Willin'

Lowell George wrote "Willin'" while he was still in the Mothers of Invention, in 1969 according to Songfacts and 1970 according to Wikipedia. He told the Zigzag editor Paul Kendall that he wrote it at Richie Hayward's house, where someone mentioned the three wicked W's (weed, whites and wine) and a remark about a chair warped by the rain supplied more material; he fitted words to a tune he had begun the day before: the song just happened. It is sung by a truck driver who does whatever he must to get by, and Songfacts reads the whites as amphetamines. Wikipedia says a gas-station job after high school inspired it and later songs. Bill Payne said Zappa was both impressed and put off by it; Mark Brend says Zappa liked it but saw no place for it in the Mothers' set, and Americana UK reports that Zappa said it nudged George to start his own band. George's own account of his exit differs.

Little Feat recorded it three times. The first, on the 1971 debut, runs 2:24, is faster, and has Ry Cooder on bottleneck guitar because, by Wikipedia's account, George had injured his hand; Songfacts says Titelman invited Cooder from the next room, where he was working on his first album. The second, on Sailin' Shoes in 1972, is slower at 2:57, with Sneaky Pete Kleinow on pedal steel and Ted Templeman producing, and is regarded as the definitive version. The third is the 4:42 reading on Waiting for Columbus (recorded in 1977), played before "Don't Bogart That Joint". American Songwriter dates the Sailin' Shoes version to 1973, while Wikipedia says February 1972.

Covers

The first recording was by Johnny Darrell, on California Stop-Over in 1970, titled "Willing"; Seatrain recorded it in 1970 and the Byrds in 1970, released in 1990. Linda Ronstadt's version on Heart Like a Wheel (1974) won the 1976 Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female. Commander Cody recorded it in 1975, Steve Earle on Sidetracks in 2002, and Gregg Allman on Southern Blood, released in 2017. Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris issued a previously unreleased cover in 2026. Jackson Browne told Uncut it is among the most eloquent songs he has heard. Little Feat never had a charting single, and the song's reputation grew through the albums and live shows.