"I'll Be a Bachelor 'Til I Die" is a song written and recorded by

Hank Williams Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he reco ...

MGM Records MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...

Background

The bravado-driven "I'll Be a Bachelor 'Til I Die" scorns the institution of marriage with Williams singing, "I can't understand how one and one make one." Williams appears to have had no such doubts himself; in the '' American Masters'' episode about his life, Audrey Williams recalls that Williams proposed to her almost immediately after they met. On October 18, 1952, Williams and Billie Jean Jones Eshlimar were married in

Minden, Louisiana Minden is a city and parish seat in Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 13,082. History Minden was established in 1836 by Charl ...

by a justice of the peace. It was the second marriage for both. The next day two public ceremonies were also held at the New Orleans Civic Auditorium, where 14,000 seats were sold for each. After Williams' death, a judge ruled that the wedding was not legal because Jones Eshlimar's divorce had not become final until eleven days after she married Williams. Audrey and Hank's mother Lillie Williams were the driving force behind having the marriage declared invalid and pursued the matter for years. Williams also married Audrey before her divorce was final, on the tenth day of a required sixty-day reconciliation period. "I'll Be a Bachelor 'Til I Die" was recorded at Castle Studio in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

with Fred Rose producing and backing from Jerry Byrd (steel guitar), Robert "Chubby" Wise (fiddle), Zeke Turner (lead guitar), probably Louis Innis (bass) and either

Owen Bradley William Owen Bradley (October 21, 1915 – January 7, 1998) was an American musician and record producer who, along with Chet Atkins, Bob Ferguson, Bill Porter, and Don Law, was one of the chief architects of the 1950s and 1960s Nashville sou ...

or Rose on piano. It was released as the B-side to "

Honky Tonkin' "Honky Tonkin'" is a 1947 country music song, written and recorded by Hank Williams. His song went to #14 on the ''Billboard'' country music chart in 1948. In 1982, it became the sixth chart topping single for Williams' son, Hank Williams Jr. ...

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{authority control Hank Williams songs 1947 songs Songs written by Hank Williams Song recordings produced by Fred Rose (songwriter)