You may be cool, but you will never be Waylon Jennings cool.
He had that particular character quality in spades, and the effortless and unattainable swagger with which he was blessed is part of what made him so special.
And today, I want to share an all-time great video of the legend himself from his prime in the year 1974 at Willie Nelson’s Fourth of July Picnic.
The footage actually comes from a 1979 documentary of the three-day festival, which was titled Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Celebration, and released four years after it was first filmed in College Station, Texas at the Texas World Speedway.
And apparently, in the original footage that is hard to come by these days, a woman went streaking and ran up on stage, which is why Waylon says, “How about that?” at the very beginning of the video.
According to a comment on Youtube, which is corroborated by reviews of the film from part of the film crew who saw it all go down, this is how it all went down:
The 70’s were a different time…
This particular part of the film also features a very young Leon Russell, but of course, Waylon is the star of the show, singing a mashup of his 1970 “Willy the Wandering Gypsy and Me” and 1973 “Sick and Tired.”
One-of-a-kind is really the only way I can describe Hoss… there will never be another talent like him, that’s for sure:
“Seconds before this clip began a pretty young lady, completely nude, strolled out onto the stage, gave Doug Kershaw a long, awkward embrace, smiled at Leon Russell, and walked backstage!”