Hank Williams has been gone for decades. However, his music and influence still loom large in the minds of country music fans. Many remember him for his heartbreak songs and toe-tapping honky tonk classics. However, Williams was a multi-faceted songwriter. He also wrote many gospel songs. In fact, he released a stack of gospel singles under the name Luke the Drifter. Those tunes get largely overlooked by modern listeners. One sacred song that has stood the test of time, though, is “I Saw the Light.”
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Williams wrote “I Saw the Light” and released it as a single, backed with “Six More Miles (To the Graveyard),” in September 1948. The single failed to chart, but has gained popularity over time. Today, it’s a country gospel standard. Moreover, “I Saw the Light” fits perfectly alongside classic hymns during church services.
[RELATED: Behind The Song: Hank Williams, “I Saw The Light”]
On March 26, 1952, Williams appeared on the popular variety show, The Kate Smith Evening Hour, to perform a handful of songs alongside the show’s regular cast and other guests. The clip above shows Hank in his final television performance alongside Roy Acuff, June Carter, Anita Carter, and more.
Hank Williams Wrote “I Saw the Light” After a Night Out
In Hank Williams: The Biography, author Colin Escott pointed out that stories regarding the origins of “I Saw the Light” are many and conflicting. “If all the people who later claimed to be in the car with him that night had actually been there, Hank would have needed a 20-passenger bus,” he quipped. He then put forward Laeborne Eads’ account of the evening.
He reportedly wrote the song on the way back to Montgomery from Fort Deposit, Alabama. “Mrs. Williams had given me money to hand out circulars at Fort Deposit. Hank was higher than a kite by the time the show was over. She drove home, and he was in the back seat sleepin’ it off,” Eads recalled. “There was a beacon light near Dannelly Field Airport, and Mrs. Williams knew it always took time to wake Hank up when he was drunk like that. So, she turned around and told him, ‘Hank, wake up, we’re nearly home. I just saw the light.’ Between there and home, he wrote the song.”
Featured Image by Underwood Archives/Shutterstock
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