Who played steel on Willieâ€™s version of Nightlife?

Dave Zirbel · Post by **Dave Zirbel** » 7 May 2020 5:05 pm

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=69w7A8qb- ... e=youtu.be

Thanks!

Douglas Schuch · Post by **Douglas Schuch** » 7 May 2020 5:26 pm

Dave, I believe that is Willie's original version (maybe a demo?), and if so, that is Herb Remington playing steel.

Some time ago, in a discussion here on the forum of this song, someone posted this quote:

From Forumite Andy Volk's fine tome Lap Steel Guitar, page 121, quoting Mr. Remington:

"I played the original steel part with Paul Buskirk and Willie Nelson here in Houston in 1955. We worked up the intro that everybody's familiar with on Night Life; that came from me and Paul. That thing was released as a 45 but it just didn't go anywhere until Ray Price recorded it. Emmons took that intro and everybody thought that's where it came from. Not that it makes all that much difference..."

A few years later I stumbled across a version of the song done by Willie, and IIRC, was described as Willie's "demo" for the song, the first recorded version. That Youtube video is no longer accessible, but I think the one you link is the same version of the song. As I posted in that previous discussion, if this is the version Mr. Remington was talking about, I think it's safe to say Buddy was pretty far from copying the into.

If I am mistaken about this being the original version, then kindly disregard my comments!

Dave Zirbel · Post by **Dave Zirbel** » 7 May 2020 5:34 pm

That would make more sense being Herb. Someone was trying to tell me it was Bobby Black.....plus it sounds like A6 tuning on Willieâ€™s version.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 7 May 2020 6:15 pm

Sounds like a basic 3625 intro but the Lady Bird intro has tritone subs that make all the difference.

Ian Worley · Post by **Ian Worley** » 7 May 2020 6:39 pm

Wikipedia concurs with Douglas:

Nelson sold the song for $150 to Paul Buskirk in 1960, while working at his school as a guitar instructor. Produced by Bill Quinn, Nelson recorded the song at Gold Star Studios. The session band was composed of guitarist Buskirk, bassist Dean Reynolds, drummer Al Hagy, pianist Bob Whitford, steel guitarist Herb Remington, and Dick Shannon on saxophone and vibraphone.

$150 in 1960 would be ~$1,308 in 2020 dollars. Pretty cheap for such a classic!

Dave Zirbel · Post by **Dave Zirbel** » 7 May 2020 7:04 pm

Thanks Ian!

Darrell Criswell · Post by **Darrell Criswell** » 23 May 2020 6:02 pm

Ian Worley wrote:Wikipedia concurs with Douglas:
Nelson sold the song for $150 to Paul Buskirk in 1960, while working at his school as a guitar instructor. Produced by Bill Quinn, Nelson recorded the song at Gold Star Studios. The session band was composed of guitarist Buskirk, bassist Dean Reynolds, drummer Al Hagy, pianist Bob Whitford, steel guitarist Herb Remington, and Dick Shannon on saxophone and vibraphone.
$150 in 1960 would be ~$1,308 in 2020 dollars. Pretty cheap for such a classic!

Willie Nelson's "Night Life" is so similar to Brownie McGhee's "Sporting Life Blues" that it is hard to believe that Willie didn't just modify McGhee's song. Listen to Artie Traum play Sporting Life Blues" and see what you think?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCOLZOdzSFc

Ian Worley · Post by **Ian Worley** » 23 May 2020 8:01 pm

Happy's version does sound a lot like Willie's Nightlife. Brownie McGhee's original version not so much, it's pretty much your basic I-IV-V, the Lovin' Spoonful version that many of us are familiar with added the II7-VI7 turnaround. Here is McGhee's original 1948 version https://archive.org/details/78_sprotin- ... cGhee.flac.

It's the same basic melody, and the word "nightlife" in the same position in the first refrain. Willie could have copied him, either intentionally or subconsciously, but the songs are similar in the same way that most blues songs are similar to a few thousand other blues songs that were recorded before them. Everything new borrows a little from something that preceded it, so who knows.

Douglas Schuch · Post by **Douglas Schuch** » 24 May 2020 4:53 am

I pulled up any Brownie McGhee versions I could find on Youtube, and he does not use the word, "Nightlife" at all. He says "Sportin' Life" where Willie sings "Nightlife". The way he plays it, the blues aspects come through a bit stronger, but yes, some strong similarities.

