LUKE THE DRIFTER
(MGM E-203)
March/1953
Produced by Jim Vienneau
Hank Williams - vocal/rh.guitar
Sammy Pruett - guitar
Don Helms - steel
Jerry Rivers - fiddle
Howard Watts - bass
Recorded:
Jan 10/1950, Castle Studio, Tulane Hotel, Nashville (4,6,8)
Aug 31/1950, Castle Studio, Tulane Hotel, Nashville (3)
Dec 21/1950, Castle Studio, Tulane Hotel, Nashville (2)
June 1/1951, Castle Studio, Tulane Hotel, Nashville (1,7)
July 11/1952, Castle Studio, Tulane Hotel, Nashville (5)
1.
PICTURE FROM LIFE'S OTHER SIDE
(Hank Williams)
« © '51 Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »
In the world's mighty gallery of pictures hang the scenes that're painted from life
There hang pictures of love and of passion and there's pictures of sorrow and strife
There hung pictures of youth and of beauty of old age and a blushing young bride
They all hung on the wall but the saddest of all are the pictures from life's other side
Just a picture from life's other side someone has fell by the way
A life has gone out with the tide that might have been happy some day
There's a poor old mother at home she's watching and waiting alone
Just longing to hear from a loved one so dear just a picture from life's other side
The first scene is that of a gambler who had lost all his money at play
Needs all his dead mother's ring from her finger
The one that she wore long ago on her wedding day
It's his last earthly treasure but he stakes it
Then he bows his head that his shame he might hide
But when they lifted his head they found he was dead
It's just a picture from life's other side
Now the last scene is that by the river of a heartbroken mother and babe
As the harbor lights shine and they shiver on an outcast whom no one will save
And yet she was once a true woman she was somebody's darling and pride
God help her she leaps for there's no one to weep
It's just a picture from life's other side
**********
2.
MEN WITH BROKEN HEARTS
(Hank Williams)
« © '50 Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »
You'll meet many just like me upon life's busy street
With shoulders stooped and heads bowed low and eyes that stare in defeat
Or souls that live within the past where sorrow plays all parts
Where a living death is all that's left for men with broken hearts
You have no right to be the judge to criticize and condemn
Just think but for the grace of God it would be you instead of him
One careless step a thoughtless deed and then the misery starts
And to those who weep death comes cheap these men with broken hearts
Oh so humble you should be when they come passing by
For it's written that the greatest men never get too big to cry
Some lose faith in love and life when sorrow shoots her darts
And with hope all gone they walk alone these men with broken hearts
You've never walked in that man's shoes or saw things through his eyes
Or stood and watched with helpless hands while the heart inside you dies
Some were propers some were kings and some were masters of the arts
But in their shame they're all the same these men with broken hearts
Life sometimes can be so cruel that a heart will pray for death
God why must these living dead know pain with every breath
So help your brother along the road no matter where he starts
For the God that made you made them too these men with broken hearts
**********
3.
HELP ME UNDERSTAND
(Hank Williams)
« © '50 Fred Rose Musuic »
A little girl prayed at the close of the day cause her daddy had gone far away
On her little face was a look of dispair
I stood there and listened and I heard this prayer
My mama says daddy had brought us too shame I never no more to mention his name
Lord take me and lead me and hold to my hand
Oh heavenly father help me understand
You know friends I wonder how many homes are broken tonight
Anf just how many tears are shed
By some little word of anger that really never should've been said
I'd like to tell you a story of a family I once knew
We'll call 'em Mary and William and their little daughter Sue
Now Mary was just a plain mother and Bill was the usual dad
And they had a little family quarrels like everybody else but neither one really got mad
Then one day somethin' happened it was nothing of course
But one word left to another and the last word led to divorce
Now here were the two grown people that failed to use common sence
This thing and their own selfish pride that little Susie expence
Now you know she didn't ask to be brought in this world that drift from piddle to post
But the divorce never stops to consider the one that hurts the most
There'd be a lot more honest lovin' in this wicky old world today
If just a few parted parents could hear little Sue say
Take me and lead me and hold to my hand oh heavenly father help me understand
**********
4.
TOO MANY PARTIES TOO MANY PALS
(Billy Rose - Ray Henderson - Mort Dixon)
« © '50 Feist Catalog, ASCAP »
Too many parties and too many pals will break your heart someday
Too many boyfriends and sociable sals may drive your sweetheart away
Gentlemen of the jury the judge's speech began
The scene was a crowded courtroom and the judge a stern old man
This prisoner here before you is a social enemy
A lady of the evening and you know the penalty
Her eyes reflect the nightlife her cheeks they're red with paint
But I knew her mother gentlemen why her mother was a saint
Now I know that she's not like her and yet she might have been
If it hadn't been for pettin' parties cigarettes and gin
We took the night life off the streets and brought it in our own homes
While girls beguiled with lipstick danced to saxophones
We opened up the underworld to the ones we loved so well
So tell me gentlemen is it right to send her to a cell
If she drinks while you taught her and if she smokes you showed her how
So gentlemen do you think it's right to condemn her now
And when you're in that juryroom just remember there and then
That for every fallen woman there's a hundred fallen men
And before you render a verdict on what this girl has done
Just remember there's a man to blame and that man might be your son
Now gentlemen that's my story my testimony stands
This girl is my own daughter and the case is in your hands
Those Broadway roses and prevalent sounds at too many parties and too many pals
**********
5.
BE CAREFUL OF STONES THAT YOU THROW
(Bonnie Dodd)
« © '49 Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »
A tongue can accuse and carry bad news the seeds of distrust it will sow
But unless you've made no mistakes in your life be careful of stones that you throw
A neighbor was passing my garden one time she stopped and I knew right away
That it was gossip not flowers she had on her mind
And this is what I heard my neighbor say
That bad girl down the street should be run from our midst
She drinks and she talks quite a lot
She knows not to speak to me or my child my neighbor then smiled and I thought
A car speeded by and the screaming of brakes a sound that made my blood chill
For my neighbor's one child had been pulled from the path
And saved by a girl lying still
The child was unhurt and my neighbor cried out oh who was that brave girl so sweet
I covered the crushed broken body and sad the bad girl who lived down the street
**********
6.
FUNERAL
(Hank Williams)
« © '50 Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »
I was walking in Savannah past a church decayed and dim
When slowly through the window came a plaintive funeral hymn
And my sympathy awakened and a wonder quickly grew
Till I found myself envired in a little colored pew
Out front a colored couple sat in sorrow nearly wild
On the altar was a casket and in the casket was a child
I could picture him while livin' curly hair protuding lips
I'd seen perhaps a thousand in my hurried southern trips
Rose a sad old colored preacher from his little wooden desk
With a manner sorta awkward and countenance grotesque
The simplicity and shrewdness in his Eithopian face
Showed the wisdom and ignorance of a crushed undying race
And he said now don't be weeping for this pretty bit of clay
For the little boy who lived there has done gone and run away
He was doin' very finely and he appreciates your love
But his shore 'nuff father wanted him in the big house up above
The Lord didn't give you that baby by no hundred thousand miles
He just thought you need some sunshine and he lent it for awhile
And he let you keep and love it till your hearts were bigger grown
And these silver tears you're sheddin' now is just interest on the loan
Just think, my poor dear mourners creepin' along on sorrows life's way
What a blessed picnic this here baby got today
Your good fathers and good mothers crowd the little fellow round
In the angel's tender garden of the big plantation ground
And his eyes they brightly sparkle at the pretty things he viewed
But a tear came, and he whispered I want my parents too
But then the angel's chief musicians teach that little boy a song
Says if only they be faithful they'll soon be comin' along
So my poor detached mourners let your hearts with Jesus rest
And don't go to criticizin' the one what knows the best
He has give us many comforts he's got the right to take away
To the Lord be praised in glory forever let us pray
**********
7.
I DREAMED ABOUT MAMA LAST NIGHT
(Fred Rose)
« © '50 Milene Music, ASCAP »
I've just been to heaven with someone so true I dreamed about mama last night
She read me the Bible like she used to do I dreamed about mama last night
She never close her eyes to sleep till we were all in bed
And on party nights when we come home she often sat and read
We little thought about it then for we were young and gay
Just how much mama worried when we children were away
We only knew she never slept when we were out at night
That she waited just to know that we'd all come home alright
Why sometimes when we'd stay away till one or two or three
It seemed to us that mama heard the turnin' of the key
For always when we'd step aside she'd call and we'd reply
But we were all too young back then to understand the reason why
Until the last one had returned she'd always keep a light
For mama couldn't sleep until she kissed us all goodnight
She had to know that we were safe before she went to rest
She seemed to fear that the world might harm the ones that she loved the best
And once she told me when you're grown to women and to men
Perhaps I'll sleep the whole night through I may be different then
And so it seemed that night and day we knew a mother's care
That always when we got back home we'd find her waitin' there
Then came the night that we were called together round her bed
The children're all with you now the kindly doctor said
And in her eyes the gleam again that old time tender light
That told that she's just been waitin' to know that we were alright
She smiled that old familiar smile and prayed to God to keep
Her children safe from harm throughout the years tand then she went to sleep
My dream is a treasure that I'll always keep I dreamed about mama last night
**********
8.
BEYOND THE SUNSET
(Virgil P. Brock - Blanche K. Brock)
« © '51 Peer International, BMI »
Should you go first and I remain to walk the road alone
I'll live in mem'ry's garden dear with happy days we've known
In spring I'll wait for roses red when fades the lilacs bloom
And in early fall when brown leaves fall I'll catch a glimpse of you
Should you go first and I remain for battles to be fought
Each thing you've touched along the way will be a hallowed spot
I'll hear your voice I'll see your smile though blindly I may grope
The mem'ry of your helping hand will buoy me on with hope
Beyond the sunset oh blissful morning when with our Saviour heaven is begun
Earth's toiling ended oh glorious dawning beyond the sunset when day is done
Should you go first and I remain to finish with the scroll
No lessening shadows shall ever creep in to make this life seem droll
We've known so much of happiness we've had our cup of joy
And memory is one gift of God that death cannot destroy
I want to know each step you take that I may walk the same
For someday down that lonely road you'll hear me call your name
Should you go first and I remain one thing I'll have you do
Walk slowly down that long long path for soon I'll follow you
In that fair homeland we'll know no parting beyond the sunset for evermore
**********