Six More Miles (To the Graveyard) 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 ...

for

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 ...

. It appeared as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

to " I Saw the Light" in 1948.

Background

"Six More Miles (To the Graveyard)" was one of the earliest songs Hank Williams published as a songwriter; it was one of several compositions that appeared in his self-published song folios in 1945 and 1946. The original version contained a verse not heard in Hank's version: "Left her in that lonely church yard, left my darlin' alone/Now I'm sad, my heart is cryin', as I wander through life alone." Although Williams recorded the song in April 1947, it did not surface until it appeared as the B-side to "I Saw the Light" in September 1948. While the A-side celebrated the joys of salvation, the B-side was its opposite in just about every respect, describing the despairing thoughts of a man who is making his way to the graveyard to bury his deceased lover. Despite the song's dark subject matter, it did share "I Saw the Light's" swift tempo and is also a prime example of how Williams and producer Fred Rose used the slap of the guitars to create the driving percussive sound that was a trademark of

honky tonk A honky-tonk (also called honkatonk, honkey-tonk, or tonk) is both a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons and the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano ( tack piano) ...

music. Williams recorded the song during his first session with

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

on April 21, 1947. The band was composed by part of

Red Foley Clyde Julian "Red" Foley (June 17, 1910 – September 19, 1968) was an American musician who made a major contribution to the growth of country music after World War II. For more than two decades, Foley was one of the biggest stars of the gen ...

's backing, including Zeke and

Zeb Turner Zeb Turner (June 23, 1915 – January 10, 1978) was an American country music songwriter and guitarist, and pioneer of rockabilly. He was born William Edward Grishaw in Lynchburg, Virginia, United States, and he renamed himself after a favori ...

(guitar), Brownie Raynolds (bass), Tommy Jackson (fiddle) and Smokey Lohman (steel guitar).

Cover versions

Molly O'Day Molly O'Day (born Suzanne Dobson Noonan; October 16, 1909 – October 22, 1998) was an American film actress and the younger sister of Sally O'Neil. Biography Born in Bayonne, New Jersey, she was the youngest of 11 children of Judge Tho ...

recorded the song, one of the earliest covers of a Hank Williams song. *The song appears on

Ralph Stanley Ralph Edmund Stanley (February 25, 1927 – June 23, 2016) was an American bluegrass artist, known for his distinctive singing and banjo playing. Stanley began playing music in 1946, originally with his older brother Carter Stanley as part of ...

and the Clinch Mountain Boys' 1971 album ''Something Old, Something New''. *

The Residents The Residents are an American art collective and art rock band best known for their avant-garde music and multimedia works. Since their first official release, ''Meet the Residents'' (1974), they have released over 60 albums, numerous music vi ...

covered the song multiple times, recording it for their 1986 album '' Stars and Hank Forever'', their 1988

Snakefinger Philip Charles Lithman (17 June 1949 – 1 July 1987), who performed under the stage name Snakefinger, was an English musician, singer and songwriter. A multi-instrumentalist, he was best known for his guitar and violin work and his collab ...

tribute album '' Snakey Wake'', and their 2011 album ''

Lonely Teenager ''Lonely Teenager'' is an album by American art rock band the Residents that was released in 2011. It contains a selection of songs as performed by the band during the Talking Light tour, as well as some songs that were considered for the tour bu ...

''. Už Jsme Doma performed the song with Randy Rose, a persona of The Residents' singer, on the 2020 live album ''Moravian Meeting'', recorded in 2010. *

Mike Ness Michael Daniel Ness (born April 3, 1962) is an American musician who is the lead guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for the punk rock band Social Distortion, which was formed in 1978. Early life Ness was born in Lynn, Massachusetts on April ...

recorded the song for his second solo album.

References

Bibliography

* * {{Authority control 1948 songs Songs written by Hank Williams Hank Williams songs Song recordings produced by Fred Rose (songwriter)