Lucinda Williams – Can’t Let Go

He won’t take me back when I come around
Says he’s sorry then he pulls me out
I got a big chain around my neck
And I’m broken down like a train wreck
Well it’s over I know it but I can’t let go

I was an instant fan when I heard this song. I spent some time figuring out who the hell this lady was. Her vocals and the song really impressed me. The track is so down to earth and real, with the music being as tight as you can get. It came off her breakthrough album, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. Steve Earle played guitar on the album and helped produce it. I thought this song was a big hit because it was played a lot in Nashville when it was released. When she goes into the lyrics at the top, He won’t take me back when I come around, her voice really kicks in. 

The album was produced by Steve Earle and Ray Kennedy. Williams wrote every song on the album except this one. Randy Weeks wrote Can’t Let Go and first recorded it with his band, The Lonesome Strangers, in the late 1980s. The song had a bluesy, rootsy feel but didn’t gain much recognition then. Williams first heard the song performed by Randy Weeks at the Palomino Club in Los Angeles and asked him if she could work it into her own style.

Can’t Let Go won Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. I never really liked awards for things like this…but she deserved this one. The song didn’t chart (Life is not fair), but the album peaked at #65 in the Billboard 200 and #14 in Canadian RPM Country Albums.

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss covered the song on their album Raise the Roof, and their version also received praise. Personally, I like the Williams version the best. It’s hard to beat her vocals. I tried to find a live version, but none of them has the intensity of the studio track, which is odd. 

Lucinda Williams: “I was playing Steve Earle’s dobro, which had a really wide neck, and my fingers kinda slipped on it. But the track was so brilliant that everyone went, No, no, it’s great! I agonized over it for weeks and weeks, and they all kept saying, It’s great. But see, there’ve been other things where I’ve gone in and said, ‘I think we should redo this track because it’s not in the pocket or it’s too fast

Can’t Let Go

Told my baby one more time
Don’t make me sit all alone and cry
Well it’s over I know it but I can’t let go
I’m like a fish out of water
A cat in a tree

You don’t even want to talk to me
Well it’s over I know it but I can’t let go
He won’t take me back when I come around

Says he’s sorry then he pulls me out
I got a big chain around my neck
And I’m broken down like a train wreck
Well it’s over I know it but I can’t let go

See I got a candle and it burns so bright

In my window every night
Well it’s over I know but I can’t let go
You don’t like to see me standing around

Feel like I been shot and didn’t fall down
Well it’s over I know it but I can’t let go
He won’t take me back when I come around

Says he’s sorry then he pulls me out
I got a big chain around my neck
And I’m broken down like a train wreck
Well it’s over I know it but I can’t let go

Turn off trouble like you turn off a light

Went off and left me it just ain’t right
Well it’s over I know it but I can’t let go
Round every corner something I see

Bring me right back how it used to be
Well it’s over I know it but I can’t let go
He won’t take me back when I come around

Says he’s sorry then he pulls me out
I got a big chain around my neck
And I’m broken down like a train wreck
Well it’s over I know it but I can’t let go

He won’t take me back when I come around

Says he’s sorry then he pulls me out
I got a big chain around my neck
And I’m broken down like a train wreck
Well it’s over I know it but I can’t let go

It’s over I know it but I can’t let go
It’s over I know it but I can’t let go
It’s over I know it but I can’t let go

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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.

35 thoughts on “Lucinda Williams – Can’t Let Go”

  1. This is a great song Max off of an amazing album. Despite winning a few Grammys, it’s true she has flown under the radar. Both she and Steve Earle have a pretty big following here in Canada. I have talked about her several times on past posts so I shan’t drone on.

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    1. You can always drone on Randy….when I heard this one…it didn’t have to grow on me…I liked it insantly. I thought at the time it had to be a huge hit.

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    1. I’ll have to check that one out.
      Speaking of the Dead…Jim I’ve been in a Americana kick…tomorrow I have a female artist who was a fan and mentions that she is a “deadhead” …good song.

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  6. Good gritty sound. I know her name but not really her music. Seems like she might fit in with Steve Earle…that kind of redneck country infused with rock.
    Didn’t see your posts come up on my reader today, will have to try and figure why not. Always something with WP!

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  7. Good stuff Max. The album got my attention when it came out. Forgot about the Earle connection. She puts out solid tunes. Seems to me I heard she had some health problems. Hope she recouped.
    I picked up an album a long time ago called ‘A Town South Of Bakersfield”. Various artist at the Palomino when they were just getting rolling. Lucinda, Yokum and the like. I played it to death.

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    1. This got to me as soon as I heard it in the 90s. Down here it was played like a top 10 song…which was great to hear it so much.
      Yea I think she is still recouping but doing well from what I read.

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  8. A great song, from a fantastic album that I found quite by chance. I was in the record shop near work one lunchtime and saw this CD in the remainders bin. I looked at the sleeve, saw who was involved with it, and paid a pittance for it. One of the best decisions I’ve ever made when buying a record!

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    1. It is a great album Clive. This song was my introduction to her in 98 or so…yea you did very well with that purchase. Not a bad cut on the album.

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