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Baker's Dozen

"Shit, That Sounds Tremendous!" Tom Jones On His 13 Favourite Albums
Laurie Tuffrey , May 17th, 2012 05:33

With his new album, Spirit In The Room, on the way, Sir Tom Jones reflects on his favourite LPs and tells Laurie Tuffrey about his friends Elvis, Aretha and Stevie

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Hank Williams - Hank Williams as Luke the Drifter

That's when he did all talking songs. He had this pseudonym, Luke the Drifter, but I remember it for 'Beyond The Sunset' and every track was where he sang a little bit, but he talked a lot. The earlier ones that I heard Hank Williams doing were the classic hits that he had, 'Cold Cold Heart' and 'Your Cheating Heart'. This one I came to later. I heard Hank Williams as Luke the Drifter first in America. When I first went to the States in 1965, I was finding albums in the Colony record shop, right in Manhattan.

It was the honesty of the songs - they were very well written, the lyrics, which were tremendous. That's what I liked about it and what I still do. The ones were he talks, that's another thing again. He went a step up there: it was great to hear him talk as well as sing. 'I Dreamed About Mama Last Night', that's a great song, just about life, talking and singing.