Willie Nelson was fairly new to Nashville when he wrote Hello Walls and pitched it to Faron Young, who was on a hot-streak at that time. Still, the song bears the songwriter’s trademark cadence — almost as if Faron is impersonating him. It was a great performance of an odd little idea, and became a huge hit.
Hello Walls (performed by Faron Young)
Written by Willie Nelson
Hello walls
How’d things go for you today
Don’t you miss her
Since she up and walked away
And I’ll bet you dread to spend
Another lonely night with me
Lonely walls
I’ll keep you company.Hello window
Well I see that you’re still here
Aren’t you lonely
Since our darlin’ disappeared
Well, look here, is that a teardrop
In the corner of your pane
Now, don’t you try
To tell me that it’s rain.She went away and left us all alone
The way she planned
Guess we’ll have to learn to get along
Without her if we canHello ceiling
I’m gonna stare at you awhile
You know I can’t sleep
So won’t you bear with me awhile
We must all stick together or else
I’ll lose my mind
I’ve got a feelin’
She’ll be gone a long, long time
When Young sings, “We must all stick together/or else I’ll lose my mind,” it feels like his whole world is coming apart, and he’s talking the elements around him into staying, staggering around the room, pausing to hear the “Hello, Hello” echo back at him.
I can’t guess the number of times I’ve walked into my apartment and begun singing Hello Walls. There’s something so conversational about the song, which is probably the reason for its popularity. It does sound like someone talking to the walls, the window, the ceiling, to avoid feeling alone. The singer is trying to comfort his surroundings because he doesn’t know how he’ll ever comfort himself.