Waylon Jennings "I've Always Been Crazy"
REVISION: I have done some "quasi" reviews of albums over the years when the mood has struck me in between some political and personal rants and stories....but anyone that knows me or knows this blog at all, knows that I live for music and I don't want to insinuate that this is a "review". I am not judging this record. It's more like a string of thoughts and interpretation weakly weaved together. This is about what I hear and what it means to me.
I listen to this album several times a year and also hit individual tracks from it quite often on my Waylon or country playlists. For some reason this album really hit me the other night while listening and this is after having heard this thing probably a hundred times in my life. I have it both on CD and vinyl, but had the vinyl on when I got a bit of inspiration over it. The record was from my dad's collection, which he gave me a few years before he died. Waylon, along with Jimmy Buffett, Pink Floyd, and Neil Young was very special to him. He "got on" with what Waylon was doing. I didn't just inherit his records, I also inherited a lot of his tastes as those are also artists dear to me as I approach 60 years of age.
At any rate, this record was released at the end of the 70's as Waylon's reign as the king of outlaw country was winding down. Almost as if by choice, he was closing out the "Outlaw Movement". This album has a song called "Don't You Think This Outlaw Bits Done Got Out Of Hand?"....if that doesn't clue anyone in to where his head space was, nothing will I suppose. I don't want to pretend that what I am writing is the end all be all of what this album is about. I am writing and thinking from my perspective and interpretations. I have an affinity for the man's music and I will probably wander into making some mythology for myself. So be it. It's done from a love of the music and this album as a snapshot in time, but not dated. Yeah, it's art.
OK, so admittedly, I was a bit high listening, but I believe that only enhanced my thinking as each track went by. Three of the five songs on side 1 were penned by Waylon. They all feel very personal and seem to approach areas of some frustration and trying to set a few things straight. You really couldn't lead off with two better songs; "I've Always Been Crazy" and the aforementioned "Don't You Think....". They really make a statement and set the tone of the record. Autobiographical and real. The truth. The record starts off aggressively, before giving way to some sentimentality and almost a "good bye" to the persona that was thrust on him, fairly or not. Maybe mostly in fairness.
"Billy" was written by Tony Joe White. If you didn't know better, you would swear Jennings was singing to his "outlaw" buddy Willie Nelson. It truly feels like a good bye, as if he is purposefully drifting away from the life that gave him his reputation. Settling in as a proper musician and giving more time to his wife Jessi Colter who would soon have a son, Shooter. Being on the road would likely start to look a little bit different. Being at home and/or with his family seemed like a better alternative to staying up for days on end and being a caricature. That's what I feel like you always got with this man....he was the real thing. He didn't play act. He shook the outlaw thing before it was able to shake him. If he was the motivation for the genre, well then it was his business to put it down.
The next song "A Long Time Ago" has a lyric that is a direct response to a huge part of Waylon's and music in generals legend; "....don't ask me who I gave my seat to on that plane. I think you already know...." is pretty much putting to rest how he feels about the Buddy Holly/Big Bopper and friends tragedy. Why ask him questions you know the answers to? This is a track many music fans probably aren't overly familiar with, but it's my favorite on this album. A real gem in my opinion.
The closing track of side one is "As the 'Billy World Turns". A song that sounds like he could have written it with Willie in mind, or perhaps I am creating my own myth surrounding the song. Light hearted in tone and pace, it depicts a songwriter asking his partner to throw a tune together with him. Maybe it will rhyme, maybe it won't. It's a fun shift in tone and sets the stage for side two.
Flipping the record over, Waylon pays tribute to his old friend Buddy Holly with a medley of Holly's most popular songs and he brings along The Crickets to back him. While the rest of this album is produced by Waylon himself, along with his long time friend and drummer Richie Albright, the legendary Duane Eddy is taking the handle on these songs. Before going further, a word about Richie Albright. To me, he is a legend. My dad was a drummer and a big music fan and the only drummers I ever heard him talk about over and over were Danny Seraphin, Charlie Watts, and Richie Albright. I had the pleasure of brief exchange with Mr. Albright in Louisville (at the now defunct Jim Porter's Goodtime Emporium) some years back while he was touring with Shooter. I made sure I told him how much my father thought of him and how that was handed down to me. OK, moving on. This medley, comprised of "Well Alright", "It's So Easy", "Maybe Baby", and "Peggy Sue" get the Jennings treatment. You know...that thing he does where he tends to reshape a song in a subtle manner, but in such a way that he takes some ownership of it. You just don't hear the songs again, without at least thinking of his version. This is a fantastic listen and makes me wonder if this isn't the direction Holly would have taken had he lived. He was a Texan and one has to believe that he would have leaned into bringing that sound and attitude to his music more and more as he had aged. Maybe? Regardless, it's a fantastic tribute to his friend.
The next two songs are covers also, and he places two legendary singer/songwriters in their rightful place with Buddy Holly. These songs don't really distance him from the "outlaw" thing as they have the "feel", but are both distinctly mainstream and perhaps, at the time, the most notable songs from Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard. Cash's "I Walk The Line" is slowed down here. A much more patient rendition, but he lets go of that famous Waylon vocal styling at the 2:10 mark and seizes the song and elevating the spirit and feeling. The style would fit into any Friday night honky tonk's cover bands set list.
"Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down" really seems like an attempt to "steal" the song from Haggard. He doesn't change up the pace much, but his distinctive voice and style at least arm wrestles with the Haggard version. He even tells Merle to "eat his heart out" and the Waylon guitar picking is right there in the mix. A fun song. A true classic.
The next track (Girl I Can Tell) was written by Fred Carter (guitarist for Waylon) and Jennings and is a melancholy song about a woman growing up in her relationship. I don't consider this song "filler" by any stretch because I don't feel like there is any space wasted on this album, but it's the track that is most likely to be forgotten if I am discussing the record and maybe because it gives way to another melancholy type song that is tremendously written (multi-talented artist Shel Silverstein) and performed. Whistlers and Jugglers. Waylon performs it almost as a waltz in tempo at times. Poignant and a fitting way to top off the album. The protagonist of the song is in some ways a mirror image of Waylon. Doing her own thing, a bit of a rebel that doesn't go in for cozying up to the "haves".
In all, I just really feel like this album had a purpose. Intent. Maybe not quite a "concept album", but a album that is conveying a message. The songs seem to be arranged in such a way as to take you through Waylon Jenning's mindset as the 70's were coming to a close and a less raw version of country music was emerging. A safer version of country music. Hopefully my interpretations were not a mile off the mark, but I just feel like I had to get this stuff out. I wanted to talk about the record. It puts me in a certain mood listening to it and some of it involves feeling like Waylon was taking some stock in his life at this point and turned it into a piece of artistic expression that's as good as anything he's ever done.
Thanks for hanging in here if you made it this far. Peace.
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