Hank Williams as Luke the Drifter
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Hank Williams as Luke the Drifter | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1953 | |||
Recorded | January 1950 and July 1952 | |||
Studio | Castle Studio, Nashville, Tennessee | |||
Genre | Country, talking blues, spoken word, gospel | |||
Length | 40:21 | |||
Label | MGM | |||
Producer | Fred Rose | |||
Hank Williams chronology | ||||
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Hank Williams as Luke the Drifter is an
Background
Spoken word, moralistic narrations and
- "Rose's objection was rooted in commercial logic: jukebox operators had huge standing orders for Hank Williams records and, if the recitations were issued under Hank's name, the operators would complain. Virtually all of the operators serviced bars, and the last thing they needed was for someone to punch up a Hank Williams record and get a sermon."[2]
Rose and Williams settled on the pseudonym "Luke the Drifter."
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Hank_Williams_MGM_Records_-_cropped.jpg/220px-Hank_Williams_MGM_Records_-_cropped.jpg)
Recording and composition
The Luke the Drifter songs were recorded at various sessions between January 1950 and July 1952 at
Williams recorded three songs under the guise of Luke the Drifter that are considered classics: "Ramblin' Man," "Pictures from Life's Other Side," and "Men with Broken Hearts." The latter was a song of which its composer was extremely proud; in the liner notes to the 2001 Mercury album Beyond the Sunset, Williams is quoted asking journalist Allen Rankin, "Ain't that the awfulest, morbidest song you ever heard in your life? Don't know how I happen to write that thing, except that somebody that fell, he's the same man as before he fell, ain't he?" In the American Masters film, Danny Dill recalls, "He was simply overwhelmed by that song, 'Men with Broken Hearts.' And it was so sad, it was awful! But he loved it." The arrangement of "Pictures from Life's Other Side" is credited to Williams but some researchers date it to around 1880 and cite a singing-school teacher from Athens, Georgia named John B. Vaughan as its composer, while others credit Charles E. Baer.[5] Regardless, the song was well known; Woody Guthrie cut a version of it in 1944. Perhaps the most well known Luke the Drifter song is "Ramblin' Man," a rare, minor key dirge that features a taut, edgy vocal from Williams as he sings about wanderlust and loneliness. His keening falsetto and Harold Bradley's steel guitar echoed the song's sentiments, but it also contained a folk edge atypical for a Hank Williams recording.
Reception
Bruce Eder of AllMusic wrote: "for those unfamiliar with them, the songs are all well-chosen and they work within the context of devotional and cautionary songs, Williams easily slipping into this mode of performance, usually with a gospel organ accompaniment and very understated steel guitar - the one mood-breaker, much closer to Williams' secular material, is the upbeat, dark-humored, almost comical 'Everything's Okay,' which basically holds that 'we're still a-livin'/so everything's okay.'"
In his autobiography Chronicles: Volume One, Bob Dylan stated: "the Luke the Drifter record, I just about wore out. That's the one where he sings and recites parables, like the Beatitudes. I could listen to the Luke the Drifter record all day and drift away myself, become totally convinced in the goodness of man."
Track listing
All tracks composed by Hank Williams; except where indicated.
- "Pictures from Life's Other Side" (Traditional; arrangement by Hank Williams) – 2:49
- "Men with Broken Hearts" – 3:08
- "Help Me Understand" – 2:54
- "Too Many Parties and Too Many Pals" (Billy Rose, Mort Dixon, Ray Henderson) – 2:58
- "Please Make Up Your Mind" – 2:48
- "I've Been Down That Road Before" – 2:54
- "Be Careful of Stones that You Throw" (Bonnie Dodd) – 2:57
- "I Dreamed About Mama Last Night" (Fred Rose) – 2:59
- "The Funeral" – 3:03
- "Beyond the Sunset" (Blanche Kerr Brock, Virgil P. Brock, Albert Kennedy Rowswell) – 2:58
- "Just Waitin'" (Hank Williams, Bob Gazzaway) – 2:38
- "Everything's Okay" – 2:48
- "No, No, Joe" (Fred Rose) – 2:26
- "Ramblin' Man" – 3:01
References
- ^ Hank Williams - Hank Williams as Luke the Drifter Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic, retrieved 2023-10-09
- ^ a b Escott 2004, p. 137.
- ^ "The 10 greatest alter egos in music". faroutmagazine.co.uk. 2022-06-19. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
- ^ Escott 2004, p. 138.
- ^ Escott 2004, p. 175.
Bibliography
- ISBN 0-316-73497-7.