Recorded and issued in 1966, Nashville Rebel is the soundtrack to a budget film of the same name by Jay Sheridan — who also wrote most of the songs on side two. While the title of the album may be prophetic in terms of the radical changes in Waylon Jennings' career around 1971, the music found here is anything but. While Jennings brought seven of the 12 songs to these sessions, and starred in the film, the soundtrack feels and sounds dated and overwrought — mostly from a production point of view. However, it's also true that some of the material here is less than stellar. Noteworthy tracks include "Nashville Rebel" and "Green River" by Harlan Howard, as well as an interesting if flawed cover of the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood." This is Jennings trying to punch a hole in the sky, but he falls short by trying too hard. The songs here do nothing to advance the narrative of the film and, while interesting, don't really stand on their own. Sheridan's cuts, which close the album, are nothing short of embarrassing.
WAYLON JENNINGS
NASHVILLE REBEL
RCA Victor LSP-3736December/1966
Produced by Chet Atkins & Bob Ferguson
Fred Carter, Shirl Milete - guitarChip Young - rh.guitar Gerald Gropp - rh.guitar/harmonica
Weldon Myrick - steel
Roy Huskey - bass
Richie Albright - drums
Hargus Pig Robbins - piano
Vocals:
Joe Babcock, Mary Greene, Sandra Posey, Hurshel Wiginton
Recorded:
July-Apr/1966, RCA Victor Studio, Nashville
1.
SILVER RIBBONS
(Jim Robinson - Johnny Wilson - Vern Meroney) « © '66 Combine Music, BMI »Travelin' down this lonesome railroad Silver Ribbons with no ends
A million miles a crossties mark a million miles I've been
I've picked peaches down in Georgia apples up in Maine
Pulled cotton out in Texas ridin' on the train
I was just a lad of seventeen my daddy turned me loose
Silver Ribbons callin' me engine and caboose
I can't recall my mother she left when I was two
Brunets blondes and red heads were the only love I knew
Don't ask me where I'm going don't ask me where I've been
Those Silver Ribbons will take me there
There and back again one more time back again
Travelin' to the tune of freight wheels is such a lonely sound
Hear that lonesome whistle blow as leavin' another town
I wish someone was waitin' somewhere to welcome me
Then those Silver Ribbons would see no more of me
Don't ask me where I'm going...
**********
2.
NASHVILLE BUM
(Waylon Jennings - Glenn Corbin - Frankie Miller) « © '66 Heart Of The Hills Publishing, BMI / Tree Publishing, BMI »I've been chasin' the big wheels all over Nashville
Waitin' for my big break to come
Livin' on ketchup soup homemade crackers and kool-aid
I'll be a star tomorrow but today I'm a Nashville bum
I look good in cowboy clothes and I sing through my nose
Webb said that's the way to get 'er done
I smoke good old PA like the Opry stars they say
I'll be a star tomorrow but today I'm a Nashville bum
[ guitar ] Well a friend of a friend of mine is a friend of art divines
And he finally got me on the Opry show
I walked out like a star tripped and busted my guitar
I'll be a star tomorrow but today I'm a Nashville bum
Well now here's a song I wrote by myself note for note
With a lot of help if I make No 1
You can change a word or two and I'll give half of it to you
I'll be a star tomorrow but today I'm a Nashville bum
Yes I'll be a star tomorrow but today I'm a Nashville bum
**********
3.
GREEN RIVER
(Harlan Howard) « © '66 Tree Publishing, BMI »Green River I've come back to you do you remember me
Do you remember Molly with the soft blue eyes
I left here with a lot of dreams none of them came true
What I wanted was here waiting all the time
Green River did she come here every evening
Like the neighbors said she did so faithfully
Green River has she gone away forever
She just disappeared one day as she gave upon me
Green River if you see her won't you tell her I've returned
All I've brought her is myself and this little ring
Please tell her that I love her and my lesson I have learned
Green River tell her please come back to me
**********
4.
NASHVILLE REBEL
(Harlan Howard) « © '66 Tree Publishing, BMI »They call me the Nashville Rebel they say leave that boy alone
Don't you give him advice or he'll turn to ice and you might as well talk to stone
But I've got things to do and things to say in my own way
I don't have time for your parties my love's little guessing games
I've got songs to write in the still of night I was born to write and sing
And I've got things to do and things to say in my own way
[ guitar ] They call me the Nashville Rebel little girl don't you waste your time
For I've given my heart to this old guitar you deserve a better love than mine
And I've got things to do and things to say in my own way
I'm the Nashville Rebel I'm a loner and I like it fine
I'd like to have a wife and live a normal life but I just don't have the time
Cause I've got things to do and things to say in my own way
I've got things to do and things to say in my own way
**********
5.
I'M A LONG WAY FROM HOME
(Hank Cochran) « © '64 Tree Publishing, BMI »I'm a long way from home and so all alone
Homesick like I never thought I'd be
I'm a long way from home everything is wrong
Someone please watch over me
I'm not a custom to this feeling
Loneliness is burning in my soul
Sometimes the mind is so mistreating
I wish I'd stayed at home like I was told
[ guitar ] I wish I knew the force within me
That keeps my mind out of control
What makes me reach for things that I can't see
I wish I'd stayed at home like I was told
I'm a long way from home and so all alone...
**********
6.
TENNESSEE
(Harlan Howard) « © '66 Tree Publishing, BMI »Tennesee oh what I'd give to be
Back there once again with all the old friends who were so kind to me
In Tennessee I was happy as could be
Never got too much done but living sure was fun in Tennessee
This big city just depresses me
Though everybody's as kind as can be
A homesick feeling possesses me
I won't be the same till I'm back there again
Tennessee guess the country boy in me
Won't ever be at ease till I feel that southern breeze in Tennessee
I won't ever be at ease till I feel that southern breeze in Tennessee
**********
7.
NORWEIGAN WOOD (THIS BIRD HAS FLOWN)
(John Lennon - Paul McCartney) « © '66 ATV Tunes, ASCAP »I once had a girl or should I say she once had me
She showed me her room isn't it good Norwegian Wood
She asked me to stay and she told me to sit anywhere
So I looked around and I noticed there wasn't a chair
I sat on a rug biding my time drinking her wine
We talked until two and then she said it's time for bed
[ guitar - harmonica ] She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh
I told her I didn't and crawled off to sleep in the bath
And when I awoke I was alone this bird had flown
So I lit a fire isn't it good Norwegian Wood
**********
8.
HOODLUM
(Jay J. Sheridan) « © '66 Writer Share, PD »[ instrumental ] **********
9.
SPANISH PENTHOUSE
(Jay J. Sheridan) « © '66 Writer Share, PD »[ instrumental ] **********
10.
LANG'S THEME
(Jay J. Sheridan) « © '66 Writer Share, PD »[ instrumental ] **********
11.
RUSH STREET BLUES
(Jay J. Sheridan) « © '66 Writer Share, PD »[ instrumental ] **********
12.
LANG'S MANSION
(Jay J. Sheridan) « © '66 Writer Share, PD »[ instrumental ] **********
