Comments on: Hank Williams – “Lovesick Blues”

By: CMA Announces Plans To Build Retirement Community for Musicians | The 9513

CMA Announces Plans To Build Retirement Community for Musicians | The 9513 — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:19:43 +0000

[...] day in 1923 marked the birth of one of country music’s most heralded artists, Hank Williams (read the story behind his first No. 1 hit, “Lovesick Blues”). Also on this day, but in 1955, Elvis Presley’s “I Forgot to Remember to Forget” [...]

By: linda leary

linda leary — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 21:13:00 +0000

hanks version of lovesick blues was the best,when hank sang a song you had to know it had been sung.

By: Brady Vercher

Brady Vercher — Tue, 08 May 2007 20:24:08 +0000

Timmy Mac: Thanks. There is a whole chapter dedicated to the song in the book I mentioned, but I gleaned the majority of the pertinent info to try and keep it short and sweet. Hopefully we can get some more features like this up in the future.

Ron W.: I knew the song had been around since 1922, but never thought about searching for previous artists’ renditions. I found the Emmett Miller version on Rhapsody and gave it a few listens. I can sorta see the progression, but I think Hank’s version was an immense improvement.

By: Ron W.

Ron W. — Tue, 08 May 2007 18:32:59 +0000

If you ever listen to Emmett Miller’s very early version of “Lovesick Blues,” you get an idea where Hank took some of his ideas for the song.

I’m not deriding Hank’s version — in fact, I prefer it. But it goes to show that sometimes someone can take an idea and improve on it. Especially when you have a voice as distinctive as Hank’s.

By: Brody Vercher

Brody Vercher — Tue, 08 May 2007 15:38:07 +0000

I agree, Timmy. The local radio station in Austin does a feature called “Story Behind the Song.” They treat it like a Paul Harvey story and don’t tell you who the artist or song is until the very end, it’s pretty interesting.

By: Timmy Mac

Timmy Mac — Tue, 08 May 2007 13:11:07 +0000

Man, if there’s anything I like better than old school country music, it’d be old school showbiz stories like this. Thanks for posting!

By: Brady Vercher

Brady Vercher — Tue, 08 May 2007 03:55:36 +0000

Yeah, I think the book mentioned Fred thinking the original demo that Hank sent in was out of meter. Since Fred didn’t have anything to do with the song and no one changed the way Hank sang it, I’m sure Fred felt the same way about the final cut.

By: Matt C.

Matt C. — Tue, 08 May 2007 01:49:38 +0000

I also heard that Fred Rose was upset because Hank sang the song off-beat.