Greatest Hits (Waylon Jennings album)

Greatest Hits
Greatest hits album by Waylon Jennings
Released	April 1979
Genre	Country Outlaw country
Label	RCA Records
Producer	Waylon Jennings Ritchie Albright Chet Atkins Jack Clement Tompall Glaser Ken Mansfield Chips Moman Ray Pennington
Waylon Jennings chronology
I've Always Been Crazy (1978) Greatest Hits (1979) What Goes Around Comes Around (1979)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Rolling Stone	(Not Rated)[2]

Greatest Hits is a compilation album by Waylon Jennings, released in 1979 by RCA Records.

Background

The LP documents Jennings' outlaw country years for RCA and includes several of his most well-known signature songs, the most recent of which had been the title track of I've Always Been Crazy, released the year before. Not counting the Mackintosh & T.J. soundtrack album and the White Mansions concept album, Greatest Hits became Jennings' eighth consecutive release to reach #1 on the charts; it was also one of his last chart-topping records, with What Goes Around Comes Around, released that same year, peaking at #2. "Amanda" had been a track on his 1974 album The Ramblin' Man, but had not been released as a single at that time; two other tracks, "I'm a Ramblin' Man" and "Rainy Day Woman," were. More than 4½ years later, new overdubs were added to the original track and placed on his first greatest hits album. In April 1979 the song was issued as a single, and it soon became one of the biggest country hits of 1979. Willie Nelson appears on three cuts on the original LP.

The album has been 5x Platinum certified by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and 3x Platinum by Music Canada.^[3][4] In 1984, RCA issued the original 11 track album on compact disc. In 1989, RCA reissued an abridged CD version with the songs resequenced and omitting two tracks. This is the version of the album currently available.

Track listing

1979 release

1. "Lonesome, On'ry and Mean" (Young) – 3:38

   From Lonesome, On'ry and Mean (1973)

2. "Ladies Love Outlaws" (Clayton) – 2:32

   From Ladies Love Outlaws (1972)

3. "I've Always Been Crazy" (Jennings) – 4:11

   From I've Always Been Crazy (1978)

4. "I'm a Ramblin' Man" (Ray Pennington) – 2:46

   From The Ramblin' Man (1974)

5. "Only Daddy That'll Walk The Line" (Bryant) – 2:20

   From Only the Greatest (1968)

6. "Amanda" (McDill) – 2:56

   New overdub of a song that had appeared on The Ramblin' Man (1974)

7. "Honky Tonk Heroes" (Billy Joe Shaver) – 3:27

   From Honky Tonk Heroes (1973)

8. "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" (Bruce, Bruce) – 2:32
   • With Willie Nelson

   From Waylon and Willie (1978)

9. "Good Hearted Woman" (Jennings, Nelson) – 2:59
   • With Willie Nelson

   From Wanted! The Outlaws (1976)

10. "Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)" (Emmons, Moman) – 3:19

    From Ol' Waylon (1977)

11. "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way" (Jennings) – 2:55

    From Dreaming My Dreams (1975)

1989 release

1. "Lonesome, On'ry and Mean" (Young) – 3:38
2. "I've Always Been Crazy" (Jennings) – 4:11
3. "Honky Tonk Heroes" (Shaver) – 3:27
4. "Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)" (Emmons, Moman) – 3:19
5. "I'm a Ramblin' Man" (Pennington) – 2:46
6. "Amanda" (McDill) – 2:56
7. "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to Be Cowboys" (Bruce, Bruce) – 2:32 (with Willie Nelson)
8. "A Good Hearted Woman" (Jennings, Nelson) – 2:59
9. "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way" (Jennings) – 2:55

Chart performance

Chart (1979)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums	1[5]
U.S. Billboard 200	28[5]
Canadian RPM Country Albums	1[6]
Canadian RPM Top Albums	20[7]
New Zealand Albums Chart	9[8]

References

1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Allmusic review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2012-08-29.
2. Marsh, Dave (1979-07-26). "Rolling Stone review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2010-02-04. Retrieved 2012-08-29.
3. "RIAA searchable database". RIAA. Retrieved 2012-08-29.
4. "Music Canada searchable database". Music Canada. Retrieved 2012-08-29.
5. "US chart history". Allmusic. Retrieved 2012-08-29.
6. "RPM Country Albums/CDs - Volume 31, No. 16, July 14, 1979". RPM Magazine. Retrieved 2012-08-29.
7. "RPM Top Albums/CDs - Volume 31, No. 21, August 18, 1979". RPM Magazine. Retrieved 2012-08-29.
8. "NZ chart history". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2012-08-29.