Hank Williams rescues a camp "campfire" song
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I'm only about halfway through Disc 1 of the 3-CD set Unreleased Recordings, but so far this is my favorite. Hank talks about the song a bit in the intro, but to fill in the blanks a bit:
On Top of Old Smoky was recorded as far back as 1925, with a melody that goes back even further to a British-American folk song, The Little Mohee. I remember it as most of us would, as a corny campfire sing-along folk song. This is because folk group The Weavers (have I mentioned lately my loathing of boring folk music?) turned it into one of the top pop chart hits back in 1951, back when I had ears but was still learning to walk.
Hank restores the mournful slow pace that the song started with, and just listen to that voice!
Comments (5)
Yippee! I'm the first to comment...........Man, this is gorgeous. You keep the Hank Flowin' bro.....try to work "Weary Blues (From waitin')"....that was the very first record that I owned. On a 78*
*For you youngsters a "78" was an old heavy precurser to the vinyl LP's you may be vaguely familiar with, but insted of spinning at 33 1/3 RPM they spun at....you guessed it....78 RPM.
Professor deadmandeadman, what's an RPM?
Hank had the pipes - no doubt
very nice!
Absolutely wonderful. He could pull a chestnut like this out of the ole camp fire and make it taste sooo good! His daughter Jett Williams said in an interview with Scott Simon, When I hear my dad sing," Williams adds, "to me it sounds like his life depends on it. I mean, you stop and catch your breath, and you feel as if he's singing that song just to you. "When I hear my dad sing, to me it sounds like his life depends on it. I mean, you stop and catch your breath, and you feel as if he's singing that song just to you." Ain't it the truth? Hear the entire interview at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96085241
These recordings were made of live radio broadcasts, including the ambience of the studio, with guys talking and laughing, etc. They recorded these direct-to-disk, so the sound is pure and immediate. Unlike the MGM releases, which were compressed, limited and filtered almost to death. Although, arguably, the irripressable talent still shone through. This set also includes his first public performance of I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You). An absolute gem.
Thanks for bringing this up for us.
Superb. Who would have thought that there would be such a trove of unreleased Hank Williams recordings?
I don't think I've ever heard the "original" on this. It sounds good.
Like a "Weird" Al Yankovic song, I can't ever get the spoof song that I learned in grade school outta my head...
"On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese,
I lost my poor meatball, when somebody sneezed..."
No disrespect meant towards Hank so you know.