| Alone and Forsaken | |
| Published: | Acuff-Rose Publications, Inc.[1] |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Hank Williams |
| A-Side: | A Teardrop on a Rose |
| Released: | July 1955 (MGM 12029) |
| Recorded: | August 1948 May 1949 (Shreveport, Louisiana) |
| Genre: | Country, folk |
| Label: | MGM Records |
"Alone and Forsaken" is a country song written and demoed (though never officially released at the time) by American musician Hank Williams. It has been since covered by many artists.
Williams' recording of the song was taken from one of his performances on the Shreveport radio station KWKH between August 1948 and May 1949. MGM released it in 1955, over two years after Williams' death. The song features only Williams' vocals and acoustic guitar. It explores themes of loneliness and desolation, which he had written about on previous ballads like "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"; unlike this song, "Alone and Forsaken" is set in A minor and features a sparse quality that gives it a darker feel.
"Alone and Forsaken" is one of the few songs that Williams ever wrote and sang that sounds more like a folk song than a country song. In the half-spoken verses, Williams reflects upon meeting his love, when "the pastures were green and the meadows were gold", but "her love, like the leaves, now have withered and gone". The darkening imagery gives way to a desperate plea during the chorus:
Alone and forsaken by fate and by man
Oh Lord, if you hear me, please hold to my hand, oh please understand
During a cutscene in the 2013 video game The Last of Us, the song is on a cassette tape given to Joel by Ellie while the two are driving.[2] It was later used in the first full trailer and in the fourth episode for the television adaptation of The Last of Us in September 2022.[3]