Williams began his career following in his famed father's footsteps, covering his father's songs and imitating his father's style. Williams' first television appearance was in a 1964 episode of ABC's The Jimmy Dean Show, in which at age fourteen he sang several songs associated with his father. Later that year, he was a guest star on Shindig!.
Williams' style evolved slowly as he struggled to find his own voice and place within country music. This was interrupted by a near-fatal fall off the side of Ajax Peak in Montana on August 8, 1975. After an extended recovery, he challenged the country music establishment with a blend of country, rock, and blues. As a multi-instrumentalist, Williams' repertoire of skills includes guitar, bass guitar, upright bass, steel guitar, banjo, dobro, piano, keyboards, saxophone, harmonica, fiddle, and drums.
From 1989 through October 2011, his song "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight", refashioned as "All My Rowdy Friends Are Here on Monday Night", had been used to open broadcasts of Monday Night Football until it was pulled after Williams made controversial comments comparing President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler. The song returned to open the show in 2017.
On August 12, 2020, Williams was selected to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Williams' early career was guided, some say outright dominated, by his mother Audrey Williams, who many claim was the driving force that led his father to musical superstardom during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Audrey, in many ways, wished for young Hank to be nothing more than a "Hank Williams, Sr. impersonator", sometimes going as far as to have clothes designed for him that were identical to his father's stage clothes and vocal stylings very similar to those of his father.
Although Williams' recordings earned him numerous country hits throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, he became disillusioned with his role as a 'Hank Williams clone' and severed ties with his mother in order to pursue his own musical direction and tastes. After recording the soundtrack to Your Cheatin' Heart, a biography of his father, Williams, Jr. hit the charts with one of his own compositions, "Standing in the Shadows". The song signalled a move to rock and roll and other influences as he stepped from the shadow of his father.
Also during this time, Williams had his first two No. 1 songs: "All For the Love of Sunshine" (1970, featured on the soundtrack to Kelly's Heroes) and "Eleven Roses" (1972).
By the mid-1970s, Williams had finally found the musical direction that would, eventually, make him a superstar. Williams' unique blend of traditional country with southern rock and blues earned him a devoted following, although some mainstream country radio stations wouldn't touch his new songs in this blatantly untraditional sound.
While recording a series of hit songs, Williams began abusing drugs, including alcohol and eventually tried to commit suicide in 1974. Moving to Alabama, Williams began playing music with Southern rock musicians Toy Caldwell, Marshall Tucker Band and Charlie Daniels, and others.
His last major success was "There's a Tear in My Beer", a duet with his father created using electronic dubbing techniques. The song itself was written by his father, presumably, sometime between 1950 and 1953 and was recorded with Hank Williams playing just his guitar. The music video for the song combined existing television footage of Hank Williams performing and the dubbing techniques transferred the image of Hank Jr. onto the screen, so it appeared as if he were actually playing with his father. The video was an overwhelming success, both critically and commercially. It was named Video Of The Year by both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country music. Hank Williams, Jr. would go on to win a Grammy award in 1990 for Best Country Vocal Collaboration.
Despite his slumping album sales, Hank Williams Jr. continued to be a popular concert draw during the early 1990s and continued to record, with several of his recordings during this time still managing to achieve gold status, selling 500,000 copies.
He is probably best known today as the performer of the theme song for Monday Night Football, based on "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight". The opening theme became a classic, as much a part of the show as the football itself. In 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994, Williams' opening themes for Monday Night Football would earn him four Emmy awards.
Williams opened for Super Bowl XL on February 5, 2006, on ABC and was in the stands as a Pittsburgh Steelers fan.
On April 10, 2006, CMT honored Williams with the Johnny Cash Visionary Award, presenting it to him at the 2006 CMT Music Awards.
On November 11, 2008, Williams was honored as a BMI Icon at the 56th annual BMI Country Awards. The artists and songwriters named BMI Icons have had "a unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers".
In 2011, Williams was named one of "Seven Living Legends" of his native Shreveport, Louisiana, by Danny Fox (1954–2014) of KWKH radio. Others named were Bob Griffin of KSLA and KTBS-TV and James Burton. Two others cited, Claude King and Frank Page, both died in 2013.
In 2015, Hank Williams Jr. was Inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame.
