Waylon Jennings – Outlaw Shit

“Outlaw Shit” is a posthumously released recording associated with Waylon Jennings, appearing on the 2008 album Waylon Forever. The track is closely connected to Jennings’s earlier and better-known song “Don’t You Think This Outlaw Bit’s Done Got Out of Hand,” which was originally released in 1978. Rather than being a completely new composition, “Outlaw Shit” functions as an alternate, later interpretation that reflects a different emotional and temporal perspective.

The original song from the late 1970s was written by Waylon Jennings at a time when the outlaw image had become both commercially successful and personally burdensome. Legal troubles, media scrutiny, and the expectations attached to the outlaw label all informed the lyric. That original version was direct and defensive in tone, addressing public perception head-on and questioning whether the outlaw persona had gone too far.

“Outlaw Shit,” by contrast, draws from later recordings made by Jennings in the 1990s. These recordings were revisited and completed after his death, with production overseen by close collaborators and family members. The revised arrangement slows the tempo and reshapes the delivery, allowing the lyric to be heard less as protest and more as reflection. The change in pacing alters the emotional impact without changing the song’s core ideas.

Lyrically, the song still revolves around the tension between identity and image. The narrator looks back on the outlaw reputation with a sense of fatigue and realism, acknowledging both its power and its cost. The language remains plainspoken and direct, but in this version it feels less confrontational. The emphasis shifts toward consequence, hindsight, and the weight of a long career lived under a public label.

Musically, “Outlaw Shit” is stripped down and atmospheric. Guitars and restrained rhythm dominate the arrangement, leaving significant space around the vocal. The production avoids polish and instead emphasizes texture and mood, reinforcing the sense that this is a late-career meditation rather than a radio-oriented statement. Jennings’s vocal, preserved from earlier sessions, carries a worn authority that suits the reflective tone.

The track’s inclusion on Waylon Forever placed it within a broader project aimed at presenting unreleased or unfinished Jennings material in a contemporary context. The album combined original vocals with modern production choices, sparking discussion among listeners about how archival recordings should be handled. “Outlaw Shit” became one of the most discussed tracks because of its direct connection to a defining moment in Jennings’s career.

In retrospect, “Outlaw Shit” is often heard as a late commentary on the outlaw movement itself. Rather than celebrating rebellion, it examines the personal toll behind the image. As such, the song functions as a companion piece to the original 1978 recording, offering a quieter, more introspective closing chapter to one of Waylon Jennings’s most enduring themes.