Waylon Jennings – Love of the Common People

“Love of the Common People” is a song recorded by Waylon Jennings and released as a single in 1970. The recording appeared on his album Jewels, issued by RCA Victor, and represents an early example of Jennings engaging with socially grounded material before his full emergence as a central figure in the outlaw-country movement later in the decade. The song had already gained attention through earlier recordings by other artists, but Jennings’s version helped introduce it to a country audience in a more stripped-down, narrative-oriented setting.

The song was written by John Hurley and originally recorded in the late 1960s. Its subject matter—economic hardship, dignity, and family resilience—set it apart from much mainstream country fare of the time, which often focused on romance or honky-tonk themes. Jennings was drawn to the song’s directness and its focus on ordinary people navigating structural poverty. His decision to record it aligned with his growing interest in material that reflected working-class realities rather than polished fantasy.

Musically, Jennings’s recording favors a restrained, folk-influenced country arrangement. Acoustic guitar forms the foundation, supported by light rhythm and minimal instrumental ornamentation. The production keeps the focus on the lyric and Jennings’s vocal delivery rather than on dramatic arrangement shifts or studio effects. This approach allows the song’s message to remain clear and unembellished, reinforcing its observational tone.

Lyrically, “Love of the Common People” presents a vignette of a struggling family coping with poverty and uncertainty. The song references unemployment, reliance on assistance, and the strain placed on parents trying to provide stability for their children. Rather than offering judgment or sentimentality, the lyric emphasizes endurance and shared humanity. The title phrase frames love and solidarity as sources of strength in the absence of material security.

Waylon Jennings’s vocal performance is measured and conversational, avoiding melodrama. He delivers the lyric with a calm seriousness that underscores the song’s realism. This interpretive choice positions the narrator as an observer rather than a preacher, allowing listeners to draw their own conclusions from the details presented. Jennings’s understated style would later become one of his defining traits as a storyteller.

Commercially, the single achieved moderate success on the country charts, reaching the Top 20 and helping maintain Jennings’s visibility during a transitional period in his career. While it did not become one of his signature hits, its chart presence demonstrated that socially conscious material could find an audience within country music at the time.

In retrospect, “Love of the Common People” is often viewed as an important early indicator of Waylon Jennings’s artistic direction. The song foreshadowed his later commitment to realism, autonomy, and working-class perspective that would define his most influential recordings of the 1970s. Though sometimes overshadowed by his later outlaw-era work, the track remains a meaningful part of his catalog and a clear example of his willingness to engage with broader social themes through straightforward country storytelling.