LOL. Just listening to my boyfriend Willie Nelson’s latest-but-one album (I Don’t Know a Thing About Love) which is a compilation of the works of country music songwriter/genius Harlan Howard. It includes such gems as Streets of Baltimore (otherwhere recorded by Gram Parsons and featuring a very young Emmylou Harris):
and She Called Me Baby (made most famous by Charlie Rich in 1965):
and a song released by Burl Ives in 1964, Beautiful Annabel Lee. (Hello, Edgar Allan Poe–what a pleasant surprise!):
As one might expect, Willie gives all the songs his own special spin. None more so than in the case of a song whose signature recording was by Buck Owens and his Buckaroos in December of 1964:
Willie’s take on all these songs is–of course–exemplary.
And yet:
I’ve got a tiger by the tail, it’s plain to seeI won’t be much when you get through with meWell, I’m losing weight and turnin’ mighty paleLooks like I’ve got a tiger by the tail
Well, I thought the day I met you, you were meek as a lambJust the kind to fit my dreams and plansNow, the pace we’re livin’ takes the wind from my sailsAnd it looks like I’ve got a tiger by the tail
I’ve got a tiger by the tail–etc.
Well, every night you drag me where the bright lights are foundThere ain’t no way to slow you downI’m as ’bout as helpless as a leaf in a galeAnd it looks like I’ve got a tiger by the tail
I’ve got a tiger by the tail–etc.
