Back in his early Nashville days during the early 1960s, Willie Nelson used to meet with other aspiring songwriters/musicians at the famous Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, which is downtown right across the alley from the Grand Ole Opry. They would sit around and bounce song ideas off each other. Willie came in one day with "Hello Walls" and played it. All the the other songwriters and musicians started laughing at it, singing things like "hello trashcan" and "hello stapler" and basically making good-natured fun of Willie. Willie believed in the song and had shopped it around but all the record companies said it was too quirky or even comedic. Willie needed money. Faron Young, who had already had some hit songs of his own, was there. Faron listened to it and, to his credit, he "got" the song. He said "tell you what, Willie. I'm going to just loan you the money, you can keep the rights to the song, I'll record it, and you can pay me back from the royalties." And that's what they did. And Willie kept the rights to Hello Walls.
In early 1961 Faron took Willie’s song about a man so lonely that he talked to an empty room and recorded it. He sang “Hello Walls” with a very personal approach. Though his voice was as smooth as it had been on his ballads, there was an almost spoken quality to it. Faron’s version seems to draw the listener into the plight of this poor, lost soul. The quirky little song that no one wanted was about to become one of only six number one records for all of 1961. “Hello Walls” entered Billboard’s country single chart on March 20, 1961 and by May 8th had reached # 1, holding that position for nine weeks. The record suprisingly crossed over big on the pop playlists, peaking at #12
In early July, Willie got a royalty check for more than 20 thousand dollars. He was so happy, he sought out Faron at Tootsies and kissed him full-on the lips right there in the bar. Nobody cared. They were all dancin' drunk.
I saw Faron on an interview and he said his proudest claim to fame was picking up on Willie's genius early.
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izzythepush
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Sat 7 Oct, 2017 03:35 am
It's that time of year again.
Quote:
Harvest Moon shines brightly over UK
The name comes from when farmers used the moon's bright light to help them gather crops for winter.
Roger called her number. A relative answered, saying she was not home at the time. Her house flooded. Not much beyond that. No word on if she will return.
