WILLIAM DEAN WATSON

DRINKING, CRYING, DANCING, DYING – “Let’s Hit The Town (One Last Time)”

Rob Fenton: dobro, vocal
Charles James: upright bass
Graham Mansfield: mandolin, vocal
Darryl Poulsen: guitar, vocal
Nate Smith: fiddle, vocal
William Dean Watson: guitar, vocal
Alan Zemaitis: piano
Arranged and produced by: William Dean Watson and Rob Fenton
Mixed and mastered by: William Dean Watson

Let’s hit the town one last time,
And live to tell the tale.
Just because we’re past our prime
It doesn’t mean we’re stale.
Honky tonkin’ ain’t no crime;
It’s only foolin’ ’round.
So let’s play that music one last time;
Come on – let’s hit the town!

We used to play the clubs and bars
To make a little money.
Fiddle, bass and two guitars,
Your voice as sweet as honey.

Let’s hit the town one last time,
And live to tell the tale.
Just because we’re past our prime
It doesn’t mean we’re stale.
Honky tonkin’ ain’t no crime;
It’s only foolin’ ’round.
So let’s play that music one last time;
Come on – let’s hit the town!

We never travelled far and wide;
Just played the local dances.
Friends and family by our side
Sure we’d get our chances.

Let’s hit the town one last time,
And live to tell the tale.
Just because we’re past our prime
It doesn’t mean we’re stale.

The band all went their separate ways
And you and I were wedded.
We talk about our playing days;
They’re done, where we are headed.

Let’s hit the town one last time,
And live to tell the tale.
Just because we’re past our prime
It doesn’t mean we’re stale.
Honky tonkin’ ain’t no crime;
It’s only foolin’ ’round.
So let’s play that music one last time;
Come on, come on, come on, come on
Come on – let’s hit the town!

The honky tonk ethos of good times coloured by hard drinking and loose living seems squarely aimed at the young, or at least, the determined to stay young. Hank Williams’ classic “Honky Tonkin’”¹ perfectly expresses the willful dismissal of better judgment, as he invites a woman unhappy with her partner to join him for a night on the town, and exhorts her to bring cash to fund their revels. But time marches on, and the honky tonkers don’t stay young forever. Red Foley and Ernest Tubb’s honky tonk version of Bob Wills’ “Don’t Be Ashamed Of Your Age”² charmingly reminds those with a honky tonkin’ past that they have the good times to look back on. “Let’s Hit The Town (One Last Time)” catches the carousers as they transition into their new way of living; wistfully refusing regret while accepting maturity. The narrator is not Williams’ libertine tempting an unhappy woman away from her partner, but a warm-hearted husband reminding his wife of their honky tonk courtship and looking towards a future of shared emotional security.

(1) On Hank Williams & His Drifting Cowboys: Honky Tonkin’, MGM E242, 1954. Words and music: Hank Williams Sr., Warner/Chappell Music Inc., Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC.
(2) C/w Tennessee Border No. 2: Decca 46200, 1949. Words and music: Cindy Walker and Bob Wills, BMI Music / Unichappell Music Inc.

DRINKING, CRYING, DANCING, DYING – “Still Broken Hearted Over You”

Rob Fenton: dobro
Charles James: upright bass
Graham Mansfield: mandolin
Darryl Poulsen: guitar
Nate Smith: fiddle
William Dean Watson: guitar, vocal
Alan Zemaitis: piano
Arranged and produced by: William Dean Watson and Rob Fenton
Mixed and mastered by: William Dean Watson

Ten sweet years we’d shared our lives, a daughter and a son.
We had the whole gang round to celebrate.
That night I caught you in my brother’s arms just having fun,
And in that moment my love turned to hate.

You begged me not to end our marriage just for one false kiss.
You cried when I told you we were through.
I pray each night I’ll find someone so I can share love’s bliss
But I’m still brokenhearted over you.

It’s been three years since that cold night, I’ve lost you now for good.
I see you when I bring the children home.
My brother wrote to tell me he had left the neighbourhood
My foolish pride has left me all alone.

You begged me not to end our marriage just for one false kiss.
You cried when I told you we were through.
I pray each night I’ll find someone so I can share love’s bliss
But I’m still brokenhearted over you.

You begged me not to end our marriage just for one false kiss.
You cried when I told you we were through.
I pray each night you’ll take me back so we can share love’s bliss.
I’m still brokenhearted over you.

