{"id":8888,"date":"2011-11-09T13:08:42","date_gmt":"2011-11-09T18:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=8888"},"modified":"2016-10-19T05:34:41","modified_gmt":"2016-10-19T09:34:41","slug":"midweek-music-break-jack-white-you-know-that-i-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/midweek-music-break-jack-white-you-know-that-i-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Midweek Music Break: Jack White, “You Know That I Know”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>H<\/span>ank Williams fell off this mortal coil, unconscious in the back seat of a Cadillac, on New Year’s Day, 1953. (You can read the story of that ride\u00a0here<\/a>.)\u00a0Not even 30 years old, he left in his wake a trail of hits which almost single-handedly remade the standard by which country-music songwriting would be judged.<\/p>\n

But his songs’ story didn’t end there. Aside from their gazillion cover versions to follow, he was also survived by a clutch of handwritten but unfinished lyrics, left behind in that Cadillac and recovered by police at the scene. Somehow those sheets of paper found their way into a dumpster outside the offices of Sony\/ATV Music Publishing, where they were discovered by a janitor. After a little legal rough-and-tumble (you can probably imagine), they ended up in the hands of Bob Dylan.<\/p>\n

I’ve seen debates whether anyone at all should have attempted to finish these songs. Some comments have questioned whether Dylan should have been that someone. Maybe he anticipated these arguments; maybe he also felt that even his large, multitude-containing self couldn’t contain Hank Williams. In any case, Dylan himself finished and recorded only one, turning the rest over to an interesting handful of collaborators: Jakob Dylan, Merle Haggard, Norah Jones, Sheryl Crowe, Levon Helm, Hank Williams’s granddaughter Holly Williams, Lucinda Williams (unrelated), Alan Jackson, Vince Gill and Rodney Crowell, Patty Loveless, and irrepressible indie chameleon Jack White. The result: a recently released album, The\u00a0Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams<\/em><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Williams is often regarded as a\u00a0troubadour\u00a0of heartbreak music, based on songs like “Cold, Cold Heart” and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.” But he also injected into some of his tunes\u00a0a healthy shot of wry-and-bitters — witness, for instance, “Your Cheatin’ Heart.” Witness, for another instance, Jack White’s interpretation of “You Know That I Know” on the Lost Notebooks<\/em>\u00a0album.<\/p>\n

White’s take springs, obviously, from the original (a fragment of which appears at top left of this post). He set it all to a whimsical swinging rhythm, filled in the gaps in the lyrics, and — well, listen for yourself.<\/p>\n

[Below, click Play button to begin <\/em>You Know That I Know. While audio is playing, volume control appears at left — a row of little vertical bars. This clip is 3:53 long.]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n[audio:youknowthatiknow_jackwhitehanklyrics.mp3|titles=’You Know That I Know’|artists=Jack White]\n<\/div>\n

Lyrics (this very generous transcription courtesy of children’s author and music aficionado Brenda Hollyer<\/a>;\u00a0read her own post about the song here<\/a>):<\/p>\n

You Know That I Know<\/em><\/strong>
\n(Hank Williams\/Jack White)<\/em><\/p>\n

Now you know that I know
\nThat you ain’t no good
\nAnd you wouldn’t tell the truth
\nEven if you could
\nLying is a habit
\nYou practice wherever you go
\nAnd you may fool the rest of this world
\nBut you know that I know<\/p>\n

Now you told some of my friends
\nThat you turned me down
\nBut I wouldn’t take you
\nIf you’re the last gal in town
\nIf I had a-wanted you
\nI could have got you long ago
\nYou may fool the rest of this world
\nBut you know that I know<\/p>\n

So baby when you pass me
\nDon’t you give me the run-around
\n\u2019Cos if you recall correctly
\nI’m the guy that brought you to town
\nTo some folks you may be
\nMrs So-and-So
\nBut don’t turn your nose up at me
\n\u2019Cos you know that I know<\/p>\n

The last time I saw you
\nYour pretty hair was red
\nBut today I see you’ve got
\nBlack hair on your head
\nYou say you’ve got you a new man
\nWith plenty of dough
\nBut baby you may fool him
\nBut you know that I know<\/p>\n

So baby when you pass me
\nDon’t you give me the run-around
\n\u2019Cos if you recall correctly
\nI’m the man that brought you to town
\nTo some folks you may be
\nMrs So-and-So
\nBut baby you may fool them
\nBut you know that I know<\/p>\n

Yes you may fool the rest of this world
\nBut you know that I know<\/p><\/blockquote>\nW<\/span>illiams’s music is covered in what appears to be an idiosyncratic tome from Harvard University Press (!) called A New Literary History of America<\/em>, specifically in an essay, “The Song in Country Music,” by Dave Hickey. I haven’t read the essay, and the book’s contents aren’t visible via Google Books or Amazon preview. But that essay — especially its appreciation of Hank Williams’s songwriting — is quoted widely. One place to see the relevant passage: writer Maud Newton’s blog, in a post from 2009<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And what the heck, now that I’ve mentioned it… here’s “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” too (no cover or “interpretation” this time: from the man himself):<\/p>\n

[Below, click Play button to begin <\/em>Your Cheatin\u2019 Heart. While audio is playing, volume control appears at left — a row of little vertical bars. This clip is 2:44 long.]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n[audio:yourcheatinheart_hankwilliams.mp3|titles=’Your Cheatin’ Heart’|artists=Hank Williams]\n<\/div>\n

____________________<\/p>\n

Update:<\/strong> Here’s a “making-of” mini-documentary about the album:<\/p>\n