As he constructed his enormous viewers within the late Forties and early 50s, Hank Williams hit the highest of the nation chart no fewer than seven instances within the area of little greater than three years. Then got here his final launch of 1952, the poignantly, if whimsically, titled “I’ll By no means Get Out Of This World Alive.” It entered the charts in Williams’ last days and have become his first posthumous No.1.
Such was the standing that he had on the planet of nation music that Hank would dominate the scene even in dying. After he handed away after years of alcohol and drug abuse, on the age of simply 29 on New 12 months’s Day 1953, that prophetically-titled track grew to become the nation’s nation favorite inside three weeks.
As 1953 went on, MGM continued to launch singles by Williams, and one other landmark arrived on February 21. On the Billboard charts for that week, Hank was in demand as soon as once more, as “Kaw-Liga” made its debut, listed as a double-sided launch with the basic that concurrently entered the bestsellers in its personal proper, “Your Cheatin’ Coronary heart.”
The 2 songs showcased Williams’ full songwriting prowess. “Kaw-Liga,” written along with his producer Fred Rose, was the light-hearted, uptempo story of a lovelorn picket Indian, impressed by a statue close to a cabin by which he stayed in Kawliga, central Alabama. “Your Cheatin’ Coronary heart” was a story of romantic woe a lot nearer to on a regular basis life, penned simply after Hank and his spouse Audrey had divorced.
Each songs have been a part of his last recording session at Fort Studio in Nashville in September 1952, an especially fruitful reserving that additionally yielded “I Might By no means Be Ashamed Of You” and one other signature track, “Take These Chains From My Coronary heart.”
“Kaw-Liga” was swiftly lined by quite a few artists in competing releases, together with one other on MGM by Invoice Farrell. Like “Your Cheatin’ Coronary heart,” it debuted on the February 21 Billboard chart, by which subject the journal reported: “That is the massive information of the week. ‘Kaw-Liga’ hit all three charts. Most necessary, it got here in at primary on gross sales chart. Flip facet additionally hit gross sales chart.” Eerily, each songs have been within the charts similtaneously the tribute track “The Dying of Hank Williams” by Alabama-born singer Hank Cardwell.
Take heed to the most effective of Hank Williams on Apple Music and Spotify.
“Your Cheatin’ Coronary heart’” went on to its personal No.1 rating in April, and to assert a spot amongst Williams’ most well-known songs. In 1964, it grew to become the title of the biopic about him, and is often listed as one of many nice requirements in nation music historical past – endlessly lined, however certainly most memorably by Ray Charles, as you’ll be able to learn right here.
Purchase or stream “Kaw-Liga” and “Your Cheatin’ Coronary heart” on Hank Williams’ 40 Biggest Hits album.