High drama! “Still Brokenhearted Over You” is a gothic tale of petty infidelity, broken family relationships, intransigence and remorse. Country music’s predilection for story songs of emotional and moral intensity is often parodied but, at their best, country’s freighted stories, with their wide arcs succinctly established and sparse yet telling details are an essential part of the music. When Trisha Yearwood’s “We Tried” kicks off with “I’m my Daddy when I drink, my Mama when I cry,” we are thrown into the middle of a richly emotional, elegantly expressed, multi-generational narrative before we know what hit us¹! Frequently key to the subtlety of these kinds of effects are direct, laconic lyrics that are nevertheless emotionally ambivalent or fluid. Ernest Tubb’s tragic “I’ll Step Aside”, the title disclosing some of its complexity of feeling before the singing even begins, is a powerful honky tonk example, its two short verses voicing loving devotion, mature emotional restraint and endless despair: “I’ll step aside for you if you don’t want me. I’ll step aside for you and you alone.”²

“Still Brokenhearted Over You” is the story of a narrator who has destroyed his life by refusing to forgive his wife’s momentary foolishness, where his rigid fury can be viewed much more or much less sympathetically depending on the listener. The scene is set with his discovery of his wife’s delinquency and shifts rapidly to a chorus and second verse that highlight the terrible loneliness he experiences in the inescapable personal prison his reaction creates.

(1) On Heaven, Heartache And The Power Of Love, Big Machine Records ORBM 7305, Words and music: 0Morgane Hayes and Liz Rose, BMI Music / Anthem Caretaker Music / EMI Blackwood Music Inc / Sony/ATV Songs LLC / WZ2 Songs Inc.
(2) Decca 46041A, 1947. Words and music: Johnny Bond, BMI Music / Red River Songs Inc.

DRINKING, CRYING, DANCING, DYING – “A Demon Walks Beside”

Rob Fenton: dobro
Charles James: upright bass
Scott Metcalfe: piano
Mike Mezzatesta: mandolin
Ben Plotnick: fiddle
Darryl Poulsen: guitar
William Dean Watson: guitar, vocal
Arranged and produced by: William Dean Watson and Rob Fenton
Mixed and mastered by: William Dean Watson

A demon walks beside me as I wander through this life.
He tempts me with dark places; I go against my will.
I thought I had escaped him when you said you’d be my wife.
But he was always by me; I see his shadow still.

He never let me trust you; he told me I was blind.
I started to believe I had to watch your every move.
I saw so many signs because they’re never hard to find.
The pictures in my head became more real than the truth.

I’m thinking of you leaving, and the jealous things I said;
I drove you from our home because I thought you’d been untrue.
Now you’re locked in some motel room, a fifth of whiskey by your bed.
You’re out there all alone, or all alone with someone new.

I still can see his shadow, no matter what I do.
Don’t listen to my pleading if I tell you that he’s gone;
I’m the one who can’t be trusted, I’m the one who’s been untrue.
A demon walks beside me, so I must face this life alone.

I think of “A Demon Walks Beside Me” as a honky tonk murder ballad in which nobody dies. Violent death, frequently narrated by the killer, is a staple of Anglo-American folk, blues and traditional country, the source musics for honky tonk and bluegrass. In some songs, the crime seems motivated by little more than vicious caprice. Traditional folk songs like “Little Sadie”¹ and “Sam Hall”², and original compositions like “Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues”³ and Robert Johnson’s “Me And The Devil Blues”⁴, are famous examples. In other murder ballads, the action is driven by morbid jealousy, although the delivery remains nonchalant; folk and bluegrass favourites “Pretty Polly”⁵ and “The Banks Of The Ohio” ⁶ stand out, along with “Delia’s Gone”, another Cash classic⁷.

By contrast, the narrator of “A Demon Walks Beside Me” has enough awareness and understanding of his obsessive jealousy to offer some protection to his potential victims, although even then his sexual delusions threaten to break through. The lyric is distinctly masculine, but the sentiment echoes Jenny Lou Carson’s beautiful 1944 ballad “Jealous Heart”, which has been successfully recorded by both women and men⁸. The rhythmic accompaniment of the classic American murder ballads is often eerily nonchalant, an ironic effect I have emulated in “A Demon Walks Beside Me”.

