CHAMPIONSHIP : Greatest Country Music Song Ever Written

[Spurticus]

THE FINAL MATCHUP ..... Vote for your favorite Song between These Two:


Seed #3 - I'M SO LONESOME I COULD CRY (Hank Williams)

I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" is a song written and recorded by American country music
singer-songwriter Hank Williams in 1949. Williams wrote the song originally intending that the
words be spoken, rather than sung, as he had done on several of his Luke the Drifter recordings.
The song about loneliness was largely inspired by his troubled relationship with wife Audrey Sheppard.
With evocative lyrics, such as the opening lines "Hear that lonesome whip-poor-will/He sounds
too blue to fly," the song has been covered by a wide range of musicians.

Rolling Stone ranked it #111 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, the oldest song on the list.





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Seed #4 - CRAZY (Patsy Cline)

"Crazy" is a ballad composed by Willie Nelson. It has been recorded by several artists, most notably
by Patsy Cline, whose version was a #2 country hit in 1962. Partly due to the genre-blending nature
of the song, it has been covered by dozens of artists in several genres over the years; Nevertheless,
the song remains inextricably linked with Cline.
Patsy Cline, who was already a country music superstar and working to extend a string of hits, picked
it as a follow up to her previous big hit I Fall to Pieces. "Crazy", its complex melody suiting Cline's
vocal talent perfectly, was released in late 1961 and immediately became another huge hit for Cline and
widened the crossover audience she had established with her prior hits. It spent 21 weeks on the chart
and eventually became one of her signature tunes. Cline's version is #85 on Rolling Stone's list of
The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
According to the Ellis Nassour biography Patsy Cline, Nelson, who at that time was known as a struggling
songwriter by the name of Hugh Nelson, was a regular at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge on Nashville's Music Row,
where he frequented with friends Kris Kristofferson and Roger Miller, both unknown songwriters at that time.
Nelson met Cline's husband, Charlie Dick, at the bar one evening and pitched the song to him. Dick took the
track home and played it for Cline, who absolutely hated it at first because Nelson's demo "spoke" the lyrics
ahead of and behind the beat, about which an annoyed Cline remarked that she ``couldn't sing like that.
However, Cline's producer, Owen Bradley, loved the song and arranged it in the ballad form in which it was
later recorded. On Loretta Lynn's album I Remember Patsy Bradley reported that as Patsy was still recovering
from a recent automobile accident that nearly took her life, she'd had difficulty reaching the high notes of the
song on the original production night due to her broken ribs. So after about four hours of trying, in the days of
four songs being recorded in three hours - they called it a night. A week later she came back and recorded
the lead vocal we all know in one take.
On the same interview, Loretta remembers the first time Cline performed it at the Grand Ole Opry on crutches,
and received three standing ovations. Barbara Mandrell remembers Cline introducing the song to her audiences
live in concert saying "All my recent hits have come true in my life. I had a hit out called Tra-La-La Triangle and
people thought about me and Gerald and Charlie. I had another hit out called 'I Fall to Pieces' and I was in a car
wreck. Now I'm really worried because I have a new hit single out and its called 'Crazy'."
Willie Nelson stated on the 1993 documentary Remembering Patsy that Cline's version of "Crazy" was his favorite
song of his that anybody had ever recorded because it "was a lot of magic."

[Spurticus]

Had to vote for Patsy Cline / CRAZY.
Both absolutely killer songs from two legends. Not just in Country Music
but in music of any kind. I think this is probably (personal tate), the
best song each of these artits did, but backed into a corner and forced to
pick one of these, I'd have to chose Crazy. It would be by the slimmest
of margins, but I'm going with Patsy Cline for the best CM song ever
written between these two choices

[spareparts]

There must be some lonesome people on this website.

Lonesome, ornery, and mean

[AikenRooster2112]

Well, between THOSE TWO, I pick "I'm so lonesome I could cry," particularly because of the way he sings it, you feel the sadness. Combined with the "old" record sound you hear, it makes it more blue. It wouldn't be same, recorded today, with a different singer. Of course, today's singers.don't even.know what the blues or real sadness really is, because they were born into money, and that's why country music has become an absolute joke, and parody of itself,, but we can have that discussion later.

[brat]

I haven't hardly listened to any country music (or much any other "current" music) in 30 years or so. It's almost all crap.

Went with "Crazy". Coin flip kinda thing. No right or wrong answer here.

[b381l]

Wait a minute....where is Ray Price "For the Good Times".....what is #1 and 2

[MEL]

Had to go with my girl - Patsy Cline.

[Spurticus]

COCKYTALK MEMBERS HAVE CHOSEN:

CRAZY by Patsy Cline....as the greatest Country Music Song Ever Written.


Thanks to everyone for your nominations, your votes and for your
comments.


This was a fun tournament