Song: “Your Cheatin’ Heart”

Hank Williams recorded this song during what was to be his last recording session in Sept. 1952. It was released in 1953 following his death, and stayed at number 1 on the country chart for six weeks. Uploaded by wax.fm.

In the early 1950s, country music had just begun to make its presence felt outside of the Deep South. Perhaps no one did more to advance the genre than Hank Williams (Great American Things, February 11, 2010) whose hits “Long Gone Lonesome Blues” (1950), “Cold Cold Heart” (1951), and “Jambalaya (On the Bayou)” (1952) all were among the top ten hits of the year.

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Williams recorded “Your Cheatin’ Heart” in his final recording session in September, 1952. He died on January 1, 1953 at the age of 29, and this song was released later in the year. It went to number one on the country chart, where it stayed for six weeks. It was the number two song of 1953.

Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time considered “Your Cheatin’ Heart” number 213, one of the worst judgments on that entire list. A better ranking comes from CMT’s 100 Greatest Songs in Country Music, which named this Hank Williams classic number five. (As a side note, Your Cheatin’ Heart is also the title of a biographical film about Williams that starred George Hamilton. George Hamilton?)

Singer: Hank Williams

Hank Williams was fired from the Grand Ole Opry and told not to return until he was sober. He never was. Uploaded by talentondisplay.com.

I have to confess, I had no idea that Hank Williams died at the age of 29. His music was so fully developed, his influence so great, it seems impossible anyone could have accomplished so much in such a short time. Shoot, in the pictures I’ve seen, he even looks older.

Hank got his break in music by standing out in front of a radio station, playing his guitar and singing. The station owners liked him, and invited him in to play. The listening audience in Montgomery, Alabama kept requesting “The Singing Kid,” so the station gave him a regular show.

Hank put a band together, and started playing dates throughout Alabama, Georgia, and the Florida panhandle. But he began having problems with alcohol. World War II took his band mates away, and soon the radio station fired him for showing up intoxicated. Roy Acuff told him, “You’ve got a million-dollar voice, son, but a ten-cent brain.”

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He moved to Nashville in 1946, and soon landed a recording contract. His first song was “Move It On Over,” later covered by George Thorogood. He went on to record such classics as “Lovesick Blues,” “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” “Cold, Cold Heart,” “Jambalaya (On the Bayou),” “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” “Hey, Good Lookin’,” and the gospel song “I Saw the Light.”

Williams was on his way to a concert, after shooting up with morphine and drinking beer. His chauffeur pulled in for a rest stop, and found Hank unresponsive in the back seat. The drinking and drugs had caught up with him.

Hank Williams is a member of both the Country Music and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame, and CMT ranked him #2 of the 40 Greatest Men of Country Music. Even so, we’ll always wonder about what could have been had this enormous talent been allowed to fully flourish…

hank williams jr and sr – theres a tear in my beer

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