My Top Ten Hank Songs: I Saw the Light (#5)

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Much like yesterday's song on my countdown of my favorite songs by the legendary Hank Williams, this is one that the mythical "everybody" knows. Yeah, I know that the mythical nobody knows all those things that everybody knows. But hey, everybody loves somebody sometime! (No, that's not a Hank song.) Here's my next song on the Hank list. #5: I Saw the Light Yeah, you hate country music. You couldn't tell Hank Williams from Wendy O. Williams. You still probably know that line, "praise the Lord, I saw the light." Hey, let's talk plagiarism! Illegal here on myLot and most other legitimate writing sites, Hank did quite a bit of, ahem, lifting in this song. The melody of this song, and quite a few of the lines, came directly from the Albert E. Brumley gospel song "He Set Me Free" from 1939, which a number of people (including the Louvin Brothers) recorded. But Brumley didn't care (or if he did, he never contacted Hank). The song was Hank's closing song in his concerts. And, when news reached the musicians in Canton, Ohio on January 1, 1953 that Hank had died en route to the show, the song they gathered to sing for the stunned audience was "I Saw the Light." And, on Hank's grave you will find the words, "Praise the Lord, I saw the light." I Saw the Light Written by Hank Williams Released as a single, 1948 One of Hank's most enduring songs: