Music Arcades: Willie Nelson: Crazy

Once again — see Willie's 20 of the Best for 'previous' — the photograph on the cover is from a different decade to the recordings. In this case, three or even four decades away. See how Willie actually looked in the 1960s when he wrote and performed the songs on this CD.

But that's the only deception I can spot on this package, and it's easy to forgive. Coming on the tail of the revelation of that previous compilation, the quality here doesn't come as such a surprise, but neither does it undermine my recent reappraisal of Willie's writing as among the most brilliantly desolate love songs I've ever heard. And sometimes the most comically desolate, too.

I'm lost to explain what was wrong with me when I got this album nearly seven years ago: I loved the opening track, but felt it tailed off rapidly after that.

I can't believe Stephin Merritt hasn't studied them pretty closely. He'd certainly respect their economy. Being demos, there's very little decoration in the performances, and four of the songs clock in at 75 seconds or less. They pack quite a punch, nevertheless. Also I'm a sucker for that lyrical tricksiness that you get in country music, like when Willie makes a list of things to remember and things to forget, but can't help remembering the things he's supposed to forget. That's quite Stephin, too.

Finally, I can't resist passing on this story from the sleeve notes, about Willie's early days in Nashville, when he and his family were living on fumes:

He wrote a song called "Hello Walls" in just ten minutes in the Pamper [publishing company] writer's [sic] room. Country star Faron Young cut it, and as the song climbed the charts, Willie offered Faron the [publishing] rights for $500 [in desperation, he'd previously sold the rights to "Family Bible" for $50], but Young refused. Instead he loaned Nelson the $500. During the spring of 1961 "Hello Walls" shot up the charts to #1 and stayed there for nine straight weeks. Willie's very first writer's royalty check was for $20,000, and when it arrived, he drove immediately to Tootsie's, found Faron at the bar, and kissed him square on the mouth.