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CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:00:07 | 0:00:09 | |
SONG: Highwayman | 0:00:17 | 0:00:19 | |
# I was a highwayman | 0:00:26 | 0:00:27 | |
# Along the coach roads I did ride... # | 0:00:30 | 0:00:32 | |
Well, I had three of my favourite people out there. | 0:00:33 | 0:00:38 | |
I loved them all like brothers. We all got along good together. | 0:00:38 | 0:00:40 | |
We had fun together, we made a movie together. | 0:00:40 | 0:00:43 | |
We toured the world a couple of times. | 0:00:43 | 0:00:46 | |
It was just some of the best times of my life. | 0:00:46 | 0:00:48 | |
# The bastards hung me in the spring of '25 | 0:00:49 | 0:00:52 | |
# But I am still alive | 0:00:55 | 0:00:56 | |
# I was a sailor | 0:01:00 | 0:01:02 | |
# I was born upon the tide... # | 0:01:04 | 0:01:07 | |
These were the icons of American music. | 0:01:07 | 0:01:09 | |
Not just country. | 0:01:09 | 0:01:11 | |
Popular American music, you know? | 0:01:11 | 0:01:14 | |
They had built empires of their own. | 0:01:14 | 0:01:17 | |
# I went aloft and furled the mainsail in a blow | 0:01:18 | 0:01:22 | |
# And when the yards broke off they said that I got killed... # | 0:01:24 | 0:01:28 | |
For me, it was heaven. | 0:01:28 | 0:01:30 | |
I was up there on stage with my heroes. | 0:01:30 | 0:01:33 | |
They were people that I worshipped. | 0:01:33 | 0:01:35 | |
# I was a dam builder | 0:01:35 | 0:01:38 | |
# Across the river deep and wide | 0:01:38 | 0:01:40 | |
# Where steel and water did collide | 0:01:42 | 0:01:45 | |
# A place called Boulder on the wild Colorado | 0:01:47 | 0:01:50 | |
# I slipped and fell into the wet concrete below | 0:01:52 | 0:01:55 | |
# They buried me in that great tomb that knows no sound | 0:01:58 | 0:02:02 | |
# But I am still around | 0:02:03 | 0:02:05 | |
# I'll always be around and around... # | 0:02:07 | 0:02:10 | |
The thing that was worth the price of admission | 0:02:10 | 0:02:12 | |
was to see those four characters walk out on stage. | 0:02:12 | 0:02:15 | |
It has been said before. | 0:02:15 | 0:02:16 | |
It truly was the Mount Rushmore of country music. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:19 | |
It was special. | 0:02:19 | 0:02:21 | |
# I fly a starship | 0:02:21 | 0:02:23 | |
# Across the universe divide | 0:02:23 | 0:02:26 | |
# And when I reach the other side | 0:02:27 | 0:02:30 | |
# I'll find a place to rest my spirit if I can | 0:02:32 | 0:02:36 | |
# Perhaps I may become a highwayman again | 0:02:37 | 0:02:41 | |
# Or I may simply be a single drop of rain | 0:02:43 | 0:02:47 | |
# But I will remain | 0:02:48 | 0:02:50 | |
# And I'll be back again and again | 0:02:52 | 0:02:55 | |
# And again and again and again | 0:02:55 | 0:02:58 | |
# And again and again... # | 0:02:58 | 0:03:01 | |
We did nothing we didn't want to do. | 0:03:01 | 0:03:03 | |
We stood up for things that we believed in. | 0:03:05 | 0:03:08 | |
It was a beautiful life that way. | 0:03:08 | 0:03:11 | |
Well, it really all started when John was doing a Christmas show | 0:03:13 | 0:03:17 | |
in Switzerland and we all just happened to be there. | 0:03:17 | 0:03:20 | |
# Making music with my friends | 0:03:20 | 0:03:22 | |
# I can't wait to get on the road again... # | 0:03:22 | 0:03:25 | |
The Johnny Cash Christmas Special | 0:03:25 | 0:03:27 | |
from Montreux, Switzerland, was announced. | 0:03:27 | 0:03:30 | |
It was going to be Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, | 0:03:30 | 0:03:34 | |
and Johnny Cash. | 0:03:34 | 0:03:36 | |
This was the very beginning. The Genesis of The Highwaymen. | 0:03:36 | 0:03:40 | |
It just started with the fact that everyone enjoyed | 0:03:40 | 0:03:43 | |
being together as friends. | 0:03:43 | 0:03:44 | |
It was there in Montreux, Switzerland, | 0:03:52 | 0:03:55 | |
that The Highwaymen really began. | 0:03:55 | 0:03:57 | |
We probably are as unlikely a group of team-mates | 0:03:59 | 0:04:04 | |
to appear together as you will ever see, | 0:04:04 | 0:04:08 | |
because each one of us has achieved whatever we have done | 0:04:08 | 0:04:13 | |
by going our own way and speaking our own words. | 0:04:13 | 0:04:15 | |
The show was incredible. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:21 | |
I don't know anybody that wasn't just blown away by it. | 0:04:21 | 0:04:24 | |
# I hear the train a comin' | 0:04:26 | 0:04:28 | |
# It's rolling round the bend | 0:04:28 | 0:04:30 | |
# I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when | 0:04:30 | 0:04:34 | |
# I'm stuck in Folsom Prison... # | 0:04:34 | 0:04:37 | |
My father was... In many ways, he was a rebel. | 0:04:38 | 0:04:41 | |
He was the ultimate image of cool, | 0:04:41 | 0:04:43 | |
and still is to many who know the man in black and whatever. | 0:04:43 | 0:04:47 | |
But there is a greater mystery beneath the surface. | 0:04:47 | 0:04:50 | |
# When I was just a baby | 0:04:50 | 0:04:53 | |
# My mama told me, son | 0:04:53 | 0:04:55 | |
# Always be a good boy | 0:04:55 | 0:04:57 | |
# Don't ever play with guns... # | 0:04:57 | 0:04:59 | |
He has always been larger-than-life. | 0:04:59 | 0:05:02 | |
I mean, he has been this dark, driven force, you know, | 0:05:02 | 0:05:06 | |
he was probably the most exciting performer | 0:05:06 | 0:05:10 | |
that I had seen in my life at that time. | 0:05:10 | 0:05:14 | |
A lot of people down there in Nashville | 0:05:16 | 0:05:18 | |
did not appreciate Johnny Cash, | 0:05:18 | 0:05:20 | |
because he did not represent the status quo. | 0:05:20 | 0:05:24 | |
He was a visionary. | 0:05:24 | 0:05:26 | |
I think when he was at his best and he was right within himself... | 0:05:26 | 0:05:30 | |
If you look back at the Folsom Prison record, to me, | 0:05:30 | 0:05:32 | |
which was the unlocking of the worldwide Johnny Cash. | 0:05:32 | 0:05:37 | |
All of a sudden, the whole world was looking at this town | 0:05:37 | 0:05:39 | |
because of Johnny Cash. So he had to be reckoned with. | 0:05:39 | 0:05:43 | |
He was able to come into your home as a mainstream artist, | 0:05:43 | 0:05:46 | |
telling you truths about the rights of Indians, | 0:05:46 | 0:05:50 | |
the rights of prisoners. | 0:05:50 | 0:05:51 | |
# I know I can't be free... # | 0:05:51 | 0:05:54 | |
These were hot-button topics | 0:05:55 | 0:05:58 | |
that only a guy of his stature | 0:05:58 | 0:06:00 | |
could have gotten away with, and had the courage to stand up for. | 0:06:00 | 0:06:03 | |
I didn't really particularly strike out in a country direction, | 0:06:11 | 0:06:14 | |
but that is the place where I felt at home, where I belonged. | 0:06:14 | 0:06:18 | |
It was a kind of music that I was raised on. | 0:06:18 | 0:06:21 | |
All of us have been kind of hard to label. | 0:06:21 | 0:06:25 | |
I probably identified as much with Bob Dylan as Hank Williams. | 0:06:25 | 0:06:30 | |
Bob Dylan idolised John. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:34 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:06:40 | 0:06:42 | |
I met him backstage at the Opry when I was still in the Army. | 0:06:49 | 0:06:53 | |
When I went to Nashville on leave. | 0:06:53 | 0:06:56 | |
I saw this guy walk in. He looked like a panther, | 0:06:56 | 0:06:59 | |
and he was messed up, as he often was in those days. | 0:06:59 | 0:07:04 | |
He was skinny as a snake, | 0:07:04 | 0:07:05 | |
but he had an electricity about him in that was... | 0:07:05 | 0:07:09 | |
That was just... | 0:07:09 | 0:07:10 | |
It may be the reason I decided to quit the Army | 0:07:10 | 0:07:13 | |
and go back to Nashville. | 0:07:13 | 0:07:14 | |
Kris was amazing. | 0:07:23 | 0:07:25 | |
He was a Rhodes Scholar, he was a boxer, | 0:07:25 | 0:07:27 | |
he was a helicopter pilot, | 0:07:27 | 0:07:29 | |
he was a football player and a dedicated songwriter. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:34 | |
He had given up everything to be a janitor so that he could be around. | 0:07:34 | 0:07:39 | |
# And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad | 0:07:39 | 0:07:44 | |
# So I had one more for dessert | 0:07:44 | 0:07:46 | |
# Then I fumbled through my closet for my clothes | 0:07:52 | 0:07:57 | |
# Found my cleanest dirty shirt... # | 0:07:57 | 0:08:00 | |
I was a janitor in a recording studio where John recorded. | 0:08:00 | 0:08:04 | |
I almost got fired one time | 0:08:04 | 0:08:07 | |
because a couple of songwriters crashed the session. | 0:08:07 | 0:08:12 | |
They were trying to pitch him a gospel album. | 0:08:12 | 0:08:15 | |
For some reason, the woman who was the secretary to the producer | 0:08:15 | 0:08:21 | |
blamed me for letting them in there | 0:08:21 | 0:08:24 | |
and tried to get me fired. | 0:08:24 | 0:08:25 | |
The next night, my boss came down and said, | 0:08:25 | 0:08:29 | |
"I don't think you should go to John's session tonight." | 0:08:29 | 0:08:33 | |
I hid down in the vault of the recording studio. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:37 | |
I was erasing tapes down there, doing some kind of busy work, | 0:08:37 | 0:08:40 | |
and John appeared down there in the basement. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:44 | |
He said, "I understand you are not coming to the session." | 0:08:44 | 0:08:47 | |
I said, "No, I've got a lot of work to do down here, I can't." | 0:08:47 | 0:08:49 | |
He said, "Well, I just wanted to tell you | 0:08:49 | 0:08:51 | |
"I am not going to record until you come up there." | 0:08:51 | 0:08:53 | |
So I had to go up and sit on the floor. | 0:08:55 | 0:09:00 | |
Here, I was the janitor, right? | 0:09:00 | 0:09:01 | |
I am sitting on the floor, and this woman - who tried to get me fired - | 0:09:01 | 0:09:05 | |
was watching me the whole session. | 0:09:05 | 0:09:07 | |
It was the most uncomfortable I have ever been in my life, | 0:09:07 | 0:09:10 | |
but I thought that was the measure of the man. | 0:09:10 | 0:09:13 | |
He also recorded the first big song for me. | 0:09:13 | 0:09:17 | |
The most famous recording of that song | 0:09:17 | 0:09:20 | |
was live on The Johnny Cash Show. | 0:09:20 | 0:09:22 | |
The television network had asked my father, | 0:09:22 | 0:09:25 | |
"Please do not sing the line, | 0:09:25 | 0:09:27 | |
"'I'm wishing, Lord, that I was stoned.' | 0:09:27 | 0:09:30 | |
"Will you sing, 'I'm wishing, Lord, that I was home'?" | 0:09:30 | 0:09:33 | |
My father went to Kris. | 0:09:33 | 0:09:34 | |
Kris said, "Well, I don't know, John, | 0:09:34 | 0:09:36 | |
"it's really not the same thing. Whatever you think." | 0:09:36 | 0:09:40 | |
So he climbed up in the balcony, | 0:09:40 | 0:09:42 | |
Kris was watching the show. | 0:09:42 | 0:09:44 | |
On live television, of course, my father went ahead | 0:09:44 | 0:09:47 | |
and stood out and sung, "I'm wishing, Lord, that I was stoned", | 0:09:47 | 0:09:51 | |
and looked up at Kris in the balcony. | 0:09:51 | 0:09:53 | |
I do believe Kris nearly fell out of the balcony. | 0:09:53 | 0:09:56 | |
ALL: # On a Sunday morning sidewalk | 0:10:01 | 0:10:04 | |
# I'm wishing, Lord, that I was stoned | 0:10:07 | 0:10:11 | |
-JOHNNY: -# Cos there's something 'bout a Sunday... # | 0:10:13 | 0:10:16 | |
Imagine, though, the hero of your life | 0:10:16 | 0:10:20 | |
makes you what you are. | 0:10:20 | 0:10:23 | |
Your hero turns your life around. | 0:10:23 | 0:10:26 | |
ALL: # There ain't nothing short of dying | 0:10:26 | 0:10:32 | |
# Half as lonesome as the sound | 0:10:32 | 0:10:36 | |
# Of a sleeping city sidewalk... # | 0:10:39 | 0:10:42 | |
I find it amazing today | 0:10:44 | 0:10:48 | |
that the janitor had the audacity to be there in the first place, | 0:10:48 | 0:10:53 | |
but that he would become my best friend. | 0:10:53 | 0:10:57 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:10:57 | 0:11:00 | |
I guess these guys, when we did The Highwaymen, | 0:11:02 | 0:11:05 | |
their solo careers weren't really hitting on all cylinders | 0:11:05 | 0:11:09 | |
at the time. | 0:11:09 | 0:11:10 | |
CBS records dropped Johnny Cash | 0:11:10 | 0:11:13 | |
because he was not making enough money. | 0:11:13 | 0:11:18 | |
Once you get to be a certain age, | 0:11:18 | 0:11:20 | |
and you get to be a certain intelligence | 0:11:20 | 0:11:23 | |
of how things are working, | 0:11:23 | 0:11:26 | |
they don't want to deal with it. | 0:11:26 | 0:11:27 | |
It is much cheaper to get some young kid who you can say, | 0:11:27 | 0:11:33 | |
"Hey, you know, we'll give you 30,000 | 0:11:33 | 0:11:36 | |
"and alleviate you of this publishing responsibility." | 0:11:36 | 0:11:40 | |
That's the kind of shit they did. | 0:11:40 | 0:11:42 | |
They didn't understand John. | 0:11:42 | 0:11:44 | |
It would be like dropping Dylan from your label or something, you know? | 0:11:44 | 0:11:49 | |
There were certain people that are up and beyond the rules. | 0:11:49 | 0:11:52 | |
There was no soul left in Nashville. | 0:11:52 | 0:11:54 | |
They didn't care about Johnny Cash any more. | 0:11:54 | 0:11:56 | |
It's not limited to Johnny Cash, it's also Willie and Waylon. | 0:11:56 | 0:12:00 | |
To hear somebody tell me that they want... | 0:12:00 | 0:12:04 | |
That they had a truck and they would back it up to the record company | 0:12:04 | 0:12:08 | |
and they would take them all and dump them in...at the dump. | 0:12:08 | 0:12:12 | |
That, to me, was more than I could handle. | 0:12:12 | 0:12:16 | |
Some people were counting my dad as out. | 0:12:16 | 0:12:20 | |
They saw that he was possibly at the end of his career, in some ways. | 0:12:20 | 0:12:24 | |
But you could not count out Johnny Cash. | 0:12:24 | 0:12:27 | |
# Well, a long time forgotten | 0:12:30 | 0:12:32 | |
# Our dreams are just fell by the way | 0:12:32 | 0:12:34 | |
# And the good life he promised | 0:12:37 | 0:12:40 | |
# Ain't what she's living today | 0:12:40 | 0:12:42 | |
# But she never complains of the bad times | 0:12:45 | 0:12:48 | |
# Or the bad things he's done | 0:12:48 | 0:12:50 | |
# She just talks about the good times they've had | 0:12:53 | 0:12:55 | |
# And all the good times to come... # | 0:12:55 | 0:12:58 | |
-CASH: -I met Waylon the first time in the early '60s at a club in Phoenix. | 0:12:58 | 0:13:02 | |
June and I were working there. | 0:13:02 | 0:13:03 | |
This was before June and I were married. | 0:13:03 | 0:13:06 | |
We went out and watched him. | 0:13:06 | 0:13:07 | |
Well, you know, Nashville was the only music community | 0:13:07 | 0:13:10 | |
that I really knew anything about, | 0:13:10 | 0:13:12 | |
so June and I encouraged Waylon to come over and move to Nashville | 0:13:12 | 0:13:16 | |
and start recording and get his career going. | 0:13:16 | 0:13:20 | |
Cos, you know, I wasn't half into the show | 0:13:20 | 0:13:23 | |
until I knew that here was a man who had a whole lot more to offer | 0:13:23 | 0:13:26 | |
to the world than 400 or 500 people | 0:13:26 | 0:13:29 | |
that might come into a Phoenix nightclub. | 0:13:29 | 0:13:31 | |
# He likes the nightlife | 0:13:31 | 0:13:33 | |
# The bright lights | 0:13:33 | 0:13:34 | |
# And his good timin' friend... # | 0:13:34 | 0:13:36 | |
He asked me, "Do you think I should go to Nashville?" | 0:13:36 | 0:13:39 | |
I said, "how much money are you making here?" | 0:13:39 | 0:13:42 | |
I think he said, "400 a week." | 0:13:42 | 0:13:44 | |
I said, "Stay here." | 0:13:44 | 0:13:46 | |
# Their teardrops and laughter | 0:13:46 | 0:13:48 | |
# They're passed to this world hand-in-hand | 0:13:48 | 0:13:51 | |
# A good-hearted woman in love with a good-timing man... # | 0:13:54 | 0:13:58 | |
He came in, looked right up front, | 0:14:00 | 0:14:03 | |
he bucked against the Nashville music community | 0:14:03 | 0:14:07 | |
and the way things were cut and dried. | 0:14:07 | 0:14:10 | |
Country music was kind of pretty at that time. | 0:14:10 | 0:14:13 | |
You had Marty Robbins singing his beautiful cowboy ballads, | 0:14:13 | 0:14:16 | |
and Eddie Arnold, and Ray Price, and, you know, | 0:14:16 | 0:14:19 | |
with a lot of strings backing them up. | 0:14:19 | 0:14:22 | |
So Waylon was raw. | 0:14:22 | 0:14:25 | |
It was a whole different movement | 0:14:25 | 0:14:27 | |
from what was going on in the norm in Nashville. | 0:14:27 | 0:14:30 | |
The old world of Nashville was perhaps comparable | 0:14:30 | 0:14:34 | |
in a farm club kind of way, in a country kind of way, | 0:14:34 | 0:14:37 | |
to the studio system in Hollywood. | 0:14:37 | 0:14:39 | |
Every label had its stars, every label had manufactured stars. | 0:14:39 | 0:14:43 | |
Everybody was assigned producers. | 0:14:43 | 0:14:45 | |
The publishing industry was tight knit. | 0:14:45 | 0:14:48 | |
It was pretty much a good-old-boy-run town. | 0:14:48 | 0:14:50 | |
Things were just kind of set up that way from the foundation up. | 0:14:50 | 0:14:55 | |
I mean, he had come off a marvellous job here, | 0:14:55 | 0:14:58 | |
you know, running the roost, so to speak. | 0:14:58 | 0:15:03 | |
It was a bust. | 0:15:03 | 0:15:04 | |
John ended up moving to Nashville, and so did Waylon. | 0:15:04 | 0:15:07 | |
Together. | 0:15:07 | 0:15:09 | |
That was another nightmare. | 0:15:09 | 0:15:11 | |
In those states, both of us were pretty well hooked on pills. | 0:15:11 | 0:15:17 | |
But we can honestly say we never gave each other drugs. | 0:15:17 | 0:15:20 | |
Never. We hid it. We thought we were hiding it convincingly. | 0:15:20 | 0:15:22 | |
-LAUGHTER -We never did. | 0:15:22 | 0:15:24 | |
See, I knew he couldn't handle it. | 0:15:24 | 0:15:26 | |
So I had to protect him. | 0:15:26 | 0:15:27 | |
I think he was thinking the same thing. | 0:15:30 | 0:15:32 | |
You know, when you grow up in Texas, you are taught | 0:15:32 | 0:15:34 | |
that you are a little bit bigger and a little bit better | 0:15:34 | 0:15:36 | |
and a little bit tougher | 0:15:36 | 0:15:38 | |
and a little bit smarter than anybody else. | 0:15:38 | 0:15:40 | |
Willie and I were both taught that. | 0:15:40 | 0:15:42 | |
Now, I don't know about Willie, | 0:15:42 | 0:15:44 | |
but it was rough on me when I got out in the world | 0:15:44 | 0:15:46 | |
and found out I wasn't. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:47 | |
# In the twilight glow I see them | 0:15:53 | 0:15:59 | |
# Blue eyes cryin' in the rain... # | 0:16:03 | 0:16:08 | |
All of the highwaymen, of course, were outsiders. | 0:16:08 | 0:16:11 | |
Willie Nelson sort of wrote the book on being an outsider. | 0:16:11 | 0:16:13 | |
# When we kissed goodbye and parted... # | 0:16:13 | 0:16:19 | |
The establishment, you know, they said, "The guy can't sing. | 0:16:19 | 0:16:23 | |
"Maybe he should be a songwriter." | 0:16:23 | 0:16:25 | |
He played incredible guitar. | 0:16:25 | 0:16:26 | |
His main influence was this French gypsy guitar player | 0:16:26 | 0:16:29 | |
named Django Reinhardt. | 0:16:29 | 0:16:31 | |
# Love is like a dying ember... # | 0:16:34 | 0:16:39 | |
So, he was different, | 0:16:39 | 0:16:40 | |
and it might have put people out of their comfort zone | 0:16:40 | 0:16:43 | |
for listening to this guy. | 0:16:43 | 0:16:45 | |
NELSON: All of us, in our own way, compromised in some ways | 0:16:45 | 0:16:48 | |
and tried to do it their way for a while. | 0:16:48 | 0:16:50 | |
Not only was it not really that much fun, it just wasn't working. | 0:16:52 | 0:16:56 | |
It just wasn't clicking. | 0:16:56 | 0:16:58 | |
He got frustrated with Nashville, moved back to Texas, | 0:16:58 | 0:17:01 | |
which was where he was from originally, it was his home. | 0:17:01 | 0:17:04 | |
He moved to Austin, because he heard that | 0:17:04 | 0:17:06 | |
there was a lot of new music coming out of Austin. | 0:17:06 | 0:17:09 | |
Originally, the audiences were young University of Texas | 0:17:09 | 0:17:12 | |
and young hippie... | 0:17:12 | 0:17:14 | |
But then the rednecks were going, "Well, Willie Nelson is there. | 0:17:14 | 0:17:16 | |
"What is going on over there?" Or, "Look at all the young girls. | 0:17:16 | 0:17:19 | |
"Maybe we can meet some of them young girls | 0:17:19 | 0:17:22 | |
"that are at that concert." | 0:17:22 | 0:17:24 | |
Willie saw he could go into these places. | 0:17:24 | 0:17:26 | |
He looked out into the audience, | 0:17:26 | 0:17:28 | |
and there were cowboy hats and longhairs. | 0:17:28 | 0:17:31 | |
They were getting along. | 0:17:31 | 0:17:32 | |
You can't put enough emphasis | 0:17:35 | 0:17:36 | |
on what Waylon and Willie were to Austin. | 0:17:36 | 0:17:39 | |
Waylon said it before, you know, Willie called and said, | 0:17:39 | 0:17:41 | |
"You need to come out here. I found something." | 0:17:41 | 0:17:44 | |
That was the whole start of it. | 0:17:44 | 0:17:45 | |
You have got to remember, 1971, '2, '3, '4, '5, in Texas, | 0:17:45 | 0:17:49 | |
you could get your ass kicked and killed | 0:17:49 | 0:17:51 | |
and your hair cut just by having long hair and being a hippie. | 0:17:51 | 0:17:56 | |
They would flock to this place cos they were safe. | 0:17:56 | 0:18:00 | |
When I first came to work, | 0:18:00 | 0:18:01 | |
the band was still wearing brocade tuxedos, | 0:18:01 | 0:18:03 | |
but Willie was growing his hair long | 0:18:03 | 0:18:05 | |
and was wearing a long brown leather shirt | 0:18:05 | 0:18:08 | |
with big billowing pirate's sleeves | 0:18:08 | 0:18:11 | |
and a beard and long hair and a cowboy hat. | 0:18:11 | 0:18:15 | |
I remember once, a promotion man said, | 0:18:15 | 0:18:19 | |
"We love what Willie is doing, we don't want him in a tuxedo. | 0:18:19 | 0:18:22 | |
"We like the clothing - the sneakers and the long hair." | 0:18:22 | 0:18:26 | |
I said, "It is guaranteed that he won't go the tuxedo way." | 0:18:26 | 0:18:29 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE Thank you very much. | 0:18:34 | 0:18:37 | |
The Outlaw movement was started by Waylon and Willie. | 0:18:37 | 0:18:40 | |
More so Waylon, because he was the first one to say, | 0:18:40 | 0:18:43 | |
"Hey, I'm not going to do the things the normal way." | 0:18:43 | 0:18:46 | |
He said, "I'm going to do them my way." | 0:18:46 | 0:18:48 | |
So, one time Willie was in town and I said, | 0:18:48 | 0:18:50 | |
"Willie, come on, let's go cut an album." | 0:18:50 | 0:18:53 | |
I said, "I want to cut this album. I've got it ready." | 0:18:53 | 0:18:56 | |
He had a couple of songs. I said, "I want you to play guitar on it. | 0:18:56 | 0:19:00 | |
"Let's have some fun with it." | 0:19:00 | 0:19:02 | |
I went over and I cut the album - This Time. | 0:19:02 | 0:19:06 | |
When I got through with it, I took it to the record company, | 0:19:06 | 0:19:08 | |
and they said, "Well, that's wonderful. | 0:19:08 | 0:19:10 | |
"Now we've got to go into the studio and cut it." I said, "No." | 0:19:10 | 0:19:12 | |
I said, "That's all you've got." | 0:19:12 | 0:19:14 | |
So they tried every way in the world, even trying to get them | 0:19:14 | 0:19:17 | |
to allow this one to be released, and finally they released it. | 0:19:17 | 0:19:21 | |
That more or less broke the system in this town, | 0:19:21 | 0:19:23 | |
where the record companies own the studios. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:26 | |
I think anybody that has any artistic freedom in their contracts | 0:19:26 | 0:19:30 | |
in record deals today owe that to Waylon Jennings. | 0:19:30 | 0:19:33 | |
Willie was just a little bit more laid back. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:35 | |
He was just always grinning all the time, picking and singing, | 0:19:35 | 0:19:38 | |
saying, "Let's go." | 0:19:38 | 0:19:39 | |
Waylon, he was the bull trying to knock down all of the doors. | 0:19:39 | 0:19:45 | |
Willie was just like, "Oh, you kicked another door in? | 0:19:45 | 0:19:47 | |
"I will walk through there with you." | 0:19:47 | 0:19:49 | |
Well, the Outlaw thing started selling. | 0:19:49 | 0:19:51 | |
They really didn't understand that, | 0:19:51 | 0:19:53 | |
because we were breaking all of the rules, | 0:19:53 | 0:19:56 | |
doing it wrong, using our own bands. | 0:19:56 | 0:19:59 | |
I think the first record that he did for Columbia | 0:19:59 | 0:20:01 | |
was Red Headed Stranger. | 0:20:01 | 0:20:03 | |
The deal was that Willie could just do what ever he wanted, | 0:20:03 | 0:20:05 | |
pick the songs, pick the band - | 0:20:05 | 0:20:07 | |
he picked his road band, which is never done - | 0:20:07 | 0:20:09 | |
and just turned in a finished product. | 0:20:09 | 0:20:11 | |
When he did, it was so sparse... | 0:20:11 | 0:20:13 | |
I mean Red Headed Stranger was basically Willie and the band | 0:20:13 | 0:20:16 | |
sitting around in a circle, and he was playing these new songs, | 0:20:16 | 0:20:19 | |
and while we were recording it was the first time we heard the songs. | 0:20:19 | 0:20:22 | |
They are pretty sparse. | 0:20:22 | 0:20:23 | |
We are mainly just listening to what he was doing | 0:20:23 | 0:20:25 | |
and playing very lightly on it. | 0:20:25 | 0:20:27 | |
Well, when he turned it in, the guys at Columbia said, | 0:20:27 | 0:20:30 | |
"You know, this is a great demo, | 0:20:30 | 0:20:32 | |
"why don't you recut it or we will put some strings on it?" | 0:20:32 | 0:20:34 | |
Willie said, "No, you've got to put it out like it is." | 0:20:34 | 0:20:37 | |
Reluctantly, they did. It was a hit. | 0:20:37 | 0:20:40 | |
I don't know how many weeks it has been on the charts, but for years. | 0:20:40 | 0:20:43 | |
They broke down the system | 0:20:43 | 0:20:44 | |
and gained their own control by having success. | 0:20:44 | 0:20:47 | |
The Outlaws, which was Willie, Waylon, | 0:20:47 | 0:20:49 | |
Tompall Glaser and Jessi Colter, | 0:20:49 | 0:20:51 | |
was the first country record to go platinum. | 0:20:51 | 0:20:54 | |
It broke down boundaries. | 0:20:54 | 0:20:56 | |
People who used to not listen to country music because it wasn't cool | 0:20:56 | 0:21:00 | |
started listening again, because it looked dangerous. | 0:21:00 | 0:21:03 | |
At that time, cocaine was a really popular drug | 0:21:03 | 0:21:06 | |
and everybody was doing it. | 0:21:06 | 0:21:08 | |
Willie didn't like it, because he liked to relax. | 0:21:08 | 0:21:10 | |
He liked to smoke pot and just relax. | 0:21:10 | 0:21:13 | |
Cocaine made us all jacked up and play really fast and loud | 0:21:13 | 0:21:17 | |
and not listen to each other. So, Waylon did like cocaine. | 0:21:17 | 0:21:20 | |
That was kind of a part of his lifestyle. | 0:21:20 | 0:21:23 | |
He would take drugs and stay up in the office and go and cut records. | 0:21:23 | 0:21:26 | |
I'm not saying that he didn't ever do anything | 0:21:26 | 0:21:28 | |
that didn't challenge our marriage, | 0:21:28 | 0:21:30 | |
but basically he was working. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:34 | |
That is what he liked. | 0:21:34 | 0:21:35 | |
# Cowboys ain't easy to love | 0:21:35 | 0:21:38 | |
# And they're harder to hold | 0:21:38 | 0:21:40 | |
# They'd rather give you a song than diamonds or gold | 0:21:43 | 0:21:49 | |
# Lonestar belt buckles and old faded Levi's... # | 0:21:52 | 0:21:56 | |
The Highwaymen voices blended together great. | 0:21:56 | 0:21:59 | |
A lot of the time, it was just two of them at a time singing. | 0:21:59 | 0:22:02 | |
It was like duets. | 0:22:02 | 0:22:03 | |
Then, on the choruses, all of them would sing together. So, it was... | 0:22:03 | 0:22:08 | |
It just got bigger than life. | 0:22:08 | 0:22:10 | |
ALL: # Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys | 0:22:10 | 0:22:15 | |
# Don't let 'em pick guitars and drive them old trucks | 0:22:17 | 0:22:21 | |
# Let 'em be doctors and lawyers and such... # | 0:22:21 | 0:22:26 | |
There is four movies right there. | 0:22:26 | 0:22:28 | |
There is four folk heroes, | 0:22:28 | 0:22:30 | |
there is four great lives that have been lived. | 0:22:30 | 0:22:34 | |
It must have been a weary spot for any of them. | 0:22:34 | 0:22:37 | |
It is a wonderful thing to be a star, | 0:22:37 | 0:22:39 | |
it is a wonderful thing to be a legend, | 0:22:39 | 0:22:41 | |
but at some point, you know, you are a human being, too. | 0:22:41 | 0:22:44 | |
You know, when you can back up against three other oak trees | 0:22:44 | 0:22:47 | |
that understand and nothing has to be discussed, | 0:22:47 | 0:22:50 | |
there is bound to be peace in that. | 0:22:50 | 0:22:52 | |
# Little warm puppies and children and girls of the night... # | 0:22:52 | 0:22:57 | |
-Woof woof. -Woof woof. | 0:22:57 | 0:22:59 | |
WILLIE: # Them that don't know him won't like him | 0:23:00 | 0:23:02 | |
# And them that do | 0:23:02 | 0:23:04 | |
# Sometimes won't know how to take him | 0:23:04 | 0:23:08 | |
# He ain't wrong He's just different | 0:23:08 | 0:23:09 | |
# But his pride won't let him | 0:23:09 | 0:23:11 | |
# Do things to make you think he's right | 0:23:11 | 0:23:14 | |
ALL: # Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys... # | 0:23:17 | 0:23:23 | |
These men were, you know, icons of our culture and whatever | 0:23:24 | 0:23:30 | |
they may have been, you know, to the public, but they were buddies. | 0:23:30 | 0:23:33 | |
They were laughing and just enjoying their time together. | 0:23:33 | 0:23:37 | |
Any time I hear a live Highwaymen show, | 0:23:37 | 0:23:40 | |
it is a visceral thrill for me. | 0:23:40 | 0:23:42 | |
Am I dreaming this? Did it really happen? | 0:23:42 | 0:23:45 | |
It is almost too much to take, I am so proud of it. | 0:23:45 | 0:23:48 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:23:52 | 0:23:55 | |
You know, because these guys were so popular, | 0:23:55 | 0:23:58 | |
the movie deals started coming in. | 0:23:58 | 0:24:00 | |
I guess they did Stagecoach. | 0:24:06 | 0:24:08 | |
-I didn't catch your name. -Well, his name is Doc Holliday. | 0:24:10 | 0:24:14 | |
Is that right? I heard you were pretty handy with a gun. | 0:24:16 | 0:24:19 | |
I am still alive. | 0:24:20 | 0:24:21 | |
They wanted him to cut his hair to play Doc Holliday. | 0:24:21 | 0:24:25 | |
First, I didn't want to cut Willie Nelson's hair, and secondly, | 0:24:25 | 0:24:29 | |
I didn't see a need. | 0:24:29 | 0:24:31 | |
When I met him, he was sitting in a chair and I said, | 0:24:31 | 0:24:35 | |
"Mr Nelson, the producers and director would like me to ask | 0:24:35 | 0:24:38 | |
"if you would be willing to cut your hair for this part." | 0:24:38 | 0:24:41 | |
I remember him looking up at me from the chair and saying, | 0:24:41 | 0:24:44 | |
"What do you think?" | 0:24:44 | 0:24:45 | |
I said, "I think it is ridiculous. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:49 | |
"To be perfectly honest, I don't see the need." | 0:24:49 | 0:24:51 | |
He said, "Let's tell them no." | 0:24:51 | 0:24:53 | |
I just saw this smart-ass twinkle. | 0:24:53 | 0:24:57 | |
I went, "Yeah, OK. That's kind of cool." | 0:24:57 | 0:25:00 | |
I tell everybody we marry what we need. | 0:25:00 | 0:25:02 | |
Kris married lawyer and I got a make-up girl. | 0:25:02 | 0:25:04 | |
When my father was a little boy, | 0:25:06 | 0:25:08 | |
he would always go see the film down the road at the local theatre. | 0:25:08 | 0:25:13 | |
Typically on a Friday night, | 0:25:13 | 0:25:15 | |
it would more often than not be a Gene Autry film. | 0:25:15 | 0:25:18 | |
Gene Autry was always my father's favourite, | 0:25:18 | 0:25:20 | |
because he loved to see the singing cowboy. | 0:25:20 | 0:25:22 | |
It was later on, in the 1990s, | 0:25:22 | 0:25:24 | |
that he actually got to spend some time with Mr Autry. | 0:25:24 | 0:25:28 | |
-How have you been, John? -I'm doing fine. I'm doing just fine. | 0:25:28 | 0:25:32 | |
Just make yourself comfortable. | 0:25:32 | 0:25:34 | |
I'll do my damnedest. | 0:25:34 | 0:25:36 | |
Gene came to the Oceanway Studio, | 0:25:36 | 0:25:39 | |
and just like the same little kids at that theatre, their eyes lit up. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:44 | |
There's the cowboy. | 0:25:44 | 0:25:46 | |
-Hey, Willie, sit down there. -Nice to see you. | 0:25:46 | 0:25:48 | |
God, I haven't seen you in so long. | 0:25:48 | 0:25:51 | |
-Excuse me. -You don't come back out here like you used to. | 0:25:51 | 0:25:55 | |
No, sir, I don't come as much as I ought to. | 0:25:55 | 0:25:58 | |
They were the singing cowboys. They would make their music, | 0:25:58 | 0:26:02 | |
ride their horse, they'd act in films, | 0:26:02 | 0:26:05 | |
they'd have their shows. | 0:26:05 | 0:26:07 | |
They were real cowboy stars. | 0:26:07 | 0:26:11 | |
ALL: # Whoopi-ty-aye-oh | 0:26:11 | 0:26:14 | |
# Rockin' to and fro | 0:26:14 | 0:26:16 | |
# Back in the saddle again | 0:26:16 | 0:26:20 | |
# Whoopi-ty-aye-eh | 0:26:20 | 0:26:23 | |
# I go my way | 0:26:23 | 0:26:25 | |
# Back in the saddle again. # | 0:26:25 | 0:26:28 | |
-GENE: -We should have recorded that. | 0:26:32 | 0:26:35 | |
I think we did. | 0:26:35 | 0:26:36 | |
# I'm gonna steal me | 0:26:38 | 0:26:40 | |
# A silver stallion... # | 0:26:40 | 0:26:42 | |
They had ideas. They wanted to play colleges. | 0:26:43 | 0:26:46 | |
We played colleges. They wanted to go to Europe. We went to Europe. | 0:26:46 | 0:26:49 | |
They wanted to go to Asia. We went to Asia. | 0:26:49 | 0:26:52 | |
It was as if these guys had been on the road together for ever. | 0:26:52 | 0:26:55 | |
It was a huge band, it was a huge production, but it was a family. | 0:26:55 | 0:26:59 | |
It was so comfortable. | 0:26:59 | 0:27:02 | |
It was, sort of, just every time we went out, it was a reunion. | 0:27:02 | 0:27:05 | |
In the middle of airports. | 0:27:05 | 0:27:07 | |
In airport lounges all over the world. | 0:27:07 | 0:27:09 | |
It could have been a little complicated travelling with | 0:27:09 | 0:27:12 | |
39 people, including infant children, | 0:27:12 | 0:27:16 | |
but it just worked itself out. | 0:27:16 | 0:27:18 | |
Willie would get down on the ground and play blocks with our kids, | 0:27:18 | 0:27:21 | |
and make funny jokes and do little magic things with them. | 0:27:21 | 0:27:26 | |
Waylon just love to carry our daughter around everywhere. | 0:27:26 | 0:27:29 | |
My memory is that they are always on the ground with the kids, | 0:27:29 | 0:27:32 | |
which is strange for men with such huge stature. | 0:27:32 | 0:27:35 | |
They were just little boys grown tall. | 0:27:35 | 0:27:38 | |
They wore boots. | 0:27:38 | 0:27:40 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:27:40 | 0:27:44 | |
# Maybe I didn't love you | 0:27:47 | 0:27:50 | |
# Quite as often as I could have | 0:27:53 | 0:27:56 | |
# Maybe I didn't treat you | 0:27:58 | 0:28:01 | |
# Quite as good as I should have | 0:28:05 | 0:28:08 | |
# If I made you feel second best | 0:28:11 | 0:28:14 | |
# Girl, I'm sorry I was blind | 0:28:17 | 0:28:20 | |
# But you were always on my mind... # | 0:28:24 | 0:28:28 | |
When Willie cut Always On My Mind, he called me the night he cut it. | 0:28:29 | 0:28:33 | |
He said, "Listen to this." I heard it over the phone. | 0:28:33 | 0:28:36 | |
I went, "Wow, that's a smash." | 0:28:36 | 0:28:39 | |
That band was the same band that toured with Highwaymen every night. | 0:28:40 | 0:28:46 | |
Chips put together a lot of material, a lot of musicians, | 0:28:46 | 0:28:49 | |
he's a great producer. | 0:28:49 | 0:28:50 | |
He put together the band behind us for all the records. | 0:28:50 | 0:28:55 | |
We couldn't have done it without Chips. | 0:28:55 | 0:28:57 | |
The way it came to pass with the musicians was that everyone | 0:28:57 | 0:29:01 | |
agreed that they would bring in | 0:29:01 | 0:29:03 | |
one or two musicians from their own bands | 0:29:03 | 0:29:06 | |
and the rest were studio musicians - | 0:29:06 | 0:29:09 | |
they were the best at what they did. | 0:29:09 | 0:29:12 | |
The Highwaymen band was a big band that started with the core | 0:29:12 | 0:29:15 | |
being the Memphis Boys. | 0:29:15 | 0:29:17 | |
During a five-year period that we were together, | 0:29:17 | 0:29:20 | |
the Memphis Boys cut 120 chart records, hit records. | 0:29:20 | 0:29:24 | |
For me, personally, I went into it because Bobby was there. | 0:29:24 | 0:29:28 | |
Most fun thing I have ever done. | 0:29:28 | 0:29:31 | |
Reggie Young loved playing live. We all did. | 0:29:31 | 0:29:34 | |
It was a family organisation, you know, we all loved each other | 0:29:34 | 0:29:37 | |
so much that there was nobody that could fill in for somebody else. | 0:29:37 | 0:29:41 | |
# You were always on my mind | 0:29:45 | 0:29:53 | |
# You were always on | 0:29:53 | 0:29:59 | |
# My mind. # | 0:29:59 | 0:30:05 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:30:05 | 0:30:07 | |
We were at Norman, Oklahoma, at the University, near Oklahoma City, | 0:30:12 | 0:30:16 | |
and we're here for a concert tonight that Willie brought together | 0:30:16 | 0:30:21 | |
to aid the farmers that are kind of down and out. | 0:30:21 | 0:30:25 | |
Willie is farm-made, and me and everybody | 0:30:25 | 0:30:28 | |
are kind of just his helper, really. | 0:30:28 | 0:30:31 | |
Willie should really get the Nobel Peace Prize for Farm Aid. | 0:30:31 | 0:30:37 | |
People are becoming aware that people have to get involved. | 0:30:37 | 0:30:40 | |
I don't think we can sit back and rely on our politicians | 0:30:40 | 0:30:43 | |
to take care of problems that they are not taking care of. | 0:30:43 | 0:30:47 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:30:48 | 0:30:50 | |
# I've always been crazy in trouble | 0:31:05 | 0:31:08 | |
# And it's put me through | 0:31:08 | 0:31:10 | |
# I've been busted for things that I didn't | 0:31:13 | 0:31:17 | |
# I didn't do... # | 0:31:17 | 0:31:19 | |
My father and Waylon were both open | 0:31:19 | 0:31:21 | |
about their struggles with addiction. | 0:31:21 | 0:31:23 | |
My father, of course, was on amphetamines in the 1960s, | 0:31:23 | 0:31:26 | |
but it was later on, in the 1980s, | 0:31:26 | 0:31:28 | |
that he developed an addiction to painkillers. | 0:31:28 | 0:31:31 | |
He straightened up, actually, in early 1983. | 0:31:31 | 0:31:35 | |
Waylon also gave up his drug of choice, which was cocaine. | 0:31:35 | 0:31:39 | |
# With one foot over the line | 0:31:39 | 0:31:42 | |
# Winding up somewhere | 0:31:45 | 0:31:47 | |
# One step ahead or behind... # | 0:31:47 | 0:31:51 | |
He had tried three times to dry out. | 0:31:52 | 0:31:55 | |
He could get me up all times, days and night. | 0:31:55 | 0:31:57 | |
He was dealing with the frenzy that comes | 0:31:57 | 0:32:00 | |
from trying to come off a drug. | 0:32:00 | 0:32:01 | |
He called me up one morning, says, "Come out here and sit with me." | 0:32:01 | 0:32:05 | |
We were out watching the sun rise, | 0:32:05 | 0:32:07 | |
which was never anything he wanted to do. | 0:32:07 | 0:32:10 | |
But I guess that was the moment that he knew, you know? | 0:32:11 | 0:32:15 | |
He had made a decision. | 0:32:15 | 0:32:16 | |
Shortly after he'd tell me, because he had... | 0:32:16 | 0:32:19 | |
They had coke out on the bus. | 0:32:19 | 0:32:21 | |
At one point, he said, | 0:32:21 | 0:32:22 | |
"Jessi, you can go throw that down the toilet." | 0:32:22 | 0:32:25 | |
# Never mind I ain't found a rhyme or a reason to change | 0:32:28 | 0:32:33 | |
# I've always been crazy | 0:32:36 | 0:32:38 | |
# It's killing me from going insane | 0:32:38 | 0:32:41 | |
They supported each other in their recovery. | 0:32:43 | 0:32:46 | |
June had thrown Waylon a sobriety party at her house. | 0:32:46 | 0:32:50 | |
So Johnny says, "Jessi, June has given Waylon a sobriety party. | 0:32:53 | 0:32:58 | |
"Will you give me one?" I said, "Yes, Johnny." | 0:32:58 | 0:33:01 | |
So they really stood behind each other | 0:33:04 | 0:33:06 | |
throughout their endeavours of sobriety. | 0:33:06 | 0:33:08 | |
With those four guys, | 0:33:23 | 0:33:25 | |
the way they all messed with each other was amazing. | 0:33:25 | 0:33:27 | |
I think Willie was up for anything. Willie just wanted to stir up shit. | 0:33:27 | 0:33:30 | |
He just liked a little tension going on. | 0:33:30 | 0:33:33 | |
Waylon didn't like any tension and was always paranoid about it. | 0:33:33 | 0:33:37 | |
Kris was ready to stir up anything for his causes. | 0:33:37 | 0:33:41 | |
Kris, at one point, had a Lebanese flag or an Iraqi flag or something. | 0:33:41 | 0:33:46 | |
I don't even remember what it was. | 0:33:46 | 0:33:48 | |
Johnny Cash started up with Waylon about that flag. | 0:33:48 | 0:33:52 | |
John knew what buttons to push with Waylon, and Waylon would get upset. | 0:33:52 | 0:33:55 | |
Then he would realise, "Well, John was just messing with me. | 0:33:55 | 0:33:57 | |
"I am upset over nothing." | 0:33:57 | 0:33:59 | |
See, Waylon... Waylon is going to worry about something. | 0:33:59 | 0:34:04 | |
-We'll see to it. -We'll see to it. | 0:34:04 | 0:34:07 | |
Really, they all stood for the same things, | 0:34:07 | 0:34:09 | |
but their delivery was a little different. | 0:34:09 | 0:34:11 | |
A really revealing glimpse into their life philosophies | 0:34:11 | 0:34:14 | |
can be found in the way they each decorated their vocal booth. | 0:34:14 | 0:34:17 | |
Johnny Cash, he draped his in black and put a big rainbow in it. | 0:34:17 | 0:34:22 | |
Beneath that man-in-black persona was a sweet, optimistic guy. | 0:34:22 | 0:34:27 | |
Willie... Willie put a Texas flag in there. | 0:34:27 | 0:34:30 | |
Waylon went for a desert motif, but he also, in the garbage | 0:34:30 | 0:34:34 | |
somewhere on one of his trips, found a velvet painting of Willie. | 0:34:34 | 0:34:38 | |
He hung that in there, too. | 0:34:38 | 0:34:41 | |
Kris asked me to bring a picture head of Noam Chomsky | 0:34:41 | 0:34:45 | |
to hang it in my house. | 0:34:45 | 0:34:46 | |
I think there is a picture of Che Guevara... | 0:34:46 | 0:34:48 | |
Those were the personas they chose, in a way, you know? | 0:34:48 | 0:34:51 | |
They grew into those characters. | 0:34:51 | 0:34:54 | |
Listen, my name is Waylon. | 0:34:54 | 0:34:56 | |
His ain't, his ain't, and his ain't. | 0:34:56 | 0:34:58 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:34:58 | 0:35:00 | |
That's all you need to know. | 0:35:00 | 0:35:02 | |
They are not playing against each other, | 0:35:02 | 0:35:05 | |
they are playing with each other, but they are still competitive, | 0:35:05 | 0:35:09 | |
and so there is just a kind of swagger | 0:35:09 | 0:35:14 | |
to each entertainer. | 0:35:14 | 0:35:17 | |
# It's the same old tune | 0:35:17 | 0:35:19 | |
# Fiddle and guitar | 0:35:19 | 0:35:21 | |
# Where do we take it from here? | 0:35:21 | 0:35:24 | |
# Limestone suits and new shiny cars | 0:35:24 | 0:35:29 | |
# It's been the same way for years | 0:35:29 | 0:35:31 | |
# Somebody told me when I first got to Nashville | 0:35:36 | 0:35:39 | |
# Oh, you've finally got it made | 0:35:39 | 0:35:43 | |
# Old Hank made it here | 0:35:43 | 0:35:44 | |
# Now we're all sure that you will | 0:35:44 | 0:35:46 | |
# But I don't think Hank done it this way | 0:35:46 | 0:35:50 | |
# Did old Hank really do it this way...? # | 0:35:50 | 0:35:53 | |
Each time they'd get up to do a show - | 0:35:53 | 0:35:55 | |
"This is the last time, but we are going to give it hell." | 0:35:55 | 0:35:59 | |
This is what great athletes do. | 0:35:59 | 0:36:00 | |
Willie is the outlaw coyote, Waylon is the riverboat gambler, | 0:36:11 | 0:36:15 | |
I am the Revolutionary Communist, radical, | 0:36:15 | 0:36:19 | |
and John is the father of our country. | 0:36:19 | 0:36:21 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:36:21 | 0:36:22 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:36:29 | 0:36:31 | |
They were all able to have the greatest respect | 0:36:33 | 0:36:36 | |
for each other as artists. | 0:36:36 | 0:36:38 | |
The sum of the parts was just humongous. | 0:36:38 | 0:36:40 | |
Kris, I think, being a songwriter, | 0:36:40 | 0:36:43 | |
he never considered himself a singer. | 0:36:43 | 0:36:46 | |
He's a songwriter. | 0:36:46 | 0:36:47 | |
So to him it was like, you know, the same thing - | 0:36:47 | 0:36:49 | |
"How did I get in with this bunch of singers?" | 0:36:49 | 0:36:52 | |
When I first heard Bobby McGee, I said, | 0:36:52 | 0:36:53 | |
"Well, why didn't I write that?" | 0:36:53 | 0:36:55 | |
It has all the ingredients of the things that I like to see | 0:36:55 | 0:36:58 | |
and hear in a song - | 0:36:58 | 0:37:01 | |
from all about freedom and travelling, | 0:37:01 | 0:37:04 | |
and even down to the red bandana, | 0:37:04 | 0:37:07 | |
so naturally I related to that song a lot. | 0:37:07 | 0:37:10 | |
# Busted flat in Baton Rouge | 0:37:10 | 0:37:14 | |
# Headin' for the trains | 0:37:14 | 0:37:17 | |
# Feelin' nearly faded as my jeans | 0:37:17 | 0:37:20 | |
# Bobby thumbed a diesel down | 0:37:23 | 0:37:26 | |
# Just before it rained | 0:37:26 | 0:37:28 | |
# Took us all the way to New Orleans | 0:37:30 | 0:37:33 | |
# I took my harpoon out of my dirty red bandana | 0:37:36 | 0:37:42 | |
# I was blowin' sad while Bobby sang the blues | 0:37:42 | 0:37:48 | |
# With them windshield wipers slappin' time | 0:37:48 | 0:37:52 | |
# And Bobby clappin' hands | 0:37:52 | 0:37:54 | |
# We finally sang up every song | 0:37:54 | 0:37:57 | |
# That driver knew... # | 0:37:57 | 0:38:00 | |
Kris is the best songwriter I know. And has been since he showed up. | 0:38:00 | 0:38:05 | |
I don't think that I could put into words the effect that | 0:38:05 | 0:38:09 | |
Kristofferson had on country music | 0:38:09 | 0:38:11 | |
better than Bob Dylan's speech at MusiCares, | 0:38:11 | 0:38:15 | |
where he called Kris the game-changer. | 0:38:15 | 0:38:18 | |
Nashville had never seen anything like Kris when he showed up. Never. | 0:38:18 | 0:38:23 | |
He probably scared the hell out of those people. | 0:38:25 | 0:38:30 | |