Dinosaur
Hank Williams Jr. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And they sure don't look like cowboy boots
And that ain't rock and roll you're playin'
And it sure ain't country or rhythm and blues
You're singin' a song about makin' love to your drummer
Well gay guitar-pickers don't turn me on
And we don't all get into Donna Summer
'Cause you see I'm a dinosaur
I should've died a long time before
Have pity on a dinosaur hand me my hat
Excuse me man, but where's the door?
Used to be I had a lotta fun in this old hangout
We'd get stoned at the jukebox and stay outta fights
Now and then we'd light a little smoke in the truck out back
Aww, then a little old Jim Beam and we'd get right
And you know these flashing lights sure make me dizzy
And this disco's very strange to my ear
It looks like they've turned the longhorn into a spaceship
And I'll be leavin' just as soon as I finish this beer
'Cause you see I'm a dinosaur
Should've died a long time before
There's a whole lotta dinosaurs
Give us our hats, excuse me man, but where's the door?
Get us our hats, excuse me man, where's the door?
In "Dinosaur," Hank Williams Jr. expresses his dissatisfaction with the music scene of the 1980s. He criticizes the style of dress of the musicians, claiming that they are not wearing high-heeled sneakers or cowboy boots. He also criticizes the style of music they are playing, claiming that it isn't country, rock and roll, or rhythm and blues. He accuses the lead singer of singing about making love to his drummer and asks if the vocalist knows any old Hank Williams songs. The chorus repeats the phrase "I'm a dinosaur" throughout the song, signifying his feeling that he's out of place in the modern world.
Williams' use of the word "dinosaur" has two implications. First, he means that he's old-fashioned and outdated because he's stuck in the past when country music was at its peak. Second, he means that he's obsolete because modern listeners prefer pop-rock rather than country music. Hank Williams Jr. takes offense to the fact that he's not considered contemporary and prefers to stick to traditional country music.
Line by Line Meaning
Hey man them ain't high heeled sneakers
Those shoes you're wearing don't look like high heeled sneakers.
And they sure don't look like cowboy boots
In fact, it's obvious that they're not cowboy boots either.
And that ain't rock and roll you're playin'
The music genre that you're playing right now is definitely not rock and roll.
And it sure ain't country or rhythm and blues
It doesn't fit into the country or rhythm and blues category either.
You're singin' a song about makin' love to your drummer
Your lyrics suggest that you're having sexual relations with your drummer.
Well gay guitar-pickers don't turn me on
I'm not attracted to male guitarists who are attracted to other men.
And we don't all get into Donna Summer
Not all of us enjoy listening to Donna Summer’s music like you do.
Do you happen to know any old Hank Williams songs?
Do you by any chance know any classic songs written by Hank Williams?
'Cause you see I'm a dinosaur
I'm an old-fashioned person and out of touch with the current trends.
I should've died a long time before
I feel like I should have died a long time ago since the world has changed so much.
Have pity on a dinosaur hand me my hat
Please have mercy on an outdated person and give me my hat to leave.
Excuse me man, but where's the door?
Can you tell me where the exit is?
Used to be I had a lotta fun in this old hangout
I remember enjoying myself a lot in this place when I was younger.
We'd get stoned at the jukebox and stay outta fights
We used to smoke marijuana and listen to music without getting into any trouble.
Now and then we'd light a little smoke in the truck out back
Occasionally, we would smoke marijuana in the truck parked outside of the place.
Aww, then a little old Jim Beam and we'd get right
Then we would drink some whiskey and feel good.
And you know these flashing lights sure make me dizzy
These shiny and colorful lights are making me feel dizzy.
And this disco's very strange to my ear
The disco music playing here sounds very different from what I'm used to.
It looks like they've turned the longhorn into a spaceship
It looks like they've changed the traditional country decor into something modern and futuristic.
And I'll be leavin' just as soon as I finish this beer
I'll leave as soon as I finish drinking this beer.
There's a whole lotta dinosaurs
There are many people like me who feel out of touch with the current world.
Give us our hats, excuse me man, but where's the door?
Please give us our hats and tell us how to get out of here.
Get us our hats, excuse me man, where's the door?
Please give us our hats and show us how to leave this place.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Bob Corbin, Hank Jr. Williams
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind