs

https://i.imgur.com/eaA7y3e.png
https://i.imgur.com/K2JLzip.png

Those old 78 rpm records could only hold about 3 minutes per side, I think.

xp does this come from the Spotify desktop app? I've never seen stream counts besides an artists top songs but only use mobile and the web app.

Jambalaya

This was my introduction to Hank Williams. I think it's still the one recommended by a lot of guides for similar reasons - it's close to perfect as a summation of his career, very affordable, and I think it was kind of a godsend when it was first released because it was the first time you could get most of his singles in their original form in one package.

I didn't realize this until later, but apparently the original masters to all of his recordings (all originally recorded to disc) were TRASHED. The record company simply dubbed them to analog tape and decided those copies were sufficient as masters going forward. Pretty insane, and those copies are still the best surviving sources for these records. Same thing happened with Charlie Parker's Dial recordings.

Found this on another board: "Hank never actually recorded on tape, only 33 1/3 acetate lacquer, bumped up to 78 RPM for the original releases and then dubbed to mono recording tape for EP's and LP's back in the early 1950's. The original lacquer recording disks dumped in the trash."

An impossible poll, it's like polling the Beatles' greatest hits or something. Do I go for an absolute monolith like "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" or "Cold Cold Heart," a personal fave like "Settin' the Woods on Fire" or "Mind Your Own Business," a song that he probably didn't even write like "Jambalaya"?

I'll throw a vote to "I'm So Lonesome" just so it gets its propers, but this is a catalog of greatness from top to bottom.

Cheers to Al Green for introducing me.

I went for Long Gone Lonesome Blues which was not the first HW I heard, but it was the first one that really knocked me out. I did a recent relisten to all his stuff and could easily have picked 5 other songs, but I’ll go for this one due to the personal nostalgia factor.

fuck this is hard

i voted for Ramblin’ Man because it was the first Hank song I ever heard & it still kills me

but Long Gone Lonesome Blues, Cold Cold Heart, Jambalaya, Move It On Over, Hey Good Lookin, Cheatin Heart, I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry etc etc could also all be my #1 any hour of any day

Kinda gotta vote for "Lost Highway" because the line "neither good nor bad, just a kid like you" has been in my head for 40 years, since I first heard it. I've used it as an email signature, as a Twitter bio, and probably a few other places.

I had certainly heard the name, but I was properly introduced to Hank by a guy at my first job out of college. He made me a tape of this exact compilation and told me that whatever else America had or hadn't done, it had produced Hank Williams, which was enough for any country.

i voted "Honky Tonk Blues" -- although it's hard to go wrong here. i have this same disc, although my introduction was the CD with the bust cover art mentioned above with only 24 tracks.

okay, i'm already waffling. i think "Your Cheatin' Heart" is probably the best song he wrote. but most days i'd have to say his two strongest tracks are "Lost Highway" and "Lovesick Blues" -- or at least, these are the ones that move me the most and that i return to over and over. i don't know if it means anything that he didn't write them, although of course he wrote plenty of bangers.

Maybe this is the "rockist" perspective, but I'm not fond of his "funny"/rollicking stuff. On the other hand, "Ramblin' Man" is a little too on-point, it's a literal funeral march. So "Take These Chains From My Heart" for its melody.

I bought this comp when it came out. It got a lot of attention at the time IIRC. I didn’t have much familiarity with his music. It would fit nicely in the “classic albums you didn’t know and were knocked out” by thread. Love the proto rockers, the mournful slow ones, the lyrics, the whole package. Ended up voting for Cold Cold Heart.

I'm trying to be objective and consider all of them, but I imprinted on "I Saw the Light" as a child, so I may end up going with that. (Family of atheists, but my dad just really likes Hank Williams, so I heard it a lot.)

Still sorta shocked how his centennial passed with much mainstream notice. "I'll Never Get Out of this World Alive" is funny and spooky even without thinking about it as his final single.

His range as a songwriter and singer was really something — he could be heartbreaking, hilarious, horny, haunted, all with total conviction.

"My Bucket's Got A Hole In It" is a banger.

"Mansion on the Hill"

"Ramblin' Man" is probably my most played (and has that unforgettable opening couplet) but...

"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" is one of the greatest songs ever written, it's the redneck's "Amazing Grace".

xps I know the harrowing stuff gets most of the attention, but I do enjoy his uptempo stuff a lot too and YES "My Bucket's Got A Hole In It" is a banger - IIRC that's even Hank playing the guitar solo.

"Howlin' at the Moon" (A-WOOOO!!) and "Baby, We're Really in Love," all great.

Always have loved this live Patsy Cline version of "Lovesick Blues":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqTfvR3igPA

I had this yellow set too, on double CD. I picked Ramblin’ Man because it’s just one of the greatest sad songs ever recorded - up there with anything from Billie Holliday’s Lady in Satin. Also — it just sounds so different to the other 39, it always stuck out to me. Close second: Move it on Over and I Saw the Light.

I had this yellow set too, on double CD. I picked Ramblin’ Man because it’s just one of the greatest sad songs ever recorded - up there with anything from Billie Holliday’s Lady in Satin. Also — it just sounds so different to the other 39, it always stuck out to me. Close second: Move it on Over and I Saw the Light.

Isn't "Ramblin' Man" the only song on the record that was first released under his alter-ego Luke the Drifter?

xxxp Patsy's version of "Lovesick Blues" is the definitive version, IMO. Still might vote for it here.

“Window Shopping” also a favorite, his voice sounds so good on that one

Fucking impossible!
A fave that wasn’t a hit: The Battle of Armageddon

Decision time

One of my favorite Hank covers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy0TWmslZl8

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Not at all what I expected!

Both songs tied at #1 are probably the ones I've heard covered most, so not surprising, but "(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle" getting zero votes is a huge surprise - I would've predicted it for the top three.

the lyrics cancel it these days, but Kaw-liga was the first song that drew me in as a kid listening to my parents copy of the greatest hits. I now realize it's because it's the rare early country song built around drums.

xp any of those covers worth sharing?

There's so many, it's hard to pick one. "Lost Highway" sticks out because Hank didn't write that, it's a Leon Payne song. Here's the "original" version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6P6_nwnZ-c

Per Colin Escott: "In recent years, 'Lost Highway' has been the title of several books, a stage show, a record label, and a television series. In 1997, director David Lynch used it as a film title. It's seen as one of Hank's defining records, if not a defining moment in country music, which makes it ironic that it barely dented the charts on release and doubly ironic that it's not even one of Hank's songs."

The Mekons also did it for my favorite Mekons album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMzszayth1k

Jason & The Scorchers also did it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F67Jzc0cB-4

Jeff Buckley recorded it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLg0YzIZ1W4

Many, many more...

And "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" probably has a wider breadth of singers covering it: many jazz and pop singers have covered it, like Helen Merrill and Connie Stevens, lots of rock n' rollers like Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Tommy James and The Shondells, Del Shannon, The Everly Brothers, etc...but Alfred posted my favorite already, from Al Green on what's probably the greatest of his '70s masterpieces, Call Me.

Here's another famous cover besides Al Green's - Cassandra Wilson did it for New Moon Daughter which is her biggest (and possibly best) album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBvVwgEjRsM

I'm mistaken, Alfred didn't post a link, so here it is!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WxrKOh3ZkI

This song isn't on the compilation, but Haggard's version is my favorite version of any Hank Williams song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwTxVaB1vVc

I think the number one track I would have gone for is called May You Be Alone. I thought I knew it from that 40 Greatest Hits set. The Godz cover it on Contact High.
Failing that I went for I Saw The Light.