I wanted to post the Hank version anyway but I remember this version from a few years ago and I had to include that one as well. We are combining them today.
The Hillbilly Shakespeare Hank Williams wrote this song. When Williams moved to MGM Records in 1947 the hits started to come but this wasn’t one of them. It’s hard to believe this was not a hit. It’s a strong spiritual song that will stay with me until I die. The song started to get more popular after its initial release in 1948 and eventually, Williams would close shows with it.
Williams based the song on Albert E. Brumley Jr‘s song He Set Me Free. It’s close in melody but Hank made it a standard. Williams’s version is more universal. For me, it’s one of the best songs ever written. Williams wrote I Saw the Light on the way back from a dance in Fort Deposit, Alabama. Hank was out of it and sleeping in the car. His mother Lily said ‘Hank, wake up, we’re nearly home. I just saw the light.” He wrote the song right after she said that.
The The released their Hanky Panky album in 1995. The entire album featured Hank Williams cover songs. It was at first meant to be an EP of various artists doing the covers but then they decided just to go with the album by just them. They didn’t want to just copy the songs…they wanted to get the spirit of them in their own way. The album peaked at #28 on the UK album charts in 1995.
The song peaked at #31 in the UK.
Here is another song off of the Hanky Panky album…Your Cheating Heart.
I Saw The Light
I wandered so aimless, life filled with sinI wouldn’t let my dear Savior inThen Jesus came like a stranger in the nightPraise the Lord, I saw the light
I saw the light, I saw the lightNo more darkness, no more nightNow I’m so happy, no sorrow in sightPraise the Lord, I saw the light
Just like a blind man, I wandered alongWorries and fears I claimed for my ownThen like the blind man that God gave back his sightPraise the Lord, I saw the light
I saw the light, I saw the lightNo more darkness, no more nightNow I’m so happy, no sorrow in sightPraise the Lord, I saw the light
I was a fool to wander and strayFor straight is the gate and narrow’s the wayNow I have traded the wrong for the rightPraise the Lord, I saw the light
I saw the light, I saw the lightNo more darkness, no more nightNow I’m so happy, no sorrow in sightPraise the Lord, I saw the light
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