Well actually, the exact quote is:
“Those f*ckin’ weirdos are gonna hate me.”
Gotta love Waylon Jennings…
Of course, Waylon and his friend Willie Nelson are credited as the pioneers and leaders of the country outlaw movement of the 1970’s that largely took place in Austin, Texas, and while Willie warned Waylon about moving to Nashville and what the music biz was like there, Waylon was actually hesitant to embrace Austin at first.
As Willie detailed in his 2015 memoir It’s a Long Story: My Life, Waylon was clearly of the mind that “the hippies” would want nothing to do with him, and he wanted to know “what the hell” Willie was doing there too:
“What the hell you doing in Austin, Willie? There ain’t nothin’ down there but those crazy-ass hippies. You ain’t turning into no hippie, are you?”
I feel like that was a rhetorical question, but rather than trying to explain it to him, Willie encouraged Waylon to come down and see it for himself, saying he want him to see and feel exactly what he was in terms of the musical revolution bubbling up.
Waylon argued:
“If I do, I ain’t puttin’ no flowers in my hair.”
And Willie gave it right back to him…
“Fine. You can put the flowers up your ass. Just get here.”
The night finally came for Waylon’s headlining show at the ‘Dillo (the iconic Armadillo World Headquarters), and of course, Willie showed up for moral support, and he recalls:
“The flower children were out in force for the opening act, Commander Cody.”
Willie says Waylon watched from the side of the stage, saying that aforementioned, classic line about how much they’d all “f*ckin’ hate” him, and Willie wanted to know why he was so set on thinking that, to which Waylon said very plainly:
“‘Cause I hate them.”
Willie called out his friend on that one, saying:
“Hell, Waylon, you don’t hate no one. Just get out there and play.”
I laugh just picturing those two going back and forth like that, but it turns out that Willie was right, saying:
“The hippies loved him so much the f*cker had to play a half-dozen encores.”
Classic. And Waylon finally gave in, admitting to his friend:
“You may be right, Willie… Austin. This town ain’t half bad.”
And the rest, as they say, is glorious outlaw country music history…
“Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow up to Be Cowboys”
