(via Chris Bolling’s collection)

“When you died at 29
Did you hear the voice of angels?
Did you hear the lonesome cries
of the ones you left behind?”

and “Alcohol and Pills” by Fred Eaglesmith:

“Hank Williams, he came up from Montgomery.
His heart was full of broken country songs.
Nashville, Tennessee didn’t really understand him,
cause he did things differently
than the way that they were done.
But when he finally made it to the Grand Ole Opry,
he made it stand still.
He ended up on alcohol and pills.”

I think these songs best express the two lingering feelings of the country music community toward the death of Hank. We mourn the loss of such a great artist to this day, we feel for his family, for his son who never really knew him, and we’re a little angry with him for being so selfish. I think we feel this way when any gifted young person doesn’t care about themselves enough to stick around.

I wish I were an angel in 52′
In a blue cadillac on the eve of the new year
And there I would have saved him, the man who sang the blues
But maybe he is listening right now
Hopefully he’s listening right now