Although Williams had been found dead in his chauffeur-driven Cadillac on his way to a show in Canton, Ohio on New Year's Day, 1953, he was still arguably MGM's hottest act by summer; two albums were in stores by March, Memorial Album and Hank Williams as Luke the Drifter, and within ten weeks of his death he had as many albums on the market as he did when he lived, with hundreds more to follow.
[5] The Drifting Cowboys, most of them now working for Ray Price, were brought back to augment the recording with overdubs.
While MGM would insensitively overdub strings and other accoutrements to Williams masters as the years wore on, the results on "Weary Blues from Waitin'" were utterly convincing, and the single rose to number 7 on the country singles chart.
A major part of the song's success was Williams' typically heart-rending vocal and the high quality of the composition, which contains what is cited as one of his most haunting lines:[citation needed] Through tears I watch young lovers As they go strolling by For all the things that might have been God forgive me if I cry.
Although the song is copyrighted to Williams alone, it is likely that Ray Price had a hand in writing it, during a car ride from Williams's Opry performance, to a show in Evansville, Indiana in September 1951 (Price also recorded the song a month later).