Willie Nelson’s Making of “Night Life”
“Night Life” is a country blues song written by Willie Nelson in 1960. Willie wrote this song while he traveled from his home to work. He recorded it and gave it to Pappy Daily, but it was rejected. Thus, Nelson released his recording on another studio. Pappy Daily warned Willie that they will sue him if he releases his record with another studio. Either way, Willie gave it to another studio, but he changed the title of the song to “Nite Life.” Moreover, Willie said that it was written by Paul Buskirk and the Little Men featuring Hugh Nelson. Nelson’s single was not commercially successful.
Other Versions
When Ray Price recorded the song in 1960, it entered the Billboard chart. The single fell at number twenty-eight. Other artists who recorded Nelson’s song were Doris Day, Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, George Jones, and many more. In 1963, Nelson’s song was credited back to him. In addition, the title of his single was changed back to its original title “Night Life.”
George Jones and Waylon Jennings
In 1979, Jones finally released his album My Very Special Guests. Jones worked on this album for two years. It took him that long because he couldn’t focus on recording due to his drug and alcohol addiction. My Very Special Guest contains ten songs. George collaborated with twelve different artists for the making of the album.
The artists he worked with were:
- Waylon Jennings
- James Taylor
- Emmylou Harris
- Linda Ronstadt
- Tammy Wynette
- Willie Nelson
- Johnny Paycheck
- Elvis Costello
- Dennis Locorriere
- Ray Sawyer
- Pop Staples
- Mavis Staples
“Night Life” became one of the best recordings in his album. He collaborated with Waylon Jennings for this single. George Jones together with Waylon Jennings is perfection. Sadly, the song was not released as a single. Therefore, it did not enter the Billboard chart. However, the album reached number thirty-eight on the Country Albums chart.