“This Time,” Waylon Jennings’ First No. 1 as an Outlaw Turns 50

Even after Waylon Jennings gained creative freedom from RCA in 1972, pinpointing the start of the outlaw movement, he was still using the label studios but was growing weary of some of the label “eyes” following his every move while recording, after finishing his 1973 album, a tribute to Billy Joe Shaver, Honky Tonk Heroes, Jennings decided to relocate to Tompall Glaser’s Glaser Sound for his next release, This Time.

“For us, outlaw meant standing up for your rights, your own way of doing things,” said Jennings in his 2009 memoir, Waylon. “It felt like a different music, and ‘Outlaw’ was as good a description as any.”

Co-produced by Jennings and Willie Nelson, who also wrote four songs for the album, This Time went to No. 4 on the Country chart and featured one track written by his wife Jessi Colter (“Mona”) and a cover of J.J. Cale‘s “Louisiana Women” and Shaver’s “Slow Rollin’ Low.”

This Time opened on the sole song penned by Jennings, the title track, which topped the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in June of 1974, marking the first of fourteen No. 1 hits for the outlaw. “This Time” catapulted Jennings into the country

‘This Time Will Be Like the Last Time’

Not one of Jennings’ lengthiest songs, running just under two and half minutes, “This Time” reads as a last stand against a faltering love—Each tomorrow will depend on the love you give today—and even give a nod to fellow outlaw and Highwayman Johnny Cash‘s 1956 hit “Walk to the Line”: You’re gonna have to toe the mark and walk the line.

Jennings revisited Cash’s line in his 1968 single “Only Daddy That Will Walk the Line” and again in his 1984 song “Never Could Toe the Mark”—I never could toe the mark / And I never could walk the line.

This time if you want me to come back, it’s up to you
But remember I won’t allow the things you used to do
You’re gonna have to toe the mark and walk the line
This time will be the last time

This time if I should feel unwanted, I won’t stay
Each tomorrow will depend on the love you give today
It’s all up to you to keep in mind
This time will be the last time

This time should be anything like the other times
This time will be the last time

If this time should be anything like the other times
This time will be the last time

[RELATED: The Drug Bust That Made Waylon Jennings Write “Don’t You Think This Outlaw Bit’s Done Got Out of Hand”]

Waylon Nearly Cut “This Time”

At first, Jennings nearly cut “This Time” from the entire album since he didn’t like the meter of the song, but was later convinced to keep it on by his longtime drummer Richie Albright. “I wrote that song five years before and whoever was producing me then at RCA said it was no good,” recalled Jennings in the 1990 documentary Waylon: Renegade.Outlaw.Legend. “I was going through some old tapes and happened to find it.”

In 1999, This Time was reissued featuring five bonus tracks of Jennings singing songs previously released by his friend Buddy Holly, including “That’ll Be the Day” and the Paul Anka-penned “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore.”

Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images