Lee Hazlewood – Me And The Wine And The City Lights

ONE OF AMERICAN MUSIC’S most eccentric writers, performers and – for a short while – moguls, Lee Hazlewood’s fame as basso-profundo, creepy-uncle spar to Nancy Sinatra on Some Velvet Morning somewhat conceals his output as maverick head of his own label. There’s A Dream I’ve Been Saving: Lee Hazlewood Industries 1966-71, Light In The Attic’s comprehensive box set, corrects that oversight, compiling Lee’s own recordings (including the awesomely strange Ann-Margret duet, Sleep In The Grass) and those of others for the label. The bumper package was awarded five out of five stars by Jim Irvin in a recent MOJO magazine. Advertising its treasures in the way of subtly weird country-informed pop there’s Me And The Wine And The City Lights, previously unreleased and publicly premiered here for the first time. Typically, Lee’s been up to no good – “I get stoned so much that I feel like a rock,” he drawls as if method-ing the role – but we’ll leave the rest of this tawdry tale to unfold in your earphones.

Me And The Wine And The City Lights was produced by Lee Hazlewood and Larry Marks, and recorded on April 16, 1970 at T.T.G. Studios, Hollywood, CA. For more information on the Lee Hazlewood Industries box set (and there’s a lot of it), visit Light In The Attic.