DAY 26 - COVERS
In real life, and probably on this forum, it would not come as a surprise to anyone that one of my favorite albums is Waylon Jennings'
Honky Tonk Heroes.
What DOES and probably WILL come as a surprise is that I discovered that Waylon album through an unexpected way: I am a massive, massive fan of Conway Twitty.
When I was growing up in the 80's, there was a TV commercial advertising a Time Life Collection of Twitty's hits. Even though I was into Beach Boys, Technotronic, Milli Vanilli, Midnight Oil, The B-52's (I had weird eclectic taste as an 8-year-old, apparently)... I had not heard what apparently was country music. But I dug the songs in the commercial.
That Saturday, I went to Caldor's (a long gone department store chain) and bought a cassette called
Classic Conway for $4. I loved it, but one song that grew on me as I got older was "We Had It All."
About 5 years ago, I learned that "We Had It All" was recorded for the first time (that I am aware of) on Waylon's
Honky Tonk Heroes. I found an 80's reissue for $5 at a record store near me about a month later and pulled the trigger on it.
There is no comparing the two versions. They are similar tempos, similar form arrangements, and both have key changes, but the deliveries are very, very different.
Waylon's version is the final song on an album about living hard, drinking hard, fighting hard. [Coincidentally, it's also the ONLY song not written by Billy Joe Shaver on the album.] It's easy listening to Waylon's version to imagine the person singing the song. They are sitting at a bar or the corner of a bar, possibly looking at a photograph. Their longing and sensitivity is heightened by the consumption, but ultimately is held back because they don't want to let it all out... it wouldn't be appropriate for who others think they are, so they keep drinking to make the memory go away. The best word to describe the performance: wistful.
Conway's version is much different. Whereas Waylon's recording is sparse, Twitty's is as full-on dramatic as a country song could be. The delivery doesn't seem internal, but thrust outward toward someone else. It's as if the person he is singing to is right in front of him after a long absence, and he is trying desperately but futilely to not let them go again. You can almost hear his voice on the point of breaking.
So who did it better?
Depends who hears it and when they hear it.
