I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry

"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"
Single by Hank Williams
A-side	"My Bucket's Got a Hole in It"
Released	November 8, 1949
Recorded	August 30, 1949, Herzog Studio, Cincinnati
Genre	Country, blues
Length	2:48
Label	MGM Records
Writer(s)	Hank Williams
Hank Williams singles chronology
"You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)" (1949) "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It" (1949) "I Just Don't Like This Kind of Living" (1950)

"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" is a song written and recorded by American country music singer-songwriter Hank Williams in 1949. Williams wrote the song originally intending that the words be spoken, rather than sung, as he had done on several of his Luke the Drifter recordings. The song about loneliness was largely inspired by his troubled relationship with wife Audrey Sheppard. With evocative lyrics, such as the opening lines "Hear that lonesome whip-poor-will/He sounds too blue to fly," the song has been covered by a wide range of musicians. During his Aloha from Hawaii TV-special, Elvis Presley introduced it by saying, "I'd like to sing a song that's...probably the saddest song I've ever heard."

Hank Williams version

According to Colin Escott's 2004 book Hank Williams: A Biography, Williams was inspired to write the song when he found it on a schedule of upcoming MGM releases. The song was recorded on August 30, 1949 at Herzog Studio in Cincinnati, Ohio. Williams is backed by members of the Pleasant Valley Boys - Zeke Turner (lead guitar), Jerry Byrd (steel guitar), and Louis Innis (rhythm guitar) - as well as Tommy Jackson (fiddle) and Ernie Newton (bass). As Escott observes, the plaintive despair in Williams' voice on the recording is echoed by the backing of the musicians:

"Zeke Turner underpinned 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry' with recurring figures on the bass strings of the electric guitar. A few weeks earlier, Turner had led the backing on the Delmore Brothers' recording of 'Blues Stay Away From Me' using very similar licks...Jerry Byrd played a solo of unusual simplicity, paraphrashing the melody to haunting effect, subtly adjusting tone and volume. Hank sang with unshakable conviction."

Remarkably, the song was released as the B-side to the blues "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It" because up-tempo numbers were deemed more appropriate for the jukebox trade than melancholy ballads. The single reached #4 on the country chart in 1949. The song has become closely identified with Williams' legend and musical legacy and has been widely praised. In the 2003 documentary The Road to Nashville, singer k.d. lang states, "I think 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry' is one of the most classic American songs ever written, truly. Beautiful song." In his autobiography, Bob Dylan recalls, "Even at a young age, I identified with him. I didn't have to experience anything that Hank did to know what he was singing about. I'd never heard a robin weep, but could imagine it and it made me sad." In its online biography of the singer, Rolling Stone notes, "In tracks like 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry' Williams expressed intense, personal emotions with country's traditional plainspoken directness, a then-revolutionary approach that has come to define the genre through the works of subsequent artists from George Jones and Willie Nelson to Gram Parsons and Dwight Yoakam." Rolling Stone ranked it #111 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, the oldest song on the list, and #3 on its 100 Greatest Country Songs of All Time.

