My Top Ten Hank Songs: On the Banks of the Old Ponchartrain (#4)

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On this sad day in country music, where we mourn the death of the fourth Hall of Famer this year (Jean Shepard), it's always good to remember and be thankful that the music will be with us forever. That's also true of the great Hank Williams. I began counting down my ten favorite Hank songs on Hank's birthday (September 17), and here's the next song on the list. #4: On the Banks of the Old Ponchartrain Probably one of Hank's all-time least-known songs, and one of the few songs that would be unquestionably labeled a "failure" in Hank's career. Hank was apparently hurt by the fact that the song didn't do well, always saying that he was glad whatever his new hit climbing the charts was didn't turn out "to be another damn 'Ponchartrain.'" Some people (as reported in Picky Wedia) blamed the failure of the song on the odd coupling of this very serious story song about a woman falling in love with an escaped convict with a novelty song ("Fly Trouble") on the other side. I don't totally buy that, simply because the notion that only one side of a single gets airplay wasn't anything new. Several songs had terrific A sides and woeful B sides and still became big hits. Actually, this was one of Hank's earliest singles, so he wasn't as revered when this came out as he would be a couple of years later. And if people didn't like this, that's their loss. This was a great song...still is! On the Banks of the Old Ponchartrain Written by Ramona Vincent and Hank Williams Released as a single, 1947 One of Hank's few flops: