By Tony Attwood
In Chronicles: Volume One, Bob Dylan wrote, “The Luke the Drifter record, I just about wore ou
t. That’s the one where he sings and recites parables, like the Beatitudes. I could listen to the Luke the Drifter record all day and drift away myself, become totally convinced in the goodness of man.”
“He” in this case is Hank Williams.
Now I am sure some people have investigated this statement by Bob and considered it in detail; but somehow I just haven’t been able to find their musings. And that is a shame because on this occasion (and not for the first time) I am bemused.
I suspect that this is simply because my background doesn’t lead me to this type of music and recitation – it is a cultural thing rather than anything to do with the quality of the music.
But I have a problem here because I don’t know of other references from Dylan to this album, or if he at any time specified some aspect of the album that influenced him – but I am going to assume for the moment that Bob meant it seriously and he really loved the album. However the album sure is a strange affair.
It is an album of country versions of the talking blues style – there’s country music in the background and on most tracks the singer just talks in time to the music.
According to the reports I’ve seen, there was a problem with the record however in that Hank Williams was very famous and all his records sold well – but if he suddenly turned up with something that was mostly not sung, a lot of people would buy the record just because it was Hank Williams and then be rather fed up. Including apparently the companies that had thousands of juke boxes in bars and clubs around the country, who would order Hank Williams records in bulk each time one came out.
So the recording was called “Hank Williams as Luke the Drifter”. In a documentary on the recording, Hank Williams grandson is quoted as saying, “While Hank was at the peak of his career, he had another side to him that he wanted to get out, and that side was called Luke the Drifter…. That’s a dark side, man.”
Wikipediea states the country music historian Colin Escott said, “If Hank could be headstrong and willful, a backslider and a reprobate, then Luke the Drifter was compassionate and moralistic, capable of dispensing all the wisdom that Hank Williams ignored.”
The album also included a political song “No, No, Joe”, and much lighter tracks such as “Just waiting” and “I’ve been down that road before.” Here’s “I’ve been down that road before.”
The most famous tracks from the recordings are “Ramblin’ Man,” “Pictures from Life’s Other Side,” and “Men with Broken Hearts.” Here are recordings of these songs…
Ramblin Man
“Pictures from Life’s Other Side” is one that was particularly well known at this time. It had been recorded by Woodie Guthrie and just to give a break from Luke the Drifter, here is Woody’s version… I have put the lyrics at the end of this article.
Men with broken hearts
From here on are some more of the tracks from the ablum that Bob says influenced him so much in those early days. It’s not the whole set, but I must admit I found this collection quite hard to take, so in the end I stopped listening.
Help me understand
Too many parties and too many pals
https://youtu.be/jCNk_2uZKMk
Please make up your mind
Be careful of the stones that you throw
And the lyrics to Life’s other side…
In the world’s mighty gallery of pictures
There are scenes that are painted from life
Scenes of youth and of beauty
Scenes of hardship and strife
Scenes of wealth and of plenty
Old age and the blushing young bride
Hang on the wall but the saddest of all
Is a pictures from life’s other side
A picture from life’s other side
Someone has fell by the way
And a life has gone out with the tide
That might have been happy someday
Some poor mother at home
Is watching and a-waiting alone
Longing to hear from her loved one, so dear
That’s a picture from life’s other side
Now the first scene is one of two brothers
Their paths them both differently led
One lived in luxury and riches
And the other one begged for his bread
One night they met on the highway
“Your money or life, sir”, one cried
And then with his knife took his own brother’s life
That’s a picture from life’s other side
The next scene is that of a gambler
Who had lost all his money at play
An’ he draws his dead mother’s ring from his finger
That she wore long ago on her wedding day
It’s his last earthly treasure but he stakes it
Then he bows his head that his shame he may hide
But, when they lifted his head they found he was dead
That’s a picture from life’s other side
A picture from life’s other side
Someone has fell by the way
And a life has gone out with the tide
That might have been happy someday
Some poor mother at home
Is watching and a-waiting alone
Longing to hear from her loved one, so dear
That’s a picture from life’s other side
Now the last scene is down by the river
Of a heart broken mother and babe
In the harbor light glare see them shiver
Outcasts that no one will save
Once she was once a true woman
Somebody’s darlin’ and pride
God help her, she leaps for there’s no one to weep
That’s a picture from life’s other side
A picture from life’s other side
Someone has fell by the way
And a life has gone out with the tide
That might have been happy someday
Some poor mother at home
Is watching and a-waiting alone
Longing to hear from her loved one, so dear
That’s a picture from life’s other side
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M_AHB0g98E
What else is here?
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It may have been interesting and informative to know what was “hard to take” about these songs. I understand that the ‘Why does Bob Dylan like’ series is tongue in cheek and does not really try to tell us why Bob Dylan likes something. As with most of the writings on this blog the articles usually tells us more about the contributor than Bob Dylan ( the wonderful ‘Master Harpist’ series is an exception ). I think it is a shame to suggest cultural differences for not enjoying the music. I love these performances and thank Tony for bringing them to my attention. I would have probably enjoyed this piece even more if I had some idea what one dislikes such as the vocals, music, language, subject matter, etc. Thanks.
Including myself, Hank Williams, like Patsy Kline, is an icon for many consumers of music in the US and Canada…in England, I do not know…but cultural and generational factors do have an effect ….
For instance, try and try as I might, I don’t ‘get’ most of today’s “rap” music .
Having listened to Williams for so many years (like Dylan himself I imagine), it’s obvious to me that many of Dylan’s songs are awash in Hank Williams’ style, sentiments, and content.
I believe Slim Whitman’s popular, or at least was, in England, but he’s not my cup of tea…so it’s difficult to expect ‘one size to fit all’, is it not??
Far be it from me to criticize people who like music that I may not be all that thrilled about – to each his own, I say!
Lots of people like certain types of music, but they that don’t seem to be able to express why they do…. they just do.
Sorry..,,Omit ‘that’ in the last sentence above
* Patsy Cline
And of course the excellent series on Master Harpist does not get into the entanglement of how words are used and what they mean -ie, ambiguity, irony, humour, intonation, seriousness, allusion, symbolism, and so on and so forth. Though one has to know about the ways the harp can be played, music’s really a different kettle of fish, is it not?
Interpretation is often left quite wide open so as to involve the listener or the reader thereof, but the text has to be taken seriously into consideration and an interpreter can not go anywhere he wants to on a whim in complete disregard for the way language is used in the text.
Just saying one does not agree with an interpretation or that the interpreter is over-riding the text is not really saying anything without counter evidence being put forth.
If you see your neighbour carrying something
Help him with his load
And don’t go mistaking paradise
For that home across the road.
Followed by The Drifter’s Escape
Robin Singleton,
I think you may have just found a terrific connection between Bob and Hank, with the former giving tribute to the latter. The song’s title along with the identical syntax work together to make the connection beautifully!
Good one!
Robert Z was 13 years old when the record came out
Good drama for the kid in a town where nothing happened
Hank was at heart a poet
. I believe he just wanted to do some of his work as poetry not music. Hank’s music of course is poetry put to music. His music and his poetry is interchangeable.
Sort of music to be read instead of poetry to be sung
Anyone who does not appreciate both Hank’s music and his poetry is to be pitied and certainly has no business trying to analyze either.