Why Don't You Love Me / A House Without Love - Hank Williams
Why included: 7th in RYM's Top 10 singles of 1950
A-side: Why Don't You Love Me
Apple Music link: https://music.apple.com/us/album/why-dont-you-love-me-single-version/1434905254?i=1434905515
This has got to be one of the (if not the) catchiest, earwormiest songs Hank ever released. Now, like most pre-60s artists, Hank probably borrowed a lot of his core melodies from the rich tradition of blues/folk/country before him, but he always had a knack for choosing just the right vocal phrasings, just the right melodies/riffs, just the right lyrics, and just the right tones/arrangements to make it stick in your brain like no other (indeed, I've heard roughly 40-50 of his songs and I remember how almost all of them go just by looking at the titles). Yet, this song is incredible even for his standards, every moment here manages to be instantly memorable and consistently entertaining the whole way through.
As it goes with Hank, the secret lies deep in the details. Much of the magic here comes from the brutally simple rhyming schemes in the lyrics, allowing the melody and the flow between verses to be buttery smooth. Sure, rhyming "do" with "shoe" and "while" with "mile" might seem inane, but such is the nature of his genius that he can make such a "dumb" song so emotionally striking. The balance of lighthearted friendliness and bleak world-weariness perfectly captures that "depressed self-deprecating humor" vibe he does so well, but he manages to use subtle toning to sneak in unique submoods for each lyric. In fact, you could understand his deeper torment by following the four-part structure of each stanza, starting with a hopeless cry for lost love ("why don't you be just like you used to be?"), questioning whether it is his fault ("how come you find so many faults with me?"), frustratedly retaliating back at his lover ("somebody's changed so let me give you a clue"), and then tries to innocently ask for a genuine answer to his original question ("why don't you love me like you used to do?"). Really, there are so many little details flavoring the whole thing that one could go line-by-line and psychoanalyze the whole damn thing. No wonder this manages to be so memorable: the combination of catchiness and relatability just cannot be beaten.
B-side: A House Without Love
Apple Music link: https://music.apple.com/us/album/a-house-without-love-single-version/1501917880?i=1501918411
Truth be told, this is not a great highlight of his catalog, but I'll be damned if Hank ever recorded a truly bad song, which is why his B-sides are usually quite treasurable. This one contains his trademark soulful elongations that drown you with his voice, the rich sound of his backing band, and his melancholic vibe that no one could ever fully recapture. Those three elements alone are enough to guarantee its quality will still be miles above 90% of performers in the genre, so why say no to more of a golden formula?
Verdict: Essential Listening
"Why Don't You Love Me" is the perfect example of why one should never quickly dismiss a simpler, more accessible song by a great artist. A fan who appreciates complex gems of his like "I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive" or "Kaw-Liga" could quickly right this off as a dumb attempt of scoring a catchy hit, which is even how I felt when I first heard it. Yet, artistic genius is not something that ever fully disappears, and even if Hank just tried to write a fun little ditty, it might end up having layers of depth that the artist himself would even struggle to account for. At least, with every listen, my respect for the song grew and grew, which is usually the opposite of what happens with songs like this. So, be sure to give this single the time it deserves, and hey, how could that be a chore with a melody so damn infectious?
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