Cover versions

• Marty Robbins recorded a version of this song on 1957 album The Song of Robbins.
• Andy Williams released a version as the B-side to his 1959 single "The Village of St. Bernadette".
• Johnny Cash released it on his 1960 LP Now, There Was a Song! album and with Nick Cave as a duet on Cash's critically acclaimed album American IV: The Man Comes Around
• Dean Martin opens up his first Reprise country album Country Style (1963) with this classic, which reappears on his 1966 (country) album Somewhere There's a Someone.
• Rosemary Clooney recorded it for her 1963 LP Sings Country Hits from the Heart.
• Del Shannon recorded it for his 1964 album Del Shannon Sings Hank Williams.
• Randy Boone sang it in an episode of The Virginian called "First To Thine Own Self" on February 12, 1964. This made no sense, as the TV series was set in the 1880s, but the song was not written until 1949.
• Tommy James and the Shondells released a version of the song on their 1966 album It's Only Love.
• The song was covered by B.J. Thomas in 1966.
• Bob Dylan sings a version of the song in his hotel room in the 1967 documentary film Dont Look Back. He also sings the song as a duet with Johnny Cash, featured in the 2005 documentary No Direction Home.
• Ernest Tubb included it on his 1968 LP Ernest Tubb Sings Hank Williams.
• Tracy Nelson (singer) covered the song on her 1969 solo album Tracy Nelson Country.
• Stonewall Jackson included the song on his 1969 LP A Tribute to Hank Williams.
• Roy Orbison covered the song on his 1970 tribute album Hank Williams the Roy Orbison Way
• Little Richard covered the song on his 1971 album, The King of Rock and Roll
• Tanya Tucker covered the song on her 1972 debut album Delta Dawn.
• Al Green cut the song in 1972.
• Glen Campbell recorded it for his 1973 album I Remember Hank Williams.
• Elvis Presley did a version of the song in his 1973 Aloha from Hawaii TV-special. It later appeared in the 2006 direct-to-DVD film Leroy & Stitch and retains that recording's introduction.
• Al Green covered the song on his 1973 album Call Me
• Terry Bradshaw, at the time the starting quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers, recorded the song in 1976. Bradshaw's version was a top-20 hit on the country charts.
• Boxcar Willie recorded the song for his album Sings Hank Williams and Jimmie Rogers in 1979.
• Charlie Pride included it on his 1980 Williams tribute LP There's a Little Bit of Hank in Me.
• Cowboy Junkies covered the song on their 1988 album The Trinity Sessions.
• George Jones and Randy Travis performed the song as a duet on a television special on TNN in 1991.
• Holly Cole with the Holly Cole Trio on their first full length album Girl Talk 1990.
• Stephan Eicher mixed J.S. Bach's cantata BWV147 with the song for his 1991 album Engelberg.
• Waylon Jennings recorded the song for his 1992 album Ol' Waylon Sings Ol' Hank.
• Jimmie Dale Gilmore recorded the song on his 1993 album Spinning Around the Sun.
• Akiko Yano recorded this song with Pat Metheny in her album 1997 Oui Oui.
• Bill Frisell plays an instrumental version on the 2000 album Ghost Town.
• Keb Mo covered the song on the Williams tribute album Timeless: Hank Williams Tribute.
• Yo La Tengo cover this song on their 2015 album Stuff Like That There & have played it at their shows since 2005.
• The punk rock cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes has covered this song for their 2006 country-themed album Love Their Country.
• Art of Time Ensemble featuring guest vocalist Melissa Stylianou released a version of the song on their 2006 debut album Live In Toronto.
• Volbeat covered the song on their 2008 albums Guitar Gangsters & Cadillac Blood.
• The song was recorded by country singer Wynonna Judd for her 2009 album, Sing: Chapter 1.
• Carrie Rodriguez and Bill Frissell play a version on the 2010 album Love and Circumstance
• Marshall Chapman covered this song on her 2010 album Big Lonesome.
• Kasey Chambers covered the song on her 2011 album Storybook.
• Amy Lee of Evanescence performed the song on April 20, 2012 at “We Walk the Line: a Celebration of the Music of Johnny Cash” in honor of Cash's 80th birthday. The show was released on CD/DVD on August 7, 2012.
• Tracy Nelson (singer) performed it on the 2015 album Dylan, Cash, and the Nashville Cats: A New Music City, a two-disc audio companion to the exhibition of the same name currently on display at the Country Music Hall of Fame ® and Museum.

Chart performance

Hank Williams version

Year	Chart	Position
1949	Billboard Country Singles	b-side of #2 "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It"
1966	Billboard Country Singles	#43

Williams' version ranked #29 in CMT's 100 Greatest Songs in Country Music in 2003.

B. J. Thomas version

Year	Chart	Position
1966	Billboard Pop Singles	#8

Charlie McCoy version

Year	Chart	Position
1972	Billboard Country Singles	#23

Leon Russell version (credited to Hank Wilson)

Year	Chart	Position
1973	U.S. Billboard Hot 100	78

Terry Bradshaw version

Year	Chart	Position
1976	Billboard Country Singles	#17

Jerry Lee Lewis version

Year	Chart	Position
1982	Billboard Country Singles	#43

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics