{"id":2784,"date":"2017-05-13T07:00:10","date_gmt":"2017-05-13T11:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/?p=2784"},"modified":"2017-06-03T21:27:47","modified_gmt":"2017-06-04T01:27:47","slug":"know-means-lonesome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/know-means-lonesome\/","title":{"rendered":"I Know What It Means to be Lonesome (Bill Williams)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"I Know What It Means to Be Lonesome\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TIkUntmfJZU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I learned this off a lovely album by a little-known guitarist and singer from Kentucky, <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-2785\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Bill-Williams-LP-300x300.jpg?resize=300%2C300\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Bill-Williams-LP.jpg?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Bill-Williams-LP.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Bill-Williams-LP.jpg?w=400&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Bill Williams, who recorded a couple of LPs for the Blue Goose label in the 1970s. Williams was presented as a blues artist, but his music ranged all over American music, from old rural music to pop songs and ragtime instrumentals.<\/p>\n<p>I heard &#8220;I Know What It Means to Be Lonesome&#8221; as a rural ragtime song on the borderline between blues and country music, and was not surprised when I later learned that it had been recorded by Lester Flatt &amp; Earl Scruggs and before them by the Carter Family. What did surprise <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-2786 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/I-Know-What-It-Means-to-Be-Lonesome-2-217x300.jpg?resize=222%2C307\" alt=\"\" width=\"222\" height=\"307\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/I-Know-What-It-Means-to-Be-Lonesome-2.jpg?resize=217%2C300&amp;ssl=1 217w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/I-Know-What-It-Means-to-Be-Lonesome-2.jpg?w=280&amp;ssl=1 280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 222px) 100vw, 222px\" \/>me, when I began researching this post, is that before that it was a Tin Pan Alley pop number, with sheet music published in 1919 and recordings by pop recording stars like Henry Burr on cylinders and discs. The pop song had a verse that the rural artists didn&#8217;t sing, and I&#8217;m guessing Williams probably got it through the Carters, but the chorus is close enough that there&#8217;s no doubt it&#8217;s the same song.<\/p>\n<p>I liked this song a lot, and even recorded it on my first album, but had pretty much forgotten about it till I looked at old set lists and noticed how often I played it in the early 1980s. So I worked it up again, adding some faster runs than I could have played back then &#8212; my time with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/perrys-march\/\">Perry Lederman<\/a> got me interested in the kind of single-string runs <a href=\"http:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/cincinnati-flow-rag\/\">Reverend Gary Davis<\/a> used to play, leading to a brief and unsuccessful attempt to play Doc Watson-style leads with my fingers, which resulted in this kind of picking as a compromise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I learned this off a lovely album by a little-known guitarist and singer from Kentucky, Bill Williams, who recorded a couple of LPs for the Blue Goose label in the 1970s. Williams was presented as a blues artist, but his music ranged all over American music, from old rural music to pop songs and ragtime &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/know-means-lonesome\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">I Know What It Means to be Lonesome (Bill Williams)<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>I Know What It Means to be Lonesome (Bill Williams) - Old Friends: A Songobiography<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/know-means-lonesome\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I Know What It Means to be Lonesome (Bill Williams) - Old Friends: A Songobiography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I learned this off a lovely album by a little-known guitarist and singer from Kentucky, Bill Williams, who recorded a couple of LPs for the Blue Goose label in the 1970s. Williams was presented as a blues artist, but his music ranged all over American music, from old rural music to pop songs and ragtime &hellip; Continue reading I Know What It Means to be Lonesome (Bill Williams) &rarr;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/know-means-lonesome\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Old Friends: A Songobiography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-05-13T11:00:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-06-04T01:27:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Bill-Williams-LP-300x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elijah Wald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ElijahWald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ElijahWald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elijah Wald\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/know-means-lonesome\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/know-means-lonesome\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elijah Wald\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"headline\":\"I Know What It Means to be Lonesome (Bill Williams)\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-05-13T11:00:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-06-04T01:27:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/know-means-lonesome\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":303,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/know-means-lonesome\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/04\\\/Bill-Williams-LP-300x300.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/know-means-lonesome\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/know-means-lonesome\\\/\",\"name\":\"I Know What It Means to be Lonesome (Bill Williams) - 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As I've mentioned, my Cambridge folk scene upbringing initially made me resistant to mainstream Nashville country music, Williams included, but by\u00a0 the early 1980s I was gradually coming to my senses\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/HankWilliams1952-286x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5322,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/so-lonesome-i-could-cry\/","url_meta":{"origin":2784,"position":1},"title":"I&#8217;m So Lonesome I Could Cry (Hank Williams)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"August 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I've heard so many people do beautiful versions of \"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry\" that I never felt a need to perform it myself. I've known it forever, and sometimes sang it for my own pleasure, but there is no way I was going to even approach the haunted\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Im-So-Lonesome-sheet-music.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5499,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/cold-cold-heart\/","url_meta":{"origin":2784,"position":2},"title":"Cold, Cold Heart (Hank Williams)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"January 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I have no idea when or where I learned \"Cold, Cold Heart\" -- it must have been sometime after the 1970s, because I didn't grow up with classic country, aside from a couple of Johnny Cash records and the cheapo anthology where I learned \"Lonesome 7-7203.\" That changed in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Hank-Williams-Portrait-e1732315103762.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1380,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/pick-poor-robin\/","url_meta":{"origin":2784,"position":3},"title":"Pick Poor Robin Clean (Larry Johnson)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"June 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Before getting to the history and meaning of \"Pick Poor Robin Clean,\" a bit of personal background: in 1976-77 I was living in New York, devoting virtually all my record buying to prewar blues reissues, but the same collection that had filled Dayton's with all the Yazoo reissues also included\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Larry Johnson","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Larry-Johnson-298x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1219,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/maple-leaf-rag\/","url_meta":{"origin":2784,"position":4},"title":"Maple Leaf Rag (Scott Joplin\/Dave Van Ronk)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"June 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Dave Van Ronk was hailed as the pioneering arranger of \"classic\" ragtime for fingerstyle guitar more or less by default. 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In 1925, before any of the other great blues piano\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cow-cow-card-300x186.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2784"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2897,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2784\/revisions\/2897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}