About The Song

“The Taker” is one of the early Waylon Jennings singles that pointed straight toward the sound people would later call outlaw country. Written by Kris Kristofferson together with author and songwriter Shel Silverstein, it gave Waylon a story song that felt sharper and more cynical than most of what was coming out of Nashville at the turn of the 1970s. His recording turns their dark little character sketch into something brooding and uneasy, the work of a singer who was clearly getting tired of playing it safe in the studio.

Waylon cut the track at RCA Studio B in Nashville in April 1970, working within the same system he was beginning to push against. RCA released “The Taker” as a single later that year, and it was carried over as the opening track of his 1971 album “The Taker/Tulsa,” issued by RCA Nashville in February 1971. The album climbed into the Top 20 of the Billboard country LP chart, while the single itself became a Top 5 hit on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles, reached the Canadian country Top 10 and even slipped onto the pop Hot 100 in the United States.

Part of what makes the song so striking is who wrote it. By the time Waylon recorded it, Kristofferson was a former Rhodes scholar and Army helicopter pilot who had quit a secure career to chase songs in Nashville, mopping floors at Columbia’s studio and dropping tapes on Johnny Cash’s lawn. Silverstein was already famous as a cartoonist and children’s author, but he also had a wicked sense for adult stories and had been placing songs with artists like Johnny Cash and Loretta Lynn. When these two outsiders sat down together, they produced a lyric that sounded more like a short story you might overhear in a bar than a polite country tune.

The plot follows a charming drifter who knows exactly how to win over a lonely woman. He pays attention, says all the right things, and makes her feel like she has finally met someone who understands her. The twist is that he is only interested in the chase: once he has her love, he will start to ignore her, take her for granted and eventually walk away. The words never excuse him, but they also never turn him into a cartoon villain. Instead, the song hangs in that uncomfortable space where everybody can recognize a little bit of someone they have known, or maybe even a little bit of themselves.

Waylon’s performance is what turns that idea into a punch in the gut. His baritone sits low and steady, almost conversational, as if he is warning a friend about the man she is about to fall for. The band keeps things simple and tight, with a firm backbeat and just enough steel guitar to remind you that this is still a country record, no matter how modern and edgy the attitude feels. Compared with many of his earlier RCA sides, there is less sweetness in the arrangement and more open space, which lets every bitter line land harder.

In the bigger picture of his career, “The Taker” arrived right as Jennings was pushing for artistic freedom and beginning to produce records on his own terms. The Taker/Tulsa album is often cited as an early step toward that independence, full of songwriter-driven material and more personal song choices than the label had sometimes allowed him in the past. Before long he would be cutting albums like “Honky Tonk Heroes” and standing at the center of the outlaw movement, but you can already hear that rebellious streak simmering under the surface here.

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Lyric

He’s a giver, he’ll give her the kind
Of attention that she’s never known
He’s a helper, he’ll help her to open
The doors that she can’t on her own.
He’s a lover and he’ll love her in ways
That she’s never been loved before
He’s a getter, he’ll get her by gettin’ her
Into the world she’s been hungerin’ for.
He’s a charmer, he’ll charm her with money
And manners that I never learned
He’s a leader, he’ll lead her across
Pretty bridges he’s plannin’ to burn.
He’s a talker, he’ll talk her right off of her feet
But he won’t talk for long
‘Cause he’s a doer, and he’ll do her the way
That I’d never, damned if he won’t do her wrong.
He’s a taker, he’ll take her to places
And make her fly higher than she’s ever dared to
He’ll take his time before takin’ advantage
Takin’ her easy and slow.
And after he’s taken the body and soul
She gives him he’ll take her for granted
Take off and leave her taken all of her
Pride when he goes.
He’s a taker, he’ll take her to places
And make her fly higher than she’s ever dared to
He’ll take his time before takin’ advantage

Takin’ her easy and slow