The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #54710 Message #879025
Posted By: Jim Dixon
31-Jan-03 - 07:59 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: I Laid My Mother Away (Hank Williams)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I Laid my Mother Away
I found the quote you mentioned, in an article called "Influences on The Band" by Peter Viney:Hank Williams
(Country Music) can be explained in just one word, sincerity. When a hillbilly sings a crazy song, he feels crazy. When he sings "I Laid My Mother Away" he sees her a-laying there right in the coffin. He sings more sincere than most entertainers because the hillbilly was raised rougher than most entertainers. You got to know a lot about hard work. You got to have smelt a lot of mule manure before you can sing like a hillbilly. The people who has been raised something like the hillbilly has knows what he is singing about and appreciates it.
That page says the quote comes from Rufus Jarman, "Country Music Goes to Town" (1953) quoted in "Country Music USA" by Bill C. Malone (U. of Texas, 1985).
The context makes it seem like "I Laid My Mother Away" might not be the title of a real song, but a hypothetical one, or maybe a phrase from a song.
Anyway, it's the only thing Google came up with for "I Laid My Mother Away".
Great quote, isn't it?