Before Willie Nelson moved to Austin, braided his hair, and created a country music counter-culture, he was a clean-cut songwriter cutting his teeth in Nashville, Tennessee. While Willie, then known as Hugh, might have been a more clean-cut individual during his Nashville days, he was still the same exceptional musician we all know and love today. Matter of fact, during his days as a songwriter, he was reinventing popular country music by straying away from the typical three to four-chord structure and including far more complex arrangements. Many people noticed this, though, one person who raved about it was Charlie Dick, Patsy Cline‘s husband.
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Most country music fans are familiar with Patsy Cline’s “Crazy”; consequently, they know that Willie Nelson wrote the song. Although, what a lot of folks seemingly don’t know is that Charlie Dick discovered the song while listening to it in a bar. Upon discovering the song and procuring it, Dick reportedly badgered Cline to record the song and stayed up half the night playing it for her.
Given Dick’s persistent antics, Cline was not intrigued by the song whatsoever. Matter of fact, Dick recalled, “She didn’t think too much of the song. She just didn’t even want to hear Willie Nelson’s name mentioned,” per NPR. Dick Clark didn’t care that he annoyed his wife, Patsy Cline, as he felt so strongly about her recording this song. That being so, and according to Dick, he convinced Willie Nelson to hand deliver a copy of the song their house.
Willie Nelson Was Hesitant To Get Out of the Car
Prior to delivering the copy, Dick had told Willie “what Patsy said about me keeping her up all night.” Given Patsy’s annoyance with the song and with Willie Nelson, Dick recalled, that Willie “Waited outside” because “He didn’t want to lose a sale.”
In addition to Dick’s recollection of the evening, Willie Nelson gave a different synopsis in an interview with SiriusXM. Retelling the story, Nelson divulged, “I stayed in the car, I wouldn’t get out…Charlie went in, and Patsy came out and made me get out and go in and heard the song, loved it, and cut it the next week.”
Concerning Cline’s perception of the song, it seems Dick and Nelson had some differing perspectives. Dick stated that she had no interest in recording it due to his persistence, per Nelson’s comments, his perspective differed. Regardless, history is history, and tales of this type rarely stay the same when they are told far more than twice. However, in this story, all that matters is that Nelson sold the song, Cline recorded it, and they both benefited from it immensely.
Photo by Johnny Franklin/andmorebears/Getty Images
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