(1) Clarence Ashley’s influential version of Little Sadie, with Doc Watson on guitar, is available on Classic Old-Time Music From Smithsonian Folkways, SFW40093, 2003.
(2) A classic American version of Sam Hall is available on Tex Ritter’s Blood On The Saddle, Capitol Records T1292, 1962.
(3) On At Folsom Prison, Columbia CS 9639, 1968. Words and music: Johnny Cash, BMG Rights Management US LLC.
(4) Vocalion 04108, 1938. Words and music: Robert Johnson, The Bicycle Music Company.
(5) A fierce performance of Pretty Polly by Ralph Stanley is available on Ralph Stanley and the
Clinch Mountain Boys: Play Requests, Rebel Records S:P 1514, 1972.
(6) Bill Monroe and Doc Watson provide an exemplary rendition of The Banks of the Ohio,
available on Live Recordings 1963-1980: Off The Record Vol.2, Smithsonian Folkways
SFW40064, 1993.
(7) American Recordings 7-18091, 1994. Words and music: John R. Cash, BMG Rights
Management US LLC. Cash made the murder ballad a signature form; his version of Sam Hall
is exemplary; available on American IV: The Man Comes Around, Lost Highway 440 063 336-
1, 2002.
(8) Jenny Lou Carson’s version is available on Tumbling With Jenny (The Dave Cash Collection) from Apple Music and Itunes, 2013. Words and music: Jenny Lou Carson, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC. Of the many recordings, I will note: Wanda Jackson: on Wanda Jackson Salutes The Country Music Hall Of Fame, Capitol Records ST 2606, 1966; Loretta Lynn: on I Like ’Em Country, Decca Records DL 74744, 1966; Alecia Nugent: on Alecia Nugent, Rounder Records Rounder 116 610 518-2, 2004; Tex Ritter: Capitol Records 15256, 1949 (the song was written for Tex, and this is the first recording); Hank Williams (featuring Tex Ritter): on Classic Country Hits; Your Cheatin’ Heart, Dynamic Entertainment Ltd DYN 3521, 2005; Hank Locklin: on Happy Journey, RCA Victor LPM 2464, 1962; Jerry Lee Lewis: on Country Memories, Mercury 6338 846, 1977.

DRINKING, CRYING, DANCING, DYING – “Why Now?”

Rob Fenton: dobro
Kelly Gates: vocal
Charles James: upright bass
Will Meadows: mandolin
Scott Metcalfe: piano
Ben Plotnick: fiddle
Darryl Poulsen: guitar
William Dean Watson: guitar, vocal
Arranged and produced by: William Dean Watson and Rob Fenton
Mixed and mastered by: William Dean Watson

I met you at the open mic they held at Annie’s Bar.
You found me sitting backstage, tuning my guitar.
I was only starting out, trying to pay my dues.
You had set the room on fire, singing “Lovesick Blues.”

You said “Play me a song from the radio days,
One with eyes that are flirting, hearts that are hurting
And lovers making a vow.
Take me back to the good old ways
When the singing was sweet and love was complete.”
All I could say was “Why now?”

And then we fell in love that night; soon we were living as one.
Travelling around from town to town until our fame was won.
We stuck to all the old songs to give ourselves a start;
Patti Page and her “Tennessee Waltz,” and Hank and “Cold, Cold Heart.”

Play me a song from the radio days.
Take me back to the good old ways.

Lately you’ve been crying and I’ve been asking you why.
You finally told me that you couldn’t tell me; I knew that meant goodbye.
When I came home the very next day, I found you moving out.
I turned around and drove away; there was nothing to talk about.

I will play me a song from the radio days,
One with eyes that are flirting, hearts that are hurting
And lovers breaking a vow.
I’ll be thinking about you going away,
How our love is over, for you have another,
And all I can say is “Why now?”

“Why Now?” Is the signature song for my acoustic honky tonk collection, which I am calling Drinking, Crying, Dancing, Dying. It is a song about love, music, and the passage of time, the freshness of first feeling and the desperate desire to hold on to it. The lyric concerns a man and woman who meet and fall in love through their love of traditional country music, but whose love is eventually lost, the narrator’s lament voicing the central theme of traditional country music itself. Musically, it is not a wholly traditional song; rather, the traditional musical element is a ‘song within the song’ which insinuates itself into the structure. The song begins without pronounced traditional arrangement; a male voice and a guitar playing arpeggios in 6/8 time, coloured by gentle touches from a second guitar and mandolin. The first chorus introduces instrumentation of a decidedly traditional kind playing in 3/4 time, the eighth notes traded for quarters so the 6/8 arpeggios can continue in the background. The chorus also has the female voice singing mostly a melodic counterpoint rather than a close harmony, emphasizing the duality of the song structure; the past invoked in the present.

The song contains three brief musical quotes; from “The Tennessee Waltz^“1, “Lovesick Blues^“2 and “Cold, Cold Heart”³. “The Tennessee Waltz”, the purest and most perfectly realized of country waltzes, is one of the inspirations for this song’s traditional musical element and for the whole lyrical sentiment. The quote is smoothly integrated, but “Lovesick Blues” and “Cold, Cold Heart” are in 4/4 time (Hank Williams’ strong third beat making them almost marches in 2/4), and the quotes are allowed to cut awkwardly across the waltz time, their original inflection resisting assimilation. Can we go back and fit one time into another, even musically?

(1) Mercury Records 5534 B, Patti Page, 1950. Words and music: Red Stewart & Pee Wee King, WB Music Corp / Hot Kitchen Music, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC.
(2) With His Drifting Cowboys: MGM-10352 A, 1949. Words and music: Irving Mills & Cliff Friend, EMI Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music Inc.
(3) With His Drifting Cowboys: MGM-10904 B, 1951. C/w Dear John. Words and Music: Hank Williams Sr., Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC.