40 Greatest Hits (Hank Williams, Sr. album)

40 Greatest Hits
Greatest hits album by Hank Williams
Released 1978
Recorded May 1947 — July 8, 1953
Genre Country
Length 106:59
Label Mercury Records
Producer Fred Rose with Wesley Rose
Hank Williams chronology

Hank Williams Treasury
(1976)		 40 Greatest Hits
(1978)		 Just Me & My Guitar
(1985)

40 Greatest Hits is a two-record compilation that, true to the title, contains forty hit singles from country music icon Hank Williams. It was released in 1978 by Mercury Records — who under PolyGram became responsible for the MGM tape vault — on the 25th year anniversary of Williams' death. Significantly, it was the first anthology in quite some time that did not subject Williams' recordings to either rechanneled stereo, posthumous overdubs, artificial duets with family members (like his son Hank Jr.), or most or all of the above. Because of both this, and the value-for-money attraction of having a deeper song selection than previous single-disc compilations issued previously by MGM Records, many reviewers consider this anthology to be the perfect starting point for newcomers to Williams' recorded legacy.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 129 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]

Track listing

Except where otherwise indicated, all tracks composed by Hank Williams.

Disc one

  1. "Move It on Over"
  2. "A Mansion on the Hill" (Fred Rose/Hank Williams)
  3. "Lovesick Blues" (Cliff Friend/Irving Mills) (*)
  4. "Wedding Bells" (Arthur Q. Smith) sold to Claude Boone
  5. "Mind Your Own Business"
  6. "You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)"
  7. "Lost Highway" (Leon Payne)
  8. "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It" (Clarence Williams)
  9. "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"
  10. "I Just Don't Like This Kind of Living"
  11. "Long Gone Lonesome Blues"
  12. "My Son Calls Another Man Daddy" (Hank Williams/Jewell House)
  13. "Why Don't You Love Me"
  14. "Why Should We Try Anymore"
  15. "They'll Never Take Her Love from Me" (Leon Payne)
  16. "Moanin' the Blues"
  17. "Nobody's Lonesome for Me"
  18. "Cold, Cold Heart"
  19. "Dear John" (Tex Ritter/Aubrie Gass)
  20. "Howlin' at the Moon"

Disc two

  1. "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)"
  2. "Hey, Good Lookin'"
  3. "Crazy Heart" (Maurice Murray/Fred Rose)
  4. "(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle" (Jimmie Davis/Hank Williams)
  5. "Baby, We're Really in Love"
  6. "Ramblin' Man"
  7. "Honky Tonk Blues"
  8. "I'm Sorry for You My Friend"
  9. "Half as Much" (Curley Williams)
  10. "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)"
  11. "Window Shopping" (Marcel Joseph)
  12. "Settin' the Woods on Fire" (Ed G. Nelson/Fred Rose)
  13. "You Win Again"
  14. "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive" (Hank Williams/Fred Rose)
  15. "Kaw-Liga" (*)
  16. "Your Cheatin' Heart"
  17. "Take These Chains from My Heart" (Fred Rose/Hy Heath)
  18. "I Won't Be Home No More"
  19. "Weary Blues from Waitin'"
  20. "I Saw the Light" (*)

Technical details

Technical personnel

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic Review