Hank Williams won a Pulitzer
Prize in April, he was 29 years old when he died, and he was the father of
Country music. His 1952 Cadillac was being driven to a gig by a 19-year-old
college freshman he'd hired as his chauffeur. The two drove around Montgomery
for a while, then Hank got a shot of morphine to ease his aching back for the
journey to the gig in Charleston.
Because of a snowstorm they
stopped in Birmingham and got a hotel room, several women found their way to
Hank's room, and when Hank asked them where they were from one of the girl's
told him heaven; to which he replied, “that's the reason I'm going to hell.”
By the time they got to Knoxville
it was obvious they wouldn't make the show in Charleston, so they grabbed a
plane, but the plane was turned back due to bad weather.
The two got a hotel room, and
ordered steaks from room service, after which Hank got hiccups that threw his
body into wild convulsions.
They called a doctor and the
doctor gave Hank another two shots of morphine mixed with vitamin B12.
They bundled Hank into the back
of the car, and sped off to make the gig in Charleston. On the way they were
stopped by the Highway Patrol and given a twenty-five dollar fine for speeding.
Hank was dead of course, and
probably had been since Knoxville. But that wasn't important anymore, he'd
created Country music, and in 67 years the Pulitzer Prize committee would agree
that he'd done a great thing.
Country musicians do what they
have to do, they play through the pain, and part of playing through the pain is
revealing that which makes us hurt. It's not an easy thing to live with, and
it's not an easy thing to watch. But Hank never seemed to mind it, as long as
it ended up in a song, or some other form of sweet release.
Hank's last song was called I'll
Never Get Out Of This World Alive, and it
was released one month before he died.
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