# From the coalmines of Kentucky to the California sun... # | 0:38:30 | 0:38:36 | |
I found out that I could express myself in songs, | 0:38:36 | 0:38:41 | |
and that was what I was supposed to do with my life. | 0:38:41 | 0:38:45 | |
The fact that I got to do it with the heroes | 0:38:45 | 0:38:50 | |
would be like finding out I could go out and write poems | 0:38:50 | 0:38:52 | |
with William Blake or something. | 0:38:52 | 0:38:54 | |
ALL: # Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose | 0:38:57 | 0:39:04 | |
# Nothing ain't worth nothing | 0:39:04 | 0:39:06 | |
# But it's free | 0:39:06 | 0:39:07 | |
# Feelin' good was easy, Lord | 0:39:10 | 0:39:13 | |
# When Bobby sang the blues | 0:39:13 | 0:39:15 | |
# And, buddy, that was good enough | 0:39:16 | 0:39:19 | |
# For me and Waylon and Johnny and Willie | 0:39:19 | 0:39:23 | |
ALL: # Good enough for me and Bobby McGee... # | 0:39:23 | 0:39:26 | |
When were travelling with a band, we would pull off at truckstops | 0:39:28 | 0:39:33 | |
periodically for the guys to get food. | 0:39:33 | 0:39:35 | |
They would all get their biscuits and gravy and bacon and eggs | 0:39:35 | 0:39:38 | |
and all the stuff that they love at truckstops. | 0:39:38 | 0:39:40 | |
Kris would get off the bus, | 0:39:40 | 0:39:41 | |
and instead of going inside the truckstops, | 0:39:41 | 0:39:43 | |
he would just start running for an hour in that direction. | 0:39:43 | 0:39:46 | |
Then, when the guys were all done eating, | 0:39:46 | 0:39:48 | |
we would get back on the bus. | 0:39:48 | 0:39:49 | |
We would go down the highway and pick him up wherever he was. | 0:39:49 | 0:39:53 | |
My father maintained he did the best he could, | 0:39:53 | 0:39:55 | |
but he never was one for exercise, | 0:39:55 | 0:39:57 | |
whereas Willie and Kris were always exercising, | 0:39:57 | 0:40:00 | |
whether it was golf or jogging or whatever, | 0:40:00 | 0:40:03 | |
they were very, very physically active. | 0:40:03 | 0:40:05 | |
Johnny was not the healthiest person. | 0:40:05 | 0:40:09 | |
He had had some implants, some dental implants, | 0:40:09 | 0:40:12 | |
and the doctor had broken his jaw putting these things in. | 0:40:12 | 0:40:15 | |
He would still come out and do the show, | 0:40:15 | 0:40:18 | |
but he was just not a happy camper. | 0:40:18 | 0:40:20 | |
He did all that in excruciating pain and was still so gracious. | 0:40:20 | 0:40:27 | |
He didn't make a big deal about it. He hid his pain well. | 0:40:27 | 0:40:31 | |
The only time he said that he ever felt good | 0:40:31 | 0:40:34 | |
in the course of a day or night with this problem | 0:40:34 | 0:40:38 | |
was when he was on stage, when he would sublimate it. | 0:40:38 | 0:40:42 | |
Just sing over the pain. | 0:40:42 | 0:40:44 | |
Waylon was having a bypass surgery done. | 0:40:45 | 0:40:47 | |
My father went and visited him in the hospital. | 0:40:47 | 0:40:51 | |
The doctors wanted to check him out when he was there, | 0:40:51 | 0:40:53 | |
because he didn't look quite right. | 0:40:53 | 0:40:55 | |
It was determined that my father also had a blocked artery, too. | 0:40:55 | 0:41:00 | |
So he had to have a bypass surgery also. | 0:41:00 | 0:41:03 | |
So Waylon and my dad were really almost roommates once again | 0:41:03 | 0:41:06 | |
because they were right down the hall from each other. | 0:41:06 | 0:41:08 | |
So I'm sure there were some jokes being passed back and forth, | 0:41:08 | 0:41:11 | |
some old memories that came back because there they were again, | 0:41:11 | 0:41:15 | |
after all those years. | 0:41:15 | 0:41:17 | |
# Look here, is that you I see? | 0:41:17 | 0:41:22 | |
# You sure seem down to me... # | 0:41:22 | 0:41:25 | |
Waylon, I think he was spiritual down to the bottom of his feet. | 0:41:27 | 0:41:31 | |
He was able to express it to me in his music. | 0:41:31 | 0:41:37 | |
Everything that came out of his throat, to me, | 0:41:37 | 0:41:39 | |
sounded like it was a religious song. | 0:41:39 | 0:41:42 | |
# Everyone gets crazy now and then | 0:41:42 | 0:41:47 | |
# I know those empty nights get lonely... # | 0:41:50 | 0:41:55 | |
My father was an ordained minister. He was a student of the Bible. | 0:41:55 | 0:41:58 | |
He was able to say, "I've been to the darkness, | 0:41:58 | 0:42:01 | |
"I've come out the far side and the light is my point. | 0:42:01 | 0:42:05 | |
"The goodness is what I stand for." | 0:42:05 | 0:42:07 | |
# I guess these troubled times get scary | 0:42:07 | 0:42:11 | |
# But that's just ordinary | 0:42:11 | 0:42:15 | |
# Everyone gets crazy now and then | 0:42:15 | 0:42:20 | |
# And who can say they'd never stumble... # | 0:42:23 | 0:42:28 | |
All four of The Highwaymen were very spiritual guys in their own sense. | 0:42:30 | 0:42:34 | |
Willie was like a yogi. Very spiritual. | 0:42:35 | 0:42:39 | |
Not in-your-face, he didn't try to convert anybody. | 0:42:39 | 0:42:42 | |
You just kept your mouth shut and listened to Willie | 0:42:42 | 0:42:44 | |
or listen to his songs - there's all kinds of lessons in life and love. | 0:42:44 | 0:42:48 | |
They did a song called Everyone Goes Crazy Now And Then. | 0:42:55 | 0:42:58 | |
They sang the crap out of it. | 0:42:58 | 0:43:01 | |
I mean, Kris will just break your heart on it. | 0:43:01 | 0:43:04 | |
# I get crazy just like you | 0:43:04 | 0:43:09 | |
# Lost and lonely, too | 0:43:09 | 0:43:12 | |
# Like some old flag left flying in the wind | 0:43:12 | 0:43:17 | |
# Time has taught me this for sure | 0:43:21 | 0:43:25 | |
# Time is the only cure... # | 0:43:25 | 0:43:29 | |
It was very healing for the four guys to be together. | 0:43:29 | 0:43:32 | |
They had their families on tour, so it was a win-win situation, | 0:43:32 | 0:43:36 | |
even though each of them had specific... | 0:43:36 | 0:43:39 | |
Had their own health problems. | 0:43:39 | 0:43:41 | |
Together, as a unit, you know, it was a very helpful thing. | 0:43:41 | 0:43:46 | |
-WAYLON: -You better grin, Kris, or I will hate you. | 0:43:46 | 0:43:48 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:43:48 | 0:43:50 | |
# Living legends are a dyin' breed and there ain't that many left | 0:43:52 | 0:43:56 | |
# To tell the truth, I ain't been feeling | 0:43:56 | 0:43:58 | |
# Real hot lately my damn self | 0:43:58 | 0:44:00 | |
# I ain't old and I ain't bitter | 0:44:00 | 0:44:02 | |
# And I ain't mad at anyone | 0:44:02 | 0:44:05 | |
# So don't go taking seriously what's poked at you in fun | 0:44:05 | 0:44:08 | |
# But if you have ever been to Nashville | 0:44:10 | 0:44:12 | |
# Then I think you might agree | 0:44:12 | 0:44:14 | |
# We've seen a lot of changes | 0:44:14 | 0:44:16 | |
# Things we never thought we'd see | 0:44:16 | 0:44:18 | |
# A rock and roller with a banjo | 0:44:19 | 0:44:21 | |
# Now that I might recall | 0:44:21 | 0:44:23 | |
# But... | 0:44:23 | 0:44:25 | |
# A country singer with a briefcase | 0:44:25 | 0:44:27 | |
# Beats all I ever saw. # | 0:44:27 | 0:44:29 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:44:29 | 0:44:30 | |
They laugh all the time. | 0:44:30 | 0:44:33 | |
They laugh constantly, they crack each other up. | 0:44:33 | 0:44:36 | |
They respect each other so much that they can also sit in a room | 0:44:36 | 0:44:39 | |
and have a smoke and not have to say a thing. | 0:44:39 | 0:44:42 | |
They communicate on a level that I don't speak that language. | 0:44:42 | 0:44:47 | |
We are friends for ever, as they say. | 0:44:47 | 0:44:50 | |
All right. | 0:44:50 | 0:44:52 | |
-Let's play golf. -You got a deal. | 0:44:52 | 0:44:53 | |
I can beat you any day of the week. | 0:44:53 | 0:44:55 | |
Let's have lunch sometime. | 0:44:55 | 0:44:56 | |
