Recently, via the Twitters, I asked you to rank the voices- Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Merle Haggard. For the record, and I don’t think you can go wrong no matter which order you put them in, I rank them Waylon, Willie, Johnny, then Merle. Ask me tomorrow and get a different answer. Here is today’s country offering. Pre-bearded Waylon singing a great arrangement of Kristofferson’s Bobby McGee.
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Did Waylon grow the beard to hide the fact he’s never been to the dentist? Wow, Mr. Jennings, what nasty teeth you have!
Ronnie Milsap has a better voice than any of them. But from the list you have, Johnny Cash has to have the best voice. Then it’s Merle, Willie, and Waylon.
a little Ronnie for you. At the start of this video, pretend you are watching this from the eyes of Gordo.
So I hate myself this morning. It goes something like this…
GK.com –> Ronnie Milsap –> YouTube –> hours later still time wasting
So do you think Milsap would have approved this video if he wasn’t blind? I love the open-wrench num-chucks the gay dancing mechanic uses near the end of the video as a dance prop.
She Loves My Car! Greatness!
If I am ever asked to find one music video which encapsulates the cheesiness of 80′s MTV music videos, this one has to be the one.
It has it all: C-list actor you know you have seen in other movies but can’t remember exactly (Will Smith’s gay boyfriend from Six Degrees of Separation); unknown hot actress who became famous later (Mariska Hargitay); bright colors; silly lyrics; a cameo from a pre-suicidal Tattoo; and break-dancing.
meh
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/yahoolatestnews/stories/121809dnmetdallascan.3c8bdea.html
Does norm know? That Popeyes ban must be the one that really hurts.
Gordo…..
Great question! And, I, too, would likely rank them differently every other day.
However, here’s my list……
1) Merle
2) Waylon
3) Willie
4) Johnny
You’ve essentially captured the Mount Rushmore of country for me. Although if there was room for one more I’d have to include Kris in the equation (country’s Dylan).
All the best from the “Frozen White” to you and yours. Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and most of all, thank you for keeping this Canadian P1 entertained and enlightened.
Have a wonderful Holiday season.
They are all greatness, but Waylon has the pain.
George Jones, Merle Haggard, Randy Travis, everybody else.
wow – Waylon’s voice was the same in his 60′s as in his 30′s. Merle is a little low…. Know a list has to end somewhere, but missing George Jones?
Gordo – The other day you played a Waylon song before going to commercial break…you said it was the country song of the day. What was the name of that song…I had never heard it before. Thanks
Don’t think twice it’s alright
Greatness. My absolute favorite cover of that song.
Thanks for posting this Gordo! I grew up listening to Waylon and Willie since that’s all my dad listened to. I am so used to seeing bearded Waylon, that I wouldn’t have recognized him in this video if the sound was down. He’s easily recognizable with the sound on. I am so grateful to be able to see him live in concert twice. Once by himself and once with all the Highwaymen. Two great shows!
you forgot conway!
Silver Wings — Merle & Jewel
I like your choice here. Waylon was always true country greatness even during the time when he was being ignored by the country music business.
Are you as shocked as I am that Danny Balis sounds so much like country greatness?
It sucks when you get murdered over shitty beer. It sucks even more when you’re immortalized as “Scabby Dan”.
http://thatmustsuck.com/?p=130
Indeed, it changes from day to day, but my ranking would be -
Johnny Cash
Merle Haggard
Waylon Jennings
Willie Nelson
Might be the greatest country song I’ve ever heard – Merle – http://s0.ilike.com/play#Merle+Haggard:Mama+Tried:25525:s38795395.10515118.18059916.0.2.67%2Cstd_bd3a9529d11a4900a2c51563dab39b60
- “but I refused” -
- In case that one doesn’t work -
“I turned 21 in prison, doing life without parole”
Good God – this is the strangest thing I’ve ever seen – taking a plain country song, and trying to fit it into some 60′s art school student’s vision of the next big thing in the visual arts -
But it’s a great rendition of Mama Tried – might be the cleanest version I’ve heard -
Bloody Hell – make sure to include the link – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziFI_0Fx5ts
Hah, I listened to the Waylon vid – I changed my mind -
Waylon Jennings
Johnny Cash
Merle Haggard
Willie Nelson
- now,that’s my ranking – changes every day -
There is something about those 60′s country singers – something about the war in Vietnam – a desperate feeling that this was just like WWII – where in the end, all we had to do was try harder, and we would win – yet, knowing, deep down, that that wasn’t enough, not in Vietnam – there was something else to it. That haunted us in the 60′s.
You had to try smarter, that’s how you win. Apparently, we couldn’t -
Hmm, I was 6 years old in 1970 – and even then, I knew we had lost the war in Vietnam – it just felt as if we had –
We felt, that all the criteria for winning a war, all the rules that said, “you have won this war” – we felt that all of that, had somehow gotten askew – and didn’t make sense anymore. We felt, that the old rules no longer applied.
And you folks wonder, why the folks in the 60′s went absolutely crazy – nothing made sense anymore – NOTHING MADE SENSE -
It’s a wonder we didn’t burn down every city in this country – we tried, in Detroit – it’s a testament to our compassion, that we didn’t just chuck it all, that we didn’t just burn down every city – that we didn’t kill each other off.
We wanted to, but we could not bring ourselves to it.
So much for trying smarter. Maybe we should have tried ….Harder?
Eagerly awaiting the redo,
The Anarchist Response
nice song of the week.
The sage realize that good music and good comedy were written before our birth. Enjoy the Genius.
BTW , Merry Christmas Mothereffers.
The Anarchist Response
Saaaaallllllluuuuuuuute!!!!!!
Sorry, but I forgot how funny Hee Haw was back in the day watching it with my Granddad and Grandmother. Classic.
Brings a tear to the OJR’s eye.
When country music was real. Fantastic!
So was Kristofferson holding a man’s body close to him or was Joplin holding a woman’s body close to her?
Cash, Jennings, Nelson and Haggard, in that order.
Johnny’s voice and music transcended from the young years through the end. He never lost it, any of it.
I am a big Jewel fan suddenly.
Merle’s great, awesome pickin: “Always On a Mountain When I Fall”
http://popup.lala.com/popup/432627047851118384
For voices: Probably Johnny, Merle, Willie, Waylon.
For songwriting: Willie (outrageous accomplishments)/Merle (songs resonate the most with me)(I’m ignoring Johnny and that sucks)
I’d like to add to that…
Agree Gordo…those all great voices. Even though I’m rock-n-roll…love to add one more to your list. Try some old Conway Twitty!
Front back bottom Monday?? –> http://www.freakingnews.com/pictures/53500/Lucy-Pinder–53970.jpg
For my money, you can’t go wrong with The Highwaymen (Willie, Cash, Waylon and Kristoferson) either.
WTF …..Where is the greatness of George Jones ???
If I had to guess, old “no-show-Jones” failed to appear on this list precisely as his nickname would imply.
Waylon, Merle, John, Willie.
However, Don Williams isn’t mentioned anywhere in the above commentary. His voice was as smooth as velvet.
Waylon is the man, though.
Do not forget that son of a saginaw fisherman Lefty Frizell.
HMMMMMM am I seeing a Ticketstock theme for the Timewasters emerging?
Skoal Brutha,
The Anarchist Response