Released in the summer of 1980, Music Man was the last number one album Waylon Jennings had until he switched labels and scored a chart-topper in 1986 with Will the Wolf Survive. So, it capped off a remarkable five-year streak of number one albums (only one of his records in that time didn't reach the top), and while he still had another winner in him with 1982's Black on Black, in retrospect it's easy to hear that Waylon was on some unsteady ground around this time. Not that this is a bad record, but it does show signs that he was relying a little too much on polish and that his ear for material is slightly off. There are no outright dogs in the batch, but covers of Kenny Rogers and Jimmy Buffett are a far cry from the Neil Young and Toy Caldwell covers on Are You Ready for the Country; even if they are listenable, they suggest Waylon isn't stretching himself, a sentiment that's contradicted by a surprising but effective cover of Steely Dan's "Do It Again." Music Man is best when it sticks to harder country, whether it's in the form of a sweet cover of "Waltz Across Texas," a good version of his wife Jessi Colter's "Storms Never Last," Harlan Howard's joyously lewd "Nashville Wimmin," or a propulsive cover of J.J. Cale's "Clyde." Jennings doesn't write many original tunes here — just a J.J. Cale/George Jones tribute which appropriately follows "Clyde" and "Theme From the Dukes of Hazzard (Good Ol' Boys)," which has actually weathered time very well, sounding leaner and looser than much of the rest of the album. It's an album that, once again, doesn't quite add up to the sound of its parts, and in retrospect, those parts do seem to point toward his commercial and artistic collapse a few years away, but even with these flaws, Music Man is a pretty entertaining latter-day Waylon album.
WAYLON JENNINGS
MUSIC MAN
RCA Victor AHL1-3602May/1980
Produced by Richie Albright
Waylon Jennings - guitar/dobro/banjoJerry Reed, Billy Reynolds, Rance Wasson, Randy Scruggs, Rick Wayne, Johnny Rodriguez - guitar
Gordon Payne - guitar/harmonica
Ralphn Mooney - steel/dobro
Jerry Bridges, Duke Goff - bass
Richie Albright - drums/percussion
Chuck Cochran, Berny Robertson - keyboards
Billy Graham - fiddle
Carter Robertson - vocals
Recorded at American Studio, Nashville
1.
CLYDE
(John J. Cale) « © '78 Johnny Bienstock Music, BMI »Clyde plays electric bass plays it with finesse and grace
Set on the porch ain't got no shoes pickin' the bass and singin' the blues
Misery loves company this old dog sings harmony
Tambourine tied to his tail you can hear him moan you can hear him wail yeah
Jodie baby she got the dollar down the road you can hear her holler
Get up Clyde we got things to do that old dog's singin' the blues
He don't move he don't flinch Clyde he don't move an inch
Set on the porch ain't got no shoes pickin' the bass and singin' the blues
Clyde played electric bass...
**********
2.
IT'S ALRIGHT
(Waylon Jennings) « © '80 Waylon Jennings Music, BMI »**********
3.
GOOD OL' BOYS
(Waylon Jennings) « © '80 Richway Music, BMI / Warner-Tamerlane Publishing, BMI »Just the good ol' boys never meaning no harm
Beats all you never saw been in trouble with the law
Since the day they was born
Straightenin' the curves yeah flattenin' the hills
Someday the mountain might get 'em but the law never will
Making their way the only way they know how
That's just a little bit more than the law will allow
[ guitar ] Making their way the only way they know how...
I'm a good ol' boy you know my mama love me
But you don't understand they keep a showin' my hands
And not my face on the leaves
**********
4.
NASHVILLE WOMEN
(Harlan Howard) « © '66 Tree Publishing, BMI »If it wasn't for the powder and the fine tooth comb
If it wasn't for the powder and the fine tooth comb
You know the Nashville women might as well stay home yeah
[ guitar ] If the blues was booze I'd stay drunk all the time
If the blues was booze you know I'd stay drunk all the time
Hangin' round bars and takin' you off of my mind
[ guitar ] Going down the alley to see what I can find
Goin' down the Printer's Alley gonna look around and see what I can find
Let some Nashville woman take me home and blow my mind
You long tall woman you sure don't have to talk
A long legged good lookin' thing you don't have to talk
I can tell that you're from Nashville
You do boogie woogie wiggle when you walk
[ guitar ] You long tall woman you sure don't have to talk...
**********
5.