-You are no golf-playing son of a bitch... -No way. | 0:44:56 | 0:44:59 | |
Remember... Remember the Linda Ronstadt hit... | 0:44:59 | 0:45:04 | |
Blue Bayou? | 0:45:04 | 0:45:06 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:45:06 | 0:45:08 | |
That's the way it will be, all day long. Blew by you. | 0:45:11 | 0:45:15 | |
We did four tours. | 0:45:15 | 0:45:17 | |
There were some three or four years between each tour. | 0:45:17 | 0:45:19 | |
Maybe after the last tour, | 0:45:19 | 0:45:22 | |
I don't know if everybody's health was up to speed. | 0:45:22 | 0:45:25 | |
My father and Waylon seemed to be beginning to suffer physically. | 0:45:25 | 0:45:28 | |
ALL: # Like desperados waitin' for a train | 0:45:28 | 0:45:32 | |
# Like desperado waitin' for a train | 0:45:34 | 0:45:39 | |
# He's a drifter | 0:45:44 | 0:45:46 | |
# And a driller of oil wells | 0:45:46 | 0:45:49 | |
# An old-school man of the world... # | 0:45:51 | 0:45:53 | |
Waylon, he was still battling diabetes. It had gotten pretty bad. | 0:45:55 | 0:46:00 | |
He did have heart failure. Towards the end, he would lose his breath. | 0:46:00 | 0:46:03 | |
But his attitude never, ever showed that he was willing to give up. | 0:46:03 | 0:46:09 | |
We kept working. It's like... It just didn't change our life. | 0:46:09 | 0:46:12 | |
That part of him was still the same. He was still a worker. | 0:46:12 | 0:46:15 | |
# Like desperados waitin' for a train | 0:46:15 | 0:46:19 | |
# Like desperados waitin' for a train | 0:46:21 | 0:46:25 | |
-CASH: -# One day I looked up and he's pushin' 80 | 0:46:31 | 0:46:34 | |
# And there's brown tobacco stains all down his chin | 0:46:37 | 0:46:41 | |
# To me, he's one of the heroes of this country | 0:46:43 | 0:46:48 | |
# So why's he all dressed up like them old men...? # | 0:46:50 | 0:46:54 | |
-KRIS: -As soon as Waylon went into intensive care, | 0:46:54 | 0:46:57 | |
John went into intensive care. | 0:46:57 | 0:46:58 | |
I guess I was in denial. | 0:47:00 | 0:47:02 | |
I thought John went into the hospital sometimes just to rest. | 0:47:04 | 0:47:09 | |
It wasn't. They really were dying. | 0:47:14 | 0:47:16 | |
In 1997, my father actually retired from the road for good. | 0:47:18 | 0:47:22 | |
Even though his friendship, of course, | 0:47:22 | 0:47:24 | |
with Waylon, carried on, Waylon's health also began to decline. | 0:47:24 | 0:47:28 | |
Waylon came out to my studio not long before he passed - | 0:47:28 | 0:47:31 | |
a couple of years. | 0:47:31 | 0:47:33 | |
He said he wanted to record some songs. | 0:47:33 | 0:47:35 | |
He said, "I want you to finish them someday." | 0:47:35 | 0:47:37 | |
So, when he passed, I was hurt, | 0:47:38 | 0:47:40 | |
because Waylon was as much family to me... | 0:47:40 | 0:47:43 | |
I mean, I still get emotional. I miss him every day of my life. | 0:47:43 | 0:47:46 | |
I really do. He was a great man. He really was. | 0:47:46 | 0:47:50 | |
# Lord, help me, Jesus | 0:47:51 | 0:47:55 | |
# I've wasted... # | 0:47:55 | 0:47:57 | |
When Waylon passed away, | 0:47:59 | 0:48:02 | |
my father really felt like he had lost his best friend. | 0:48:02 | 0:48:05 | |
Dad and Waylon always laughed together. | 0:48:05 | 0:48:07 | |
Losing Waylon was in many ways like, you know, losing a brother. | 0:48:07 | 0:48:11 | |
They were that close. But my dad persisted. | 0:48:11 | 0:48:16 | |
He never turned loose of the music. | 0:48:16 | 0:48:18 | |
He was chasing songs till the day he died. | 0:48:18 | 0:48:22 | |
He may be the most spiritual person I have known, | 0:48:22 | 0:48:26 | |
because he was conscious of his own mortality and his own weaknesses. | 0:48:26 | 0:48:33 | |
But he used his life to raise the perception | 0:48:33 | 0:48:38 | |
of other people into the infinite. | 0:48:38 | 0:48:40 | |
I hope that younger musicians will look at the example | 0:48:47 | 0:48:50 | |
that The Highwaymen give us and realise | 0:48:50 | 0:48:53 | |
that if we stay true to what we believe, | 0:48:53 | 0:48:56 | |
if we follow our dreams with our hearts, | 0:48:56 | 0:48:58 | |
we can stand together a whole lot stronger. | 0:48:58 | 0:49:01 | |
That is what The Highwaymen did. | 0:49:01 | 0:49:04 | |
It is like being in a beautiful dream and not wanting it to end, | 0:49:04 | 0:49:10 | |
and yet, when the notes of the final song hit, | 0:49:10 | 0:49:14 | |
you know that it's... | 0:49:14 | 0:49:17 | |
This isn't for ever. | 0:49:17 | 0:49:20 | |
# Let's go to Luckenbach, Texas | 0:49:20 | 0:49:23 | |
# With Waylon and Willie and the boys... # | 0:49:23 | 0:49:27 | |
I think that The Highwaymen influenced | 0:49:29 | 0:49:31 | |
so many other young artists... | 0:49:31 | 0:49:34 | |
as to maybe follow your heart. | 0:49:34 | 0:49:36 | |
The Highwaymen is like the first dream team in basketball. | 0:49:36 | 0:49:39 | |
You put Cash and all those guys together and it is like... | 0:49:39 | 0:49:43 | |
You can't repeat that. That's kind of the Mount Rushmore deal. | 0:49:43 | 0:49:46 | |
# Out in Luckenbach, Texas | 0:49:46 | 0:49:49 | |
# Ain't nobody feeling no pain... # | 0:49:49 | 0:49:52 | |
Everybody has limitations on what they can do, | 0:49:54 | 0:49:57 | |
how close they can get to the dreams. | 0:49:57 | 0:50:00 | |
I believe that it is what we are supposed to do - | 0:50:00 | 0:50:04 | |
live up to our better instincts. | 0:50:04 | 0:50:06 | |
# This coat and tie are killin' me | 0:50:08 | 0:50:10 | |
# And in your high society | 0:50:10 | 0:50:13 | |
# You cry all day | 0:50:13 | 0:50:16 | |
# We've been so busy keeping up with the Jones... # | 0:50:17 | 0:50:21 | |
Their spirit lives on, and that type of constitution | 0:50:21 | 0:50:25 | |
that these guys had, | 0:50:25 | 0:50:27 | |
they stood for something that most people just don't have in them. | 0:50:27 | 0:50:33 | |
It was four of the last great American heroes | 0:50:40 | 0:50:43 | |
from the 20th century that rode into town, | 0:50:43 | 0:50:45 | |
that made us love country music, that made us love American music. | 0:50:45 | 0:50:50 | |
You know what? It was a victory lap, and everybody won. | 0:50:50 | 0:50:54 | |
Especially us, the listener. | 0:50:54 | 0:50:55 | |
For every detractor, every record company executive who ever | 0:51:01 | 0:51:08 | |
sold them short or felt that they were irrelevant or over the hill, | 0:51:08 | 0:51:15 | |
all of those people are out of this business. | 0:51:15 | 0:51:17 | |
These guys are still in the business | 0:51:17 | 0:51:19 | |
and their music is still being played. | 0:51:19 | 0:51:22 | |
It will be played for hundreds of thousands of years. | 0:51:22 | 0:51:26 | |
ALL: # Hank Williams pain songs | 0:51:26 | 0:51:27 | |
# ..train songs | 0:51:27 | 0:51:29 | |
# Blue eyes crying in the rain... # | 0:51:29 | 0:51:33 | |
They are still honorary, lonesome and mean. | 0:51:35 | 0:51:40 | |
LAUGHTER | 0:51:40 | 0:51:42 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:51:49 | 0:51:50 | |
# Well, I taught the weeping willow how to cry, cry, cry | 0:52:05 | 0:52:09 | |
# And I showed the clouds how to cover up a clear blue sky | 0:52:09 | 0:52:14 | |
# And the tears that I cried for that woman | 0:52:14 | 0:52:16 | |
# Are gonna flood you, Big River | 0:52:16 | 0:52:18 | |
# Then I'm gonna sit right here until I die | 0:52:18 | 0:52:22 | |
# I met her accidentally in St Paul, Minnesota | 0:52:23 | 0:52:28 | |
# And it tore me up to hear her when she'd drawl that Southern drawl | 0:52:28 | 0:52:32 | |
# Well, I heard my dream went back downstream cavortin' in Davenport | 0:52:32 | 0:52:37 | |
# But I followed you, Big River, when you called... # | 0:52:37 | 0:52:40 |