Waylon Jennings – Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line

When I hear this song…I think it’s one of the coolest songs I’ve ever heard. The song is classified as country but there is some early rock in this also. I could hear Buddy Holly singing this one with no problem. Jennings to me, could have easily been a rock and roll singer and his songs often crossed genres. Waylon was in the “Outlaws” which included Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson, and David Allan Coe. It wasn’t a band but a group of musicians who had freedom with their music and didn’t follow Nashville’s so called guidelines.

Speaking of Buddy Holly. Jennings played with Buddy Holly in the 50s. Holly saw Jennings, a radio DJ since his pre-teen years, as a promising talent. The first fruits of the two late 50s partnership came when Jennings recorded the songs “Jole Blon” and “When Sin Stops (Love Begins)” with Holly and guitarist Tommy Allsup.

Jennings went on the road as part of Holly’s post-Crickets backing band for the Winter Dance Party Tour along with co-headliners Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper (JP Richardson). They had unheated buses and the drummer Carl Bunch got frost bite on the bus. Holly charted a flight and bandmate Allsup allegedly lost a seat in a coin toss to Ritchie Valens, and Jennings offered his spot to a sick Richardson.

Holly and Jennings were very close. They joked with each other on the night of the crash as Holly was leaving. Holly jokingly told Jennings, “Well, I hope your ol’ bus freezes up!” Jennings jokingly replied, “Well, I hope your ol’ plane crashes!” That haunted Jennings for years after that. Jennings has said that Buddy influenced him a lot in his career. He said he learned not to compromise your music.

Jim Alley, an American country singer, first recorded this song in 1967. However, his version didn’t become that popular during his time. Jimmy Bryant wrote this song and was a fiddle player who played on some country records along with The Monkees song Sweet Young Thing.

Waylon recorded the song at RCA Victor Studios in Nashville and no other than Chet Atkins produced it. The song was released a few months later. The song was a hit, it peaked at #1 on the Canadian Country Charts and #2 on the Billboard Country Charts in 1968. The Kentucky Headhunters and Linda Ronstadt covered the song later on.

Waylon and Jessi

Jennings had one of the best marriages in music. He married Jessi Colter in 1969. Jennings experienced three failed marriages before he finally found the one. Jessi remained his wife until Jennings’s death in 2002.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqOii9S6GGc

Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line

Everybody knows you’ve been steppin’ on my toes
And I’m gettin’ pretty tired of it
You keep a steppin’ out of line
You’re messin’ with my mind
If you had any sense you’d quit

‘Cause ever since you were a little bitty teeny girl
You said I was the only man in this whole world
Now you better do some thinkin’ then you’ll find
You got the only daddy that’ll walk the line

I keep a workin’ every day all you want to is play
I’m tired of stayin’ out all night
I’m comin’ unglued
From your funny little moods
Now Honey baby that ain’t right

You keep a packin’ up my clothes nearly everybody knows
That you’re still just a puttin’ me on
But when I start a walkin’
Gonna hear you start a squawkin’
And beggin’ me to come back home

You got the only daddy that’ll walk the line

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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.

40 thoughts on “Waylon Jennings – Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line”

  2. Love that song, Max. It’s also a great illustration of the richness in much of country. Once my light bulb went on and I recognized how much crossover you have in that genre, I started to change my original narrow-minded view that all country essentially is hillbilly music!

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  3. I like that one! Kind of jaunty in that early rock-country blend that guys like Johnny Cash did well. And am I the only one who hears a bit of Roy Orbison in his voice (on the bottom video at least)?

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    1. This one has a strong rockabilly sound to it. I know what you mean with the Orbison sound…what threw me off is Waylon without his beard…I had to get used to that. I also forgot about Jessi Colter…she had a big career as well.

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  7. No one could make a Tele jump like Waylon. A great musician and singer gone much too soon. I have a Waylon and Jessi duo album somewhere in a box, now I must find and spin it. Good post. He played many times at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, early to mid 70s, about the time he and Willie let their hair grow out and started smoking pot instead of Jack Daniels.

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    1. Phil…it’s not a big deal but it was to me. I was at my guitar techs place and I got to play Waylon’s guitar…the one with the leather…I’ll never forget it.
      Yea that was when the Outlaw period was huge. It was kinda like Country music’s punk period…they were fed up with the Nashville way….I wish I could have seen him…he seemed like a really cool guy.

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      1. I saw him and Willie and Kristofferson at Willie’s Picnic in Palo Duro Canyon back in the late 70s. Imagine half a million folks sitting in the sun all day, drinking beer, and waiting for them to come on after dark. By then, most of the fans were drunk, passed out, or dead from heat stroke. I never attended another picnic after that one. I had enough sense to hike back to the car and at least get out of the sun. Getting to even touch that guitar is magic. I believe he played that darn thing for decades.

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      2. Was Lynyrd Skynyrd at that one by chance? They went to one in 77 and flew with Jennings.
        I felt it and enjoyed the moment…it played like a dream of course.

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      3. I don’t think they were at that one, or if they were, I was in the car asleep. I remember Jennings was not on the line-up as a performer but showed up and played some with Willie. A young Billy Joe Shaver played some of his outlaw tunes. It was possibly the most miserable outdoor show to date. It was near 100 degrees in the West Texas desert. Those of us who didn’t leave, or die, had a good show after dark. I read that all those cool licks in his songs were from Waylon. He might have not played them all on record, but he came up with them. I bet that Tele was a dream set-up. The one I had, never could get the bridge right. My grandson plays a 70s Telecaster through a Fender Champ tube amp. All self-taught and plays like Clapton. If he ever sends me a video, I will post it on my blog.

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      4. Please do Phil I would love to hear him.
        Playing that guitar is the reason I went out and got a Fender JD Donahue 90s model tele back then. Sweetest maple neck I have out of all of my guitars.

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  8. Its Country-inflected Pop, but sliding on the Country side. I’d far listen to this rather than most ‘Aw Shucks, Betty-Lou Just Stomped All Over My Poor Cotton Pickin’ Broken Heart So I’m Downin’ My Sorrows Tonight, Barkeep Keep ‘Em Coming’ type of Country.

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    1. As a songwriter…that title sure is tempting! I’ll give you half the royalities! lol. Not 0 but 00!
      Yea it does have a fusion going on with country-pop and a touch of rockabilly with the guitar tone.

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      1. There is that certain _no, I didn’t misspell ‘cretin’- type of Country that irritates the Hell out of me, as I may have subtly mentioned. Ya’ll hailing from near Nashville may have had your fill of some of them down home vittles I guess?!

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  9. Elvis Costello did a great version of this song live in his 1986-87 shows with his “Confederates” back-up band led by the great James Burton. It also was later released on a live bonus CD. You can listen here:

    Funny that I read this before church this morning. The keyboard player in our church band played with Waylon for years!

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    1. Thanks Mike…that was a great version…I never heard it.
      Oh wow that is really cool. Our church only does acapella singing

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