John Hiatt – Perfectly Good Guitar

The first time I heard this song, I loved it. John Hiatt always releases songs of quality, and they are all solid. Saying that, he is most remembered for his songs that other people cover. I don’t understand that because he has a fine, distinctive voice with a consistently excellent band behind him. The keyword here is distinctive, I guess, which I look for.

I first noticed Hiatt with the song Slow Turning. When Bonnie Raitt released Thing Called Love in 1989, I knew the song from Hiatt…I was just getting into him. I’m glad Raitt covered that song because it helped him. He has released 25 albums in total, ranging from 1974 through 2021, and it’s about time for another. My friend Christian does a good review of the album here...check it out if you can.

This song was the title track on his 1993  eleventh studio album. The album peaked at #47 on the Billboard 100, #34 in Canada, #67 in the UK, and #19 in New Zealand. It was his last album on A&M Records and his highest-charting album on Billboard. This album was probably the most rock & roll-oriented album of Hiatt’s career. I do like the guitar tone that Matt Wallace, the producer, got on this album. He had previously produced The Replacements.

The song peaked at #16 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts and #76 in Canada. The record company pulled 5 singles off of this album, and 2 were in the top 40 in the Mainstream Charts.

Perfectly Good Guitar

Well he threw one down form the top of the stairs
Beautiful women were standing everywhere
They all got wet when he smashed that thing
But off in the dark you could hear somebody sing

Oh it breaks my heart to see those stars
Smashing a perfectly good guitar
I don’t know who they think they are
Smashing a perfectly good guitar

It started back in 1963
His momma wouldn’t buy him
That new red harmony
He settled for a sunburst with a crack
But he’s still trying to break his momma’s back

He loved that guitar just like a girlfriend
But ever good thing comes to an end
Now he just sits in his room all day
Whistling every note he used to play

There out to be a law with no bail
Smash a guitar and you go to jail
With no chance for early parole
You don’t get out till you get some soul

Late at night the end of the road
He wished he still had the old guitar to hold
He’d rock it like a baby in his arms
Never let it come to any harm

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

49 thoughts on “John Hiatt – Perfectly Good Guitar”

  1. Hiatt is a great artist – one of my all time favorites. I am however not a fan of his recent work. Sadly, his voice is pretty much shot and I like him better as a rocker than a folkie. His brilliant catalog however cannot be denied.

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  2. While I had known his name since the days of Little Village, John Hiatt was another late discovery for me. I’ve since come to love the man and covered him various times including this tune, which I dig.

    Hiatt is a great songwriter. It’s a shame he never experienced much chart or commercial success himself. Fortunately, other artists who covered his songs, such as Bonnie Raitt, scored some hits with his music. In turn, he at least benefitted from their success!

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  3. This guy is next level talented. I also know of him via LV and his many many collaborations. I can’t remember the last time I heard this song. Great post and a reminder of the talent that simmers under the mainstream surface.

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    1. Thanks Randy…He is a songwriter and a half…personally I like his singing also. I’ve been listening to him lately…a song called Window on the World…love that song as well.

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    1. I never thought of the southern rock side…but you are right. Many people know his songs by other people more than him.

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  5. Know his name way more than his music but he’s certainly well-respected. This is a good one, really love his lyrics…I always thought the same – ‘well that’s a bit of a waste!’

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  8. Hiatt is a wonderful songwriter and performer. His music and his lyrics have substance. Wish I knew more of his music. Usually it happens that I randomly come across a song of his and think damn that’s good. He’s got a very talented backup band on this also, not overplaying it but playing it well.

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    2. The one song I reccomend to people…although it was never huge is “Window on the World”….that one clicks with me big time…Slow Turning is great also. He always has a great band.

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  9. Great song! I always associate John Hiatt with one of my uncles who is a fan. My uncle sang and played “Tennessee Plates” on acoustic guitar for me around that late 80s early 90s time period (Little Village, Thing Called Love).

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    1. I have songs that remind me of people…that is really cool. Glad you liked this one…Hiatt is one of those artists that I dont’ get why he isn’t more known.

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  10. I remember this! As soon as I saw the title, I thought “I haven’t heard this in YEARS!” I remember it playing on the radio. I love the song and I agree with the sentiment, too. Guitars are works of art. Leave ’em alone…or…just play them. It hurts me to see someone trash fine craftsmanship.

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      1. It certainly played in this area… G-105 (Raleigh). It also showed up, in a retro capacity on 94.5 WXRA (Eden/Winston-Salem…The Rock Alternative).

        Slow Turning was a little different. I saw the video on Night Tracks on TBS. I just saw where the album Slow Turning came out on my birthday in 1988.

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      2. I remember it but the reason was that I had the album at one time. Now Slow Turning was the song that I heard on the radio the most by him.

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  11. Been hanging with John for many moons. He can do no wrong with me. This is one of those songs that gets into the heads spin cycle and wont let go. What a killer tune. The second last verse is beautiful. I think Max could have written that.

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      6. I’ll catch up with you soon Vic…been here been there….and I have not got back on track since the Casino

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  13. I agree with Hiatt’s lines “There out to be a law with no bail. Smash a guitar and you go to jail”It really pisses me off when I see a musician smash their guitar to bits on stage. So wasteful, childish and stupid, and a complete lack of class, I don’t care how famous or acclaimed a musician they are.

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  14. Of course I love this song, but one of the things I love about it is the third line, which nobody talks about. He isn’t talking about water, my friends.

    I think Hiatt’s most rocking album is Warming Up To The Ice Age on Geffen, which predates Bring the Family.

    An amazing (at least to me) fact is that Suzy Boggus, produced by Chet Atkins, had hits and made tremendous recordings of Hiatt’s Drive South and Outbound Plane (written by Tom Russell and Nancy Griffith),

    There are so many great John Hiatt songs. And the covers!!! Emmy Lou Harris does a killer version of Icey Blue Heart. And Ronstadt’s take on When We Ran is excellent.

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