Waylon Jennings Album: “Eagle”

I was extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to see WAYLON perform live - experiencing 4 shows at 3 different venues at the tail end of the 1980s and the very early 1990s. I grew up on all of the famous Rock acts of the '70s, replete with strobe lights, smoke machines, rear-screen projection, laser and light shows. WAYLON just standing on a simple stage with his band BEAT 'EM ALL!! Here was the definition of an "entertainer." He was the funniest AND most charismatic performer I ever saw in a spotlight! I used to tell people, "Even if you don't like his music, GO SEE WAYLON! You'll be glad you did because it's two shows in one." His between-song patter was always funny, but never the same. Except that he DID remind EVERY audience that he didn't like LUCKENBACH, TEXAS and he was playing it only because we wanted to hear it. What a guy!

The songs on THE EAGLE remind me of that time and those shows because WAYLON was featuring a few of them in his stage act back then. WAYLON's favorite Waylon album was DREAMING MY DREAMS. But I think this collection will also stand the test of time for several reasons:

WAYLON had beaten his drug habit; he had been clean for quite awhile when these tracks were recorded, and his baritone singing sounds so rich and expressive. It seems to me that there was more attention to the production values on this offering, with the interplay between various instruments more painstakingly arranged than usual. And the set has a nice balance of songs. There are the expected honky-tonk toughies like WORKIN' CHEAP and THE EAGLE. I possess too much disappointment in my countrymen and not nearly enough political naivete to accept the latter as the American anthem it was intended to be. But its foreboding stylishness does appeal to me, and personally it works better as an individual statement. The set also includes some songs which deliver the pathos (that's like delivering the paper, but with extra "feeling"), such as WHERE CORN DON'T GROW and OLD CHURCH HYMNS AND NURSERY RHYMES. And then, of course, there are the humorous, Waylonesque, slice O'life tunes like the catchy hit, WRONG, and my favorite feather on this Eagle, HER MAN. And you had better know that when Ol' Waymore sang HER MAN, tongue-in-cheek, he had his lovely, long-suffering wife, Jessi-in-mind:

I'M GONNA CHANGE MY WAY OF DOING THINGS AROUND HERE.

I'M TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF; GONNA GET MYSELF IN GEAR,

'CAUSE I'VE GOT A WOMAN WHO'S BETTER THAN MOST

AND I'VE MADE A MESS OF HER PLAN.

STARTIN' TODAY, ALL I'M GONNA BE IS HER MAN.

I'VE BEEN A WILD-CATTER AND A GO-GO-GETTER,

BEEN AN S.O.B. RIGHT DOWN TO THE LETTER.

I'VE HAD MISADVENTURES; I'VE EVEN GOT PICTURES;

I'M EVEN MORE THAN I CAN STAND,

BUT STARTING TODAY, ALL I WANNA BE IS HER MAN.

I'M GONNA GIVE IT ALL BACK, 'CAUSE ALL I'VE DONE IS TAKE.

I PUT HER ON THE BACK BURNER WHILE I WAS OUT ON THE MAKE.

BUT I'VE GOT A WOMAN WHO'S GOOD ENOUGH TO GIVE ME

A SECOND CHANCE AGAIN.

SO, STARTING TODAY, ALL I'M GONNA BE IS HER MAN.

I'M A LITTLE BIT LATE, BUT I'M WISING UP

I'M TAKING HER BY THE HAND.

STARTING TODAY, ALL I WANNA BE IS HER MAN.

No, THE EAGLE wouldn't be the first Waylon album that I'd recommend to the initiate, but it WOULD be right on its tail feathers. Pick up THE EAGLE for your "nest", before she picks you up for hers!