Cold, Cold Heart

This had first been recorded on March 11, 1949 by Jim Boyd. Hank recorded “Cold, Cold Heart” at an evening session at Castle on December 21, 1950, and it was released on February 2, 1951.   Despite the evidence pointing to the lyrics being written by Paul Gilley, in the Williams episode of American Masters, country music historian Colin Escott states that Williams was moved to write the song after visiting his wife Audrey in the hospital, who was suffering from an infection brought on by an abortion she had carried out at their home unbeknownst to Hank.  Escott also speculates that Audrey, who carried on extramarital affairs as Hank did on the road, may have suspected the baby was not her husband’s.  Florida bandleader Pappy Neil McCormick claims to have witnessed the encounter: According to McCormick, Hank went to the hospital and bent down to kiss Audrey, but she wouldn’t let him. ‘You sorry son of a b****,’ she is supposed to have said, ‘it was you that caused me to suffer like this.’ Hank went home and told the children’s governess, Miss Ragland, that Audrey had a ‘cold, cold heart,’ and then, as so often in the past, realized the bitterness in his heart held commercial promise.