I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry is a country song by Hank Williams from 1949.

Formation

Williams recorded the song on 30 August 1949 in a studio in Ohio, under the production of Fred Rose on. Williams called him the personal favorites among his own songs, but did not believe a commercial success of the play, because he thought his listeners were accustomed to other songs by him. He appeared as the B-side of the hit My Bucket 's Got a Hole in it. Only after Williams' death on 1 January 1953 at the age of 29 years, the number associated with his alcohol addiction and over the years to one of his most famous songs.

In 2005, the track in the list of the 500 best songs of all time rank 111 in CMT 's reached 100 Greatest Songs in Country Music, it was ranked 29

Content

The song describes the image of a lonely man in the night. The protagonist takes on several typical night sounds and connects all with his own sense of loneliness. He assumes that if he was alone and lonely, it would be also different.

He hears a Nightjar ( Whippoorwill ) and says they sounded too sad to fly. Also, the night train howls loud. Other characters are the moon hiding behind the clouds, to weep undisturbed, the time is progressing only slowly, a robin crying because the leaves of the trees wither and it therefore loses the will to live.

Only in the fourth stanza the reason for the loneliness of the protagonist is mentioned. After a remark about a shooting star that lit up the night sky, the singer wonders where the long-awaited person stay, and that he therefore had to feel like crying.

Cover versions

The song has been widely gecovert, including Johnny Cash with Nick Cave, Ray Charles, Freddy Fender, Dean Martin and BJ Thomas, whose version reached number 8 in 1966 on the Billboard pop charts. Elvis Presley sang in 1973 a version of the piece in his TV special Aloha from Hawaii and announced it with the words: ". ... Probably the saddest song I 've ever heard "

In the country charts, the title was able to place two times: 1972 version of Charlie McCoy reached number 23 and 1976 version of Terry Bradshaw 17th place

Recently published cover versions, for example, 1991 by Stephan Eicher, 1993 by Jimmie Dale Gilmore, 2001 by Keb 'Mo' on the Hank Williams tribute album Timeless and 2006 by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. The Danish metal band Volbeat coverte the piece in 2008 for her album Guitar Gangsters & Cadillac Blood, as well as Wynonna Judd, 2009.