Best incarnation of the Highwayman in "The Highwayman" by Willie, Waylon, Kris, & Johnny

...entombed forever

...as a drop of rain

I like #1

yeah #1 is the frontrunner for sure....

frankly i'll be surprised if Kris's verse gets one vote, he sounds like a dork mostly

i think about #3 whenever we drive up past this dam
http://www.dennistriplettllc.com/resources/Barker+Dam+Nederland+CO.jpg
is there a dude in there i don't knooooow

space highwayman is p lol

that great tomb that knows no sound

oh shit i just looked it up, this song was written by jimmy webb, that makes total sense, what a weirdo

cry my fuckin eyes out to every verse of this tune

lol really...? man, i always thought that it was a collab between the highwaymen, like they were just bs-ing in the studio. damn. guess webb makes sense though.

xp! not laughing at aero crying.

reminds me of my dad in lots of good ways.

yeah the Webb version is on El Mirage and is beautiful in every way. I can't even say how it is that "any many a soldier left his lifeblood on my blade" fucking rips my heart out, but it does - it's in the melody mainly I think, those incredible Webb changes. but the resolve on each verse, the "I am living still" - Christ I could write a book about the craft of this lyric, the gentle build into a profound depth. I don't like "it all goes 'round and 'round" but isn't the Highwaymen version "I'll always be around"?

I'll find a place to rest my spirit, if I can
Perhaps I may become a highwayman again

unfuckingbelievable

on the Highwaymen version I think Waylon is the clear winner - his delivery of "on the wild Colorado" stills the wind, it's amazing

but isn't the Highwaymen version "I'll always be around"?

^yep

his delivery of "on the wild Colorado" stills the wind, it's amazing

was just thinking about this & i might vote for the dambuilder actually

also the way Johnny just bullied his way into the track with "AAAAAAH'LL fly a STARship/across the UNI-verse divide" is pretty great too

i like this detail from wikipedia: "Webb then brought the song to Glen Campbell, who recorded it in 1978. But his record label, Capitol Records, wanted him to go in a different direction and record music like the group The Knack."

u_u

gentle on my sharona

somehow every comment on this thread is otm: "#1 is the frontrunner for sure", "space highwayman is p lol", "this song was written by jimmy webb, that makes total sense", "cry my fuckin eyes out to every verse of this tune", "delivery of "on the wild Colorado" stills the wind"

this song is magic

it's like a lullaby

btw an aerosmith cover of this would be great imo

oh and i should say the reason i made this poll is because my honey & me took our first post baby getaway and our little one stayed w/grandma this weekend...we went to two harbors, MN, north of duluth (the air conditioned city)

anyway we stayed at a nice lodge overlooking the lake but didn't feel like trekking back to duluth for anything fancy so we just ate at a little pizza place in two harbors on sat nite and then went to the american legion in two harbors

it was really big and not very full, mostly old timers doing hard drinking, looked like everyone there was there every day...anyway there was this guy there playing acoustic guitar and singing, half covers and half originals...

the originals sound like "it's been awhile" by staind was like his ultimate song, just super ponderous and depressing (especially in the context), he had a friend that kept asking for tips, which fine, we gave him a few bucks, but then he would come by like four times more asking for more money (was really drunk)

he covered "wild world" by cat stevens because an old ex-hippie looking dude asked him to and he also played "my maria" (assuming the brooks & dunn version) but on the last chorus he kept saying "gonnerhea I got you" instead of my maria

but then he did the highwaymen and it was sort of odd and amazing because he did fairly accurate imitations of willie, kris, waylon, and johnny's voices for the appropriate verses....all to like 15 ppl at the american legion, but the crowd seemed to love it, i think it's his signature schtick.

that is an awesome story!!

btw an aerosmith cover of this would be great imo

have considered it, most recently in response to this thread. but the "start sobbing mid-line" thing might be a problem

performance art imo

Waylon verse #3.

here's webb doing it live last week: http://www.bigozine2.com/TRKSB3/JWboston/JWboston102.mp3

this fuckin song

love the randomness of the selection of the characters, the no-thread runnin through it that still holds it together somehow. Aero otm, the melody is just ridic suggestive of import and meaning beyond the words, until that last verse just comes in and goes for home run of fuckin nuttiness, johnny's a spaceman now huh well fuckit i guess if louis l'amour can write about interdimensional rifts then all bets are off hallelujah just roll with it mysticism

KK's my boy; you can't slag anyone who wrote "Sunday Morning Coming Down" or "Me & Bobby McGee".

So it's no fault of his own that compared to the rest of the Highwaymen, Kris was Clayton Wilbury.

you gotta be able to sift gold writer kris from schlock writer kris and hope with every finger and toe crossed that the kris who sings the pilgrim shows up to sing the works of the former, and not the guy who sings 'one more time with feeling' singing the collected ouevre of the latter

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

remember to vote ppl

thansk for reminding me!

it was weird to vote against Willie (whose verse is better written, I think) but Waylon just possesses his verse

that live version Tyler links is INCREDIBLE, thank you for that

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

i have just discovered this song recently via the arboretum cover and holy hell what a song

metaphysical country might be the best music

Fo sho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfAKhjGAA-0

I've always loathed this song.