The Top 20 Country Love Songs of All Time - Number 7

by Jim Poulton

Hank Williams - I Can't Help It If I'm Still In Love With You

Image courtesy of Last.fm.

Hank Williams was a master of expressing a universe of feeling within the confines of a simple 8-bar verse. You might say he was as much of a painter as he was a singer: close your eyes and listen to the lyrics of this song, and see if you don’t get a vivid and dramatic picture of Hank and the woman he’s lost. The song is simple, with straightforward chording and unembellished accompaniment - but front-lined by Williams’ lovesick voice and southern drawl, it’s a masterpiece.

Williams died at the age of 29 – likely a result of mixing alcohol and drugs. Williams’ alcoholism was legendary – his friend and idol, Roy Acuff, once said to him ‘You’ve got a million-dollar voice, son, but a ten-cent brain.’ Wish Hank had listened.

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The Top 20 Country Love Songs of All Time - Number 16

by Jim Poulton

Hank Williams: I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry

Not your run of the mill love song - more of a love lost song - but I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry is a tune so perfectly constructed it embedded itself in the unconscious of an entire nation - ready to play its lovelorn melody whenever we're feeling blue about love. Williams sings it in a plaintive voice, somewhere between a lament and a wail, that will awaken delicate memories of yearning and loss, and the delicious loves so powerful they could make us feel this way.

Hank Williams. Photo courtesy of Last.fm.

Here's I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry along with a nice montage of photos of Williams:

A song this good has to have been covered by other musicians, right? You bet. Here's Johnny Cash:

Here's Elvis:

And here's a link to Glen Campbell's version - the best part is its soulful, bluesy harmonica accompaniment by Steve Hardin.