"Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out of Hand" is a song written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

Waylon Jennings Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music. Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...

. It released in October 1978 as the second single from his album ''

I've Always Been Crazy ''I've Always Been Crazy'' is a studio album by American country music artist Waylon Jennings, released on RCA Victor in 1978. Background By 1978, Jennings was getting burned out on the outlaw country movement. Despite enormous critical and c ...

''. The song peaked at number 5 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart. It also reached number 1 on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' Country Tracks chart in Canada.

Content

The song is based on Jennings's own longstanding drug habit, which culminated in a 1977 arrest on federal drug charges in which a package from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

was traced to a studio in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

. DEA agents busted down the door to find longtime drummer for Jennings and producer for the album

Richie Albright The Waylors, later Waymore's Outlaws, is a country music band, best known as the backing and recording band of country music singer Waylon Jennings. Jennings formed the band in 1961, consisting of Jerry Gropp on the guitar and Richie Albright o ...

at the control board and immediately questioned him. Albright put his hand on the talkback button of the control board to let Jennings hear what was happening. Jennings hid the package, then examined the arrest warrant which was faulty, with the wrong owner listed. With the agents distracted, Albright flushed the cocaine down a toilet.

Chart performance

Cover versions

Waylon's son

Shooter Jennings Waylon Albright "Shooter" Jennings (born May 19, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He is the only son of country singers Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter. In a career spanning over two decades, Shooter Jenni ...

performed a cover of this song on ''

CMT Crossroads ''CMT Crossroads'' is an American television program broadcast on CMT that pairs country music artists with musicians from other music genres such as alternative rock, pop, R&B, Rock, soul and more, frequently trading off performing one anot ...

'' as a duet with

Jamey Johnson Jamey Johnson (born July 14, 1975) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to BNA Records in 2005, Johnson made his debut with his single " The Dollar", the title track to his 2006 album '' The Dollar''. He was dropped from ...

. On the tribute album ''I've Always Been Crazy: Tribute to Waylon Jennings'', the song was covered by

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

frontman

James Hetfield James Alan Hetfield (born August 3, 1963) is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, co-founder and a main songwriter of heavy metal band Metallica. He is mainly known for his intricate rhythm playing, but occasionall ...

References

Songs about drugs 1978 singles 1978 songs Waylon Jennings songs Songs written by Waylon Jennings RCA Records singles {{1970s-country-song-stub