Monday, February 18, 2008

Lonesome Blues

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I don't remember when my mother carried me and a couple of sisters to our first drive-in-movie theater. I do remember that it was at the old Lawrenceville, Ga theater...............gone lo these many years......although I can carry you to the very spot. All you see now is a fancy motel on a busy downtown street.

I think often of the first movie there that I remember........the Classic to some....to others poorly done....movie bio of Hank Williams Sr.......Your Cheatin' Heart, starring a young and not nearly so tan..... George Hamilton.

I was in my early teens......young, dumb and full of something that hadn't been reached yet.

Hank's songs and story had a huge impact on me.....still do. They ring true, from the heart and experience of a man who had his share of demons and physical problems. They still speak to me in ways I can't express.........wouldn't have the words anyway .....and so......find his a fit.

I still like.......occasionally... to listen to a few. They take one back to an earlier day, yet days which saw many of the same human conditions as exist today.

Feelings of loneliness, heartbreak, joy, optimism, hope......Love.
And I guess that's why people loved him........he sang what they were feeling and gave expression for a few moments to the longings in every human heart.

Here is just one I listened to tonight.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

.... I tend to agree with you.... Hank's songs were moving to the core....

Eric

LBJ said...

Amazing he had so much angst in him as well as talent for being so young. Takes the rest of us most of our life to learn to release that kind of emotion.