On This Day in 1982, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson Were at No. 1 With a Song That Almost Went Into the Trash Can

On this day (May 22) in 1982, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson started a two-week stay at No. 1 with “Just to Satisfy You.” It was their third duet to reach the top of the chart after “Good Hearted Woman” and “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.” This song almost didn’t make it to the recording studio, though. Jennings almost tossed it in the trash.

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Jennings co-wrote “Just to Satisfy You” with Don Bowman in 1963. Later that year, he released it, backed with “Four Strong Winds.” The sides didn’t break into the national market. They did, however, become hits on local Phoenix, Arizona, radio stations. Bobby Bare liked the songs so much that he covered them and told Chet Atkins about Jennings. Two years after releasing the single, Jennings had a new recording contract with RCA Victor.

Jennings finally gave the song a national release when he used it as the title track for his 1969 album. He didn’t choose it as the album’s single. It didn’t get a single release until he recorded it with Nelson for his Black on Black album. It almost didn’t see the light of day, though.

[RELATED: The Story Behind “Just to Satisfy You” by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson and How It Became a No. 1 Hit Almost 20 Years After It Was Written]

Waylon Jennings Almost Threw Away This Future Hit Willie Nelson Duet

“Just to Satisfy You” was more than a hit duet for Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. It was instrumental in helping Jennings land a major label deal in Nashville. According to Songfacts, it almost got left in the past.

“I never thought that song was finished in the beginning,” Jennings said. “We were gonna throw it away, but we turned it around and wrote another bridge, or another verse, and made it right,” he added.

Jennings said it was his co-writer, Don Bowman, who suggested he and Nelson record “Just to Satisfy You” as a duet. “I think Bowman got ahold of Willie when we was doin’ those albums together,” he recalled. “He said, ‘Do that song, do that song.’ So, when the album came up, Willie wanted to do that song. It was his idea more than mine,” he explained.

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