Hank Williams, part 2: 1951-1953

All songs, words and music, written by Hank Williams unless otherwise noted.

1951

Cold, Cold Heart / I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love With You)

On the second song Hank is accompanied by one of the Anita Carter. The song was a #1 for Hank on the country charts, his fifth. In the same year of its release Tony Bennett recorded a very successful pop version which remained on the chart for 27 weeks and reached #1.

I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love With You) was released as a B-side to the song Howlin At the Moon. The two sides reached #2, and #3 respectively.

Howlin’ At the Moon

Hey Good Lookin’ Although Cole Porter wrote a song with the same title and similar lyrics, Hank was given full credit for his rewrite which was a #1 hit.

Baby, We’re Really in Love – A George Jones cover of this popular Williams tune.

Crazy Heart (Maurice Murray, Fred Rose) – Among the many songs credited to Fred Rose are two he co-wrote with Hank Williams, Kaw-Liga and I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive, both recorded Hank in late 1952. Kaw-Liga was released just after Hank’s death with Your Cheatin’ Heart as the B-side.

1952

Honky Tonk Blues

Half As Much (Curley Williams)- A #2 hit. Here’s a biography of Curley Williams at hillbilly-music.com.

Jambalaya (On the Bayou) – Hank’s seventh #1 hit. – wikipedia tells why the writing credits are uncertain,

With a melody based on the Cajun song “Grand Texas”, some sources, including Allmusic, claim that the song was co-written by Williams and Moon Mullican, with Mullican uncredited but receiving ongoing royalties.

Settin’ the Woods on Fire (Fred Rose, Ed Nelson)

You Win Again - Embedding disabled. Click on the title for a montage of color film footage and photos of Hank.

Kaw-Liga

“Kaw-Liga” is a song about a wooden Indian, Kaw-Liga, who falls in love with an “Indian maid over in the antique store” but does not tell her so, being, as the lyrics say:

Too stubborn to ever show a sign,

Because his heart was made of knotty pine.

Backed by the Drifting Cowboys, Hank Williams recorded the song in Nashville in September, 1952 and the single was released posthumously in January 1953 on the MGM Records label. It remained No. 1 on the Billboard Country chart for 14 weeks and reached No. 23 on the pop charts. The flipside, Your Cheatin’ Heart, remained No. 1 on the country chart for 6 weeks.- wikipedia, adapted