Leslie West (born Leslie Weinstein on 22 October 1945; died 22 December 20… Read Full Bio ↴Leslie West (born Leslie Weinstein on 22 October 1945; died 22 December 2020) was an American rock guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter best known as a founding member and co-lead vocalist of the hard rock band Mountain. He also produced two studio albums and a live release with Cream bassist Jack Bruce under the name West, Bruce and Laing. West released a number of solo albums and was highly respected for his guitar work.

West gained fame the world over during his long career as one of the most innovative and influential musicians in the history of rock music. He is most noted for his role as leader of the explosive hard rock trio, Mountain, which was named by VH-1 as one of the Top 100 Hard Rock Groups of all time. With Mountain, he climbed the heights of rock stardom on the strength of a unique, signature guitar sound and classic songs such as “Mississippi Queen”, “Never In My Life” and “Theme From An Imaginary Western”,and Nantucket Sleighride which are still staples of rock radio to this day. West earned the admiration of a long list of famous peers. During his career, he recorded or played with a litany of rock icons including Billy Joel, Van Halen, The Who, Mick Jagger and Jimi Hendrix, to name just a few. In fact, Eddie Van Halen, Michael Schenker and Richie Sambora have all cited West as an important influence on their own music.

West's bold, expressive and unique guitar style is really a mirror of his own personality. Spend a little time talking with this larger-than-life figure, and you’ll realize that he is as charismatic without a guitar in his hands as he is with one. Possessing a sharp sense of humor, he was at once gregarious and gruff while recounting stories from his legendary past. When discussing his music projects, he exuded an infectious enthusiasm and excitement. Such projects could take him outside his traditional roles of guitarist, singer and songwriter.

In 1986, he acted alongside Tom Hanks and Shelley Long in the hit comedy film, The Money Pit and has lent his distinctive voice to the popular animated series, Beast Wars Transformers which ran for three seasons on the WB network beginning in 1996 before going into syndication. He has also contributed the theme music to the new WB show, Mutant X.

West was a popular personality on the Howard Stern Radio Show and was Musical Director for the shock jock’s FOX series, as well as for the late comedian Sam Kinison. Most recently, he lent his production and songwriting skills to an album by Atlantic Records’ modern rock group, Clutch, and has just released his own instructional guitar DVD, Big Phat Ass Guitar.

Hang Me Out To Dry
Leslie West Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Careless in our summer clothes splashing around
In the muck and the mire
Careless in our summer clothes splashing around
In the muck and the mire

fell asleep with stains
Cake deep in the knees
What a pain

now hang me up to dry
You wrung me out
Too too too many times
Now hang me up to dry
I'm pearly like the whites
The whites of your eyes

all mixed up in the wash
Hot water bleeding our colors
All mixed up in the wash
Hot water bleeding our colors

now hang me up to dry
You wrung me out
Too too too many times
Now hang me up to dry
I'm pearly like the white
The whites of your eyes

now hang me up to dry
You wrung me out
Too too too many times
Now hang me up to dry
I'm pearly like the white
The whites of your eyes

now hang me up to dry
You wrung me out
Too too too many times
Now hang me up to dry

I'm pearly like the white
The whites of your eyes

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Leslie West's song Hang Me Out To Dry are a commentary on the careless, thoughtless behavior in a relationship that leads to the ultimate destruction of that relationship. Leslie sings of a carefree time when he and his partner were splashing around in the mud, carelessly staining their summer clothes in the process. The stains and cake deep in the knees serve as a metaphor for the mistakes and hurts that inevitably come with any relationship. The repetition of this image in the first and second verse is used to emphasize the cyclical nature of these mistakes.

The chorus serves as a plea to hang him up to dry, to let him be rid of the pain of the past and start anew. He is weary and worn down from being wrung out too many times, a metaphor for the emotional toll that the mistakes have taken on him. He wants to be pearly like the whites of his partner's eyes, to start fresh and clean without the baggage of the past. The image of colors bleeding and being mixed up in the wash is a symbol for the chaos, pain, and ultimately the destruction that comes from the careless behavior in a relationship.

Overall, Hang Me Out To Dry is a song that speaks to the challenges of any relationship, and the importance of learning from past mistakes in order to move forward.

Line by Line Meaning

Careless in our summer clothes splashing around
Not caring about the consequences, we joyously played in the water in our summer clothes

In the muck and the mire
The water was dirty with mud and filth, but we didn't care

fell asleep with stains
We were so carefree that we didn't even realize we had cake stains on our clothes when we fell asleep

Cake deep in the knees
The stains were so deep that they were caked onto our clothes, especially our knees

What a pain
It was frustrating to wake up and realize the stains had set in

now hang me up to dry
Now that you've wrung me out too many times, it's time to hang me up and let me dry for good

You wrung me out
You've taken all you could from me and left me empty

Too too too many times
You took too much from me, more than I could handle

I'm pearly like the whites
Now that I'm out of the water and dry, I'm as white and pure as the whites of your eyes

The whites of your eyes
Your eyes are pure and clear, and now I am too

all mixed up in the wash
Our clothes got mixed together in the washing machine