On the Banks of the Old Ponchartrain is a song written 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 ...

and Ramona Vincent. It was the singer's second single on

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 ...

, released in September 1947.

Background

According to biographer Colin Escott, Ramona Vincent, a crippled woman, wrote the words of the song as a poem and sent it to Williams, who put a melody to it(According to U.S. Copyright Office, her legal name was Kathleen Ramona Vincent, born 1928). The song was paired with Fred Rose's novelty " Fly Trouble," resulting in perhaps the oddest single the singer ever released. The song 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 ...

on August 4, 1947 with Rose producing. Williams was backed by Tommy Jackson (fiddle), Hermon Herron (steel guitar), Sammy Pruett (lead guitar), Slim Thomas (rhythm guitar), and

Lum York William Herbert "Lum" York (November 16, 1918 – August 15, 2004) was a musician best known as the bass player in Hank Williams Drifting Cowboys from 1944–1949. After leaving the Drifting Cowboys, York played bass in Lefty Frizzell's ban ...

(bass). Hank had scored his first ''

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 ...

'' hit with " Move It on Over" but "On the Banks of the Old Ponchartrain" bombed. As Escott notes: :The coupling of "Fly Trouble" and "On the Banks of the Old Ponchartrain" flopped miserably, and in later years Hank would use it as a personal metaphor for a poor selling record. "Sure am glad it ain't another damn 'Ponchartrain,'" he'd say when people would congratulate him on a hit. More than anything, it proved how much Rose had yet to learn about Hank's music and his audience. The Song tells the story of a criminal who escaped from a west Texas prison and stopped for a rest on the banks of Lake Pontchartrain where he falls in love with an unnamed woman only for him to be captured by a policeman and sent back to the prison he previously escaped from.

Cover versions

Rose Maddox Roselea Arbana "Rose" MaddoxMany sources give her birth name as Brogdon. This is an error. She was recorded, with her birth family, as Rose Maddox in the 1940 US Census, and other sources report her second husband's name as Brogdon. (August 1 ...

covered the song on Capitol Records in 1959. * Don Gibson cut the song for his 1971 LP ''Hank Williams as Sung by Don Gibson''. *A previously unreleased version of the song from 1973 can be found on the Hank Williams, Jr. retrospective ''Living Proof: The MGM Recordings 1963-1975''. * Sharon Shannon feat. Hothouse Flowers, ''The Diamond Mountain Sessions (2001)''

References

{{Reflist 1947 songs Songs written by Hank Williams Hank Williams songs MGM Records singles Song recordings produced by Fred Rose (songwriter)