On a cold and foggy evening in 1959,
Waylon Jennings nearly lost his life.
Big Bobber talked the outlaw
into giving up his seat
With Buddy Holly on the
midnight flight
Well, the paper said it must
have been a snowstorm
Oh, in the pilot made a grave mistake
Well the wrestle died that night,
but the lone wolf he survived
And I say hats off to an
other hard luck ace
We were on the road with
Haggard back in 85
The year they wrote the Amber Waves
of Grain Okie from Muskogee
was speaking for us all
When he wrote that song
to bring farmers aid
Just last month I heard
that he'd got tired
And went away to rest
and write some place
Tell Merle we're on his side
And I say hats off to an
other hard -luckin'
Some of them are with us
and some of them are gone
Some of them are out
there somewhere
barely hangin' on
Each one is a treasure,
no one can take his place
And I say catsaw to another hard -luckin'
I remember meetin' Janice
in a bar inside a cruise
With a dealer she pretended to ignore
She was swingin' some uncomfort
And every time her glass ran low
The man behind the bar
poured out some more
And I saw Medina slip her
something quickly
Do you suppose she knew
she had no time to waste?
And when she stumbled for the door
It revved up that old Porsche
Well, I said hat's off to an
other hard -luckin'
They say Hank Jr. fell off of a mountain
Said he'd never
walk or sing no more
Well, the devil made the deal
That you don't cheat the man of steel
And heck, just had to even up the score
Now some call it a family tradition
Others say that he just fell from grace
But he should see more seafoods now
Lord, he'd do his daddy proud
And I say hats off to an
other hard luck ace
Some of them are with us
and some of them are gone
Some of them are out
there somewhere,
barely hangin' on
Each one is a treasure,
no one can take its place
And I say hats off to an
other hard luck ace
Hats off to another