The Bottom Line
Pros
- "The Year 2003 Minus 25"
- "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys"
- "It's Not Supposed To Be That Way"
Cons
- None.
Description
- Originally released in 1978, with gigantic promotion.
- 11 weeks at #1 on the Billboard's Top Country albums, stayed on the charts a total of 126 weeks.
- Topped the pop charts at #12.
Guide Review - Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings - Waylon & Willie
Waylon & Willie. Two of the greatest names in country music, both blessed with an awesome amount of talent as singer/songwriters, both blessed with the hard-headed stubbornness that allowed them to take control of their music to begin "the Outlaw" movement, a move away from the "golden age" Nashville sound and into a grittier, more raw, more emotional music that probably has a lot to do with the Texas music movement today.The funny part about this album is that, as solid and tight a recording as it is, there are several tracks which Willie had not been an original part of. They took Waylon's vocals off of several solo performances to make way for Willie to lay down his, and you'd never know they weren't in the same studio. Of course, there are new songs, as with the version of "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies," which had been on the "Wanted! The Outlaws" album. This recording of course became one of the hottest songs of 1978 and one of the two #1 smashes from this album (the other being "The Wurlitzer Prize").
Chet Flippo's original liner notes offer a possible future for the pair he called, even back then, "onery old coots." Sadly, his vision of Waylon retiring to his mountaintop never came to pass, but Willie may indeed dawdle his grandchildren on his knee and tell them about the gold records he made and is still making. But I wholeheartedly agree with Flippo's comment, "the worlds needs a lot more Willie & Waylon right now and a whole lot less of that other crap." Amen.
