Greatest Hits (Waylon Jennings album)

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. In 1984, RCA issued the original 11-track album on compact disc. In 1989, RCA reissued an abridged CD/Cassette version with the songs resequenced and omitting two tracks ("Ladies Love Outlaws" and "Only Daddy That'll Walk The Line"). This is the version of the CD currently available.

1979 release

1. "Lonesome, On'ry and Mean" (Young) – 3:38
2. "Ladies Love Outlaws" (Clayton) – 2:32
3. "I've Always Been Crazy" (Jennings) – 4:11
4. "I'm a Ramblin' Man" (Ray Pennington) – 2:46
5. "Only Daddy That'll Walk The Line" (Bryant) – 2:20
6. "Amanda" (McDill) – 2:56
7. "Honky Tonk Heroes" (Billy Joe Shaver) – 3:27
8. "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" (Bruce, Bruce) – 2:32
9. With Willie Nelson
From Waylon and Willie (1978)
10. "Good Hearted Woman" (Jennings, Nelson) – 2:59
11. With Willie Nelson
From Wanted! The Outlaws (1976)
12. "Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)" (Emmons, Moman) – 3:19
13. "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way" (Jennings) – 2:55

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