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.
Dirty Mind
Hank Williams Jr. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I bought you some pink champaigne.
It's early afternoon so why don't you,
Come over and model these things.
I forgot to you I stopped at that little,
Loungerie shop in the mall.
And the girls showed me this,
The girls showed me that.
Now you can put on this garter belt.
Wear this hot little dress.
No it doesn't leave much for imagination,
But it shows off your assets
I can fix us a drink, while you slip into these things.
And I'll meet you in the bar at nine.
Yuo make me wanna' fantasy,
I've got a dirty mind.
(Ab)Yes it's true. I've got a dirty mind.
But I saw you enjoy it too, all those men giving you the eye.
You women are trying to keep us men turned on all the time.
We hope you never quit, cause we're enjoying it.
We've all got dirty minds.
Now don't you tell me I'm a dirty devil, through and through,
Sittin there with your dress hiked up
All those legs and hose and shoes.
I heard about your last party, so don't you be judging me.
You junped up on the table, did a slow strip
Girl your as bad as me.
(Repeat3)
I need a night of counseling, to get my mind off of these things
I've got a dirty, nasty, rotten, normal mind
The song "Dirty Mind" by Hank Williams Jr. centers around the concept of sexual fantasies and desires. The lyrics carry a sense of seduction and playfulness, as the singer tries to convince his partner to wear lingerie and model it for him. He also references a party where his partner stripped down, insinuating that she is not innocent in the matter either. The main theme of the song is that everyone has "dirty minds" and enjoys a bit of sexual teasing and playfulness in their lives.
Throughout the song, the singer tries to convince his partner to indulge in his sexual fantasies with him. He wants her to wear revealing lingerie and show off her body to him. The lyrics suggest that the partner is complicit in the desires of the singer, as she enjoys the attention from other men too. The singer acknowledges that he has a "dirty mind," but also points out that everyone has sexual fantasies and desires.
Line by Line Meaning
Well I just got back from the liquor store,
I just got back from the liquor store
I bought you some pink champagne.
I bought you some pink champagne
It's early afternoon so why don't you,
It's the afternoon, why don't you come over
Come over and model these things.
Come over and try on these clothes
I forgot to you I stopped at that little,
I forgot to tell you I stopped at that little
Loungerie shop in the mall.
lingerie shop in the mall
And the girls showed me this,
The girls showed me this
The girls showed me that.
The girls showed me that
And baby I bought 'em all.
And I bought them all
Now you can put on this garter belt.
You can wear this garter belt
Wear this hot little dress.
Wear this hot little dress
No, it doesn't leave much for imagination,
It doesn't leave much to the imagination
But it shows off your assets
But it shows off your best features
I can fix us a drink, while you slip into these things.
I can make us a drink while you change into these clothes
And I'll meet you in the bar at nine.
I'll meet you at the bar at nine
You make me wanna' fantasy,
You make me want to fantasize
I've got a dirty mind.
I have a dirty mind
(Ab)Yes it's true. I've got a dirty mind.
Yes, it's true. I have a dirty mind
But I saw you enjoy it too, all those men giving you the eye.
But I saw you enjoyed it too when those men were checking you out
You women are trying to keep us men turned on all the time.
You women are always trying to keep us men turned on
We hope you never quit, cause we're enjoying it.
We hope you never stop because we enjoy it
We've all got dirty minds.
We all have dirty minds
Now don't you tell me I'm a dirty devil, through and through,
Don't tell me I'm a dirty devil
Sittin there with your dress hiked up
Sitting there with your dress hiked up
All those legs and hose and shoes.
Those legs, hose, and shoes
I heard about your last party, so don't you be judging me.
I heard about your last party, so don't you judge me
You jumped up on the table, did a slow strip
You jumped up on the table and did a slow strip
Girl you're as bad as me.
Girl, you're as bad as me
(Repeat3)
Repeat previous 2 lines
I need a night of counseling, to get my mind off of these things
I need counseling to get my mind off of these things
I've got a dirty, nasty, rotten, normal mind
I have a dirty, nasty, rotten, but normal mind
Contributed by Colton M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.