diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 49f4ee7..f56bbf4 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -2,7 +2,10 @@
 
 ## bunyan 0.6.5 (not yet released)
 
-(nothing yet)
+- Add 'level' field to log record before custom fields for that record. This just
+  means that the raw record JSON will show the 'level' field earlier, which is a bit
+  nicer for raw reading.
+
 
 ## bunyan 0.6.4
 
diff --git a/lib/bunyan.js b/lib/bunyan.js
index ebba6f4..717c17d 100644
--- a/lib/bunyan.js
+++ b/lib/bunyan.js
@@ -600,6 +600,7 @@ Logger.prototype._mkRecord = function (fields, level, msgArgs) {
  */
 Logger.prototype._emit = function (rec) {
   var obj = objCopy(rec[0]);
+  var level = obj.level = rec[2];
   var recFields = rec[1];
   if (recFields) {
     if (this.serializers) {
@@ -609,7 +610,6 @@ Logger.prototype._emit = function (rec) {
       obj[k] = recFields[k];
     });
   }
-  var level = obj.level = rec[2];
   xxx("Record:", rec)
   obj.msg = format.apply(this, rec[3]);
   if (!obj.time) {