"Yesterday's Wine" is the title track of the 1971 album of the same name by

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (197 ...

. The track was also written by Willie Nelson. It later became a #1 duet for

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song "He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...

and

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled af ...

in 1982.

Background

"Yesterday's Wine" was released as a single by

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

in the fall of 1971. Its parent album, which opened with a peculiar existential dialogue featuring Nelson and contained songs with philosophical and spiritual themes, confounded the label, with the singer later lamenting, "I think it's one of my best albums but ''Yesterday's Wine'' was regarded by RCA as way too spooky and far out to waste promotion money on." Although it was perhaps the LP's most accessible track, and has since become regarded as one of Nelson's finest compositions, "Yesterday's Wine" limped to #62 on the ''Billboard'' country survey. RCA appeared to realize its folly five years later Jerry Bradley included it on the ''

Wanted! The Outlaws ''Wanted! The Outlaws'' is a compilation album by Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser, released by RCA Records in 1976. The album consists of previously released material with four new songs. Released to capitalize on ...

'' compilation after Nelson's popularity had exploded. The song, a tale of two old friends meeting up unexpectedly in a bar after many years, was a perfect fit for the outlaw-themed record. In 1982, Merle Haggard and George Jones recorded a duet of "Yesterday's Wine" which became a #1 single, remaining so for one week and spending a total of ten weeks on the chart. The song inspired the title of their first duet LP, '' A Taste of Yesterday's Wine'', and was a natural fit for the two singers, who were often singled out as two of the finest interpreters of pure country music and had both battled many personal demons over the course of their respective careers.

Chart performance

References

1971 singles 1982 singles Willie Nelson songs Merle Haggard songs George Jones songs Male vocal duets Songs about alcohol Songs written by Willie Nelson Song recordings produced by Felton Jarvis Song recordings produced by Billy Sherrill RCA Records singles Epic Records singles 1971 songs {{1982-country-song-stub