DO IT AGAIN
(Donald Fagen - Walter Becker) « © '80 Red Giant Inc, ASCAP / MCA Music, ASCAP »In the morning you go gunning for the man who stole your water
And you fire till he is done in but they catch you at the border
And the mourners are all singing as they drag you by your feet
But the hangman isn't hanging so they put you on the street
You go back Jack do it again wheels turning round and round
You go back Jack do it again
When you know she's no high climber then you find your only friend
In a room with your two timer but you're sure you're near the end
Then you love a little wild one and she brings you only sorrow
All the time you know she's smiling you'll be on your knees tomorrow
You go back Jack do it again...
[ guitar ] Now you swear and kick and beg us that you're not a gambling man
Then you find you're back in Vegas with a handle in your hand
Your black cards can bring you money so you hide them when you're able
In the land of milk and honey you must put them on the table
You go back Jack do it again...
**********
6.
SWEET MUSIC MAN
(Kenny Rogers) « © '76 Cherry Lane Music, ASCAP / M-3 Music, ASCAP »She said sing a song sweet music man
Cause I won't be there to hold your hand like I used to
I'm through with you
You're a hell of a singer and powerful man
But you surround yourself with people who demand so little of you
You touched my soul with your beautiful song
Even had me singin' along right with you you said I need you
Then you changed the words and added harmony
Sang the song you had written for me to someone new
Nobody sings love songs quite like you do nobody else can make me sing along
Nobody else can make me feel the things are right when I know they're wrong
Nobody sings love songs quite like you
Sing your song sweet music man
Travel the world with a six piece band that does for you
What you ask me to
And you try to stay young but the songs are sung
To so many people who've all begun came back on you
Sing your song sad music man makin' your living doing one night stands
They're through with you they don't need you
You're still a hell of a singer but a broken man
But you'll keep on lookin' for one last fan to sing to
Nobody sings a love song quite like you do nobody else can make me sing along
Nobody else can make me feel the things are right
When they're wrong with a song
Nobody sings a love song quite like you
She said sing your song sweet music man I believe in you
**********
7.
STORMS NEVER LAST
(Jessi Colter) « © '74 Songs Of PolyGram, BMI »Storms never last do they baby bad times all pass with the wind
Your hand in mine stills the thunder and you make the sun want to shine
You followed me down so many roads baby
I've picked wild flowers and sung you soft sad songs
And every road we took God knows our search was for the truth
And the clouds brewing now won't be the last
Storms never last do they baby...
[ steel ] Storms never last do they Jessi...
**********
8.
HE WENT TO PARIS
(Jimmy Buffett) « © '73 Coral Reefer Music, BMI »He went to Paris lookin' for answers to questions that bothered him so
He was impressive young and agressive savin' the world on his own
Warm summer breezes French wine and cheeses put his ambition at bay
The summers and winters scattered like splinters and four or five years slipped away
He went to England played the piano and married an actress named Kim
They had a good life she was a good wife and bore him a young son named Jim
All of the answers and all of the questions he locked in his attic one day
Cause he liked the quiet clean country livin' and twenty more years slipped away
[ steel ] War took his baby bombs killed his lady and left him with only one eye
His body was battered his whole world was shattered all he could do was just cry
While the tears were fallin' he was recallin' answers that he never found
So he hopped in a freighter skidded the ocean and left England without a sound
Now he lives in the island fishes the pilin' and drinks his green label each day
Writin' his memoirs losin' his hearin' but he don't care what most people say
After eighty-six years of perpetual motion if he likes you he'll smile and say
Well some of it's magic probably tragic but I had a good life all the way
He went to Paris lookin' for answers to questions that bothered him so
**********
9.
WHAT ABOUT YOU
(Johnny Wright - Jack Anglin - Jim Anglin) « © '49 Unichappell Music, BMI »The days have been long and I have been lonesome
Recalling the dreams that never came true
Nights have been lonely but now that's all over
Cause I've payed my debt for trusting in you
Every day your mem'ry grows dimmer
Clouds drift away sunshine peeps through
Every night no longer you'll haunt me
My conscience is clear what about you
[ guitar ] It's hard to believe that you are the same one
That once meant so much that I loved so true
It's hard to know I've worshipped to wrong one
But I've paid for it what about you
Every day your mem'ry grows dimmer...
[ guitar ] Every day your mem'ry grows dimmer...
**********
10.
WALTZ ACROSS TEXAS
(Talmadge B. Tubb) « © '65 Ernest Tubb Music, BMI »When we dance together my world's in disguise
It's a fairyland tale that's come true
When you look at me girl with those stars in your eyes
I could waltz across Texas with you
Waltz across Texas with you in my arms
Waltz across Texas with you
Like a storybook ending I'm lost in your charms
And I could waltz across Texas with you
[ steel - piano - banjo ] My heartaches and troubles are just up and gone
The moment you come into view
With your hand in mine dear I could dance on and on
And waltz across Texas with you
Waltz across Texas with you in my arms...
**********
