Who played steel on Willie’s version of Nightlife?

About Steel Guitarists and their Music

Moderator: Shoshanah Marohn

Post Reply
User avatar
Dave Zirbel
Posts: 4170
Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
Location: Sebastopol, CA USA

Who played steel on Willie’s version of Nightlife?

Post by Dave Zirbel »

Dave Zirbel-
Sierra S-10 (Built by Ross Shafer),ZB, Fender 400 guitars, various tube and SS amps
User avatar
Douglas Schuch
Posts: 1390
Joined: 10 Jun 2011 9:33 am
Location: Valencia, Philippines

Post by Douglas Schuch »

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!
Pedal steel, lap steel, resonator, blues harp - why suck at just one instrument when you can do so on many?
User avatar
Dave Zirbel
Posts: 4170
Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
Location: Sebastopol, CA USA

Post by Dave Zirbel »

That would make more sense being Herb. Someone was trying to tell me it was Bobby Black.....plus it sounds like A6 tuning on Willie’s version.
Last edited by Dave Zirbel on 7 May 2020 7:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Dave Zirbel-
Sierra S-10 (Built by Ross Shafer),ZB, Fender 400 guitars, various tube and SS amps
User avatar
Jim Cohen
Posts: 21749
Joined: 18 Nov 1999 1:01 am
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Contact:

Post by Jim Cohen »

Sounds like a basic 3625 intro but the Lady Bird intro has tritone subs that make all the difference.
User avatar
Ian Worley
Posts: 2119
Joined: 14 Jan 2012 12:02 pm
Location: Sacramento, CA

Post by Ian Worley »

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!
User avatar
Dave Zirbel
Posts: 4170
Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
Location: Sebastopol, CA USA

Post by Dave Zirbel »

Thanks Ian!
Dave Zirbel-
Sierra S-10 (Built by Ross Shafer),ZB, Fender 400 guitars, various tube and SS amps
Darrell Criswell
Posts: 874
Joined: 28 Nov 2006 1:01 am
Location: Maryland, USA

Post by Darrell Criswell »

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
User avatar
Ian Worley
Posts: 2119
Joined: 14 Jan 2012 12:02 pm
Location: Sacramento, CA

Post by Ian Worley »

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.
User avatar
Douglas Schuch
Posts: 1390
Joined: 10 Jun 2011 9:33 am
Location: Valencia, Philippines

Post by Douglas Schuch »

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.
Pedal steel, lap steel, resonator, blues harp - why suck at just one instrument when you can do so on many?
User avatar
Joachim Kettner
Posts: 7523
Joined: 14 Apr 2009 1:57 pm
Location: Germany

Post by Joachim Kettner »

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
Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube.
User avatar
Ian Worley
Posts: 2119
Joined: 14 Jan 2012 12:02 pm
Location: Sacramento, CA

Post by Ian Worley »

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
Posts: 874
Joined: 28 Nov 2006 1:01 am
Location: Maryland, USA

Post by Darrell Criswell »

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
Posts: 328
Joined: 3 Apr 2020 1:05 pm
Location: Colorado, USA

Post by Greg Forsyth »

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.
User avatar
Frank Freniere
Posts: 3706
Joined: 23 Oct 1999 12:01 am
Location: The First Coast

Post by Frank Freniere »

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
Posts: 4264
Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
Location: Rockport TX/Denver CO
Contact:

Post by John Macy »

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 “Nightlife”. Thanks for the reminder!
John Macy
Rockport, TX
Engineer/Producer/Steel Guitar
Kenneth Kotsay
Posts: 953
Joined: 8 Jan 2000 1:01 am
Location: Davie/Ft Lauderdale, Florida
Contact:

Post by Kenneth Kotsay »

I had always thought it was Buddy Emmons.
User avatar
Dave Zirbel
Posts: 4170
Joined: 4 Aug 1998 11:00 pm
Location: Sebastopol, CA USA

Post by Dave Zirbel »

I had always thought it was Buddy Emmons.
Buddy played on the more commonly known Ray Price version
Dave Zirbel-
Sierra S-10 (Built by Ross Shafer),ZB, Fender 400 guitars, various tube and SS amps
User avatar
Jim Fogarty
Posts: 1382
Joined: 14 Dec 1999 1:01 am
Location: Phila, Pa, USA
Contact:

Post by Jim Fogarty »

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?
Post Reply