Here's the original recording he did of it, from 1955:

https://youtu.be/bCxYjs-mvb0

Eric Clapton and JJ Cale do a version with "Nightlife" in it - Perhaps they combined the two songs, intentionally or subconciously? I don't know if these lyrics inspired Happy Traum, or vice versa?

Here's another McGhee version, also from 1955, with Sonny Terry on harmonica:

https://youtu.be/chJUZZaLfk8

He used the title for an earlier song, with Ralph Willis - more of a talking blue, recorded in 1949:

https://youtu.be/iDOzoMViwF8

So I think Willie's song is distinct enough to stand on it's own - many blues songs used similar progressions and melodies.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 24 May 2020 8:40 am

I first heard the song performed by Chicken Shack. I believe they supported Ten Years After. It's on an album from 1968. Christine Perfect (Fleetwood Mac) played keyboard.
As one of the comments below said Willie Nelson or Ray Price weren't well known in England then, but some knew them, obviously.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMvDIg8CtM0

Ian Worley · Post by **Ian Worley** » 24 May 2020 10:16 am

Douglas Schuch wrote:...Here's the original recording he did of it, from 1955: https://youtu.be/bCxYjs-mvb0...

Listen to the version on Archive.org linked in the post just above yours, it's from 1948. I don't know if it's the 'original' version, but it's much earlier, and much more primitive than the one on Youtube.

Douglas Schuch wrote:...he does not use the word, "Nightlife" at all...

Again, in the 1948 version the first refrain at 0:39 he does say "this old night life, this old sporting life, is killing me". That same line is included in the Lovin' Spoonful version from the sixties too.

Darrell Criswell · Post by **Darrell Criswell** » 24 May 2020 12:20 pm

Let's just pretend neither Nelson or McGhee ever recorded their songs and someone records McGhee's "Sporting Life" and it isn't a hit and then someone a more popular artist a year later comes along and records Nelson's "Nighlife" and is a hit. Would there be copyright infringement and a lawsuit?

Greg Forsyth · Post by **Greg Forsyth** » 4 Jun 2020 9:16 pm

Joachim Kettner wrote:

I first heard the song performed by Chicken Shack. I believe they supported Ten Years After. It's on an album from 1968. Christine Perfect (Fleetwood Mac) played keyboard.

Chicken Shack - wow someone listened to them besides me and a couple of friends. I wonder how "Nightlife" would have sounded with Christine Perfect singing.

Back to Willie - I watched the Youtube version of "Nightlife" that was posted and right after it came a live version with Willie on Letterman. Willie introduced the steel player as Robby Turner I believe.

Frank Freniere · Post by **Frank Freniere** » 5 Jun 2020 4:28 am

Joachim Kettner wrote:I first heard the song performed by Chicken Shack. I believe they supported Ten Years After. It's on an album from 1968. Christine Perfect (Fleetwood Mac) played keyboard.

That song must have been making the rounds in '68: The first time I heard "Nightlife/Sportin' Life" was on Beacon St. Union's first album from that year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmRh9ocWpV0

John Macy · Post by **John Macy** » 5 Jun 2020 5:53 am

I forgot about that record. When John Lincoln Wright formed his first country band In 1972 after the Union split apart, I was the first steel player. John became a driving force in country music in the Northeast, and by that time we were playing it as â€œNightlifeâ€. Thanks for the reminder!

Kenneth Kotsay · Post by **Kenneth Kotsay** » 7 Jun 2020 1:09 pm

I had always thought it was Buddy Emmons.

Dave Zirbel · Post by **Dave Zirbel** » 7 Jun 2020 5:36 pm

I had always thought it was Buddy Emmons.

Buddy played on the more commonly known Ray Price version

Jim Fogarty · Post by **Jim Fogarty** » 7 Jun 2020 6:02 pm

Darrell Criswell wrote:Let's just pretend neither Nelson or McGhee ever recorded their songs and someone records McGhee's "Sporting Life" and it isn't a hit and then someone a more popular artist a year later comes along and records Nelson's "Nighlife" and is a hit. Would there be copyright infringement and a lawsuit?

I always assumed it was common knowledge that "Nightlife" was ........::ahem::......BORROWED from "Sporting Life".

Is there any real doubt about it?