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.
Don't Give Us A Reason
Hank Williams Jr. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When you thought the whole world would back down
And let you take all the oil in red kuwait and plunder and spoil
Let sleeping dogs lie don't give us a reason
Cuz people in the USA are not really afraid
Of your starving army and all your worn out tanks
And if you take some innocent lives
Hey, man back off get smart, don't give us a reason
Don't give us a reason
To come gunning for you
Cuz the odds don't look so good
And your neck is in a nouse
Cuz the eagle and the bear
Make a mighty strong pair
And my advice is don't give us a reason
When all our people over there
Know that we all care
Now that's a situation ole' Saddom you don't wanna be in
Cuz if you do something stupid
We're gonna come down hard ole cupid
You better think this thing all the way out
Don't give us a reason
Don't give us a reason
To come gunning for you
Cuz the odds don't look so good
And your neck is in a nouse
Yeah you picked on your little neighbor
So do yourself a favor
Get out and go home and don't give us a reason
Yeah we've heard all your threats
and you're gonna freight yourself to death
My advice is don't give us a reason
You can take that poison gas, and stick it in your sassaphras
Don't give us a reason
Yeah I'd like to find out, just for fun, just how fast those camels run
I'll tell you son don't give us a reason
No the desert ain't veitnam
And there ain't nowhere to run
And we got the real top guns
Don't give us a reason
In Hank Williams Jr.'s song Don't Give Us A Reason, the artist is addressing Saddam Hussein and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Hank and the people of the United States will not stand for Iraq's attempt to take over Kuwait and plunder their oil. Hank warns Saddam that if they harm any innocent people, their actions will not be taken lightly, and the United States will retaliate. He also emphasizes that the US and the USSR make "a mighty strong pair," which is a reference to the Cold War between the two superpowers that was ongoing during the time the song was released in the early 1990s. Hank ultimately advises Saddam to think carefully about his actions, to not give the US a reason to declare war on Iraq.
Line by Line Meaning
Hey ole' Saddom you figured wrong
This line means calling out Sadam's wrong decision in expecting the world to back down against him, to take all the oil in red Kuwait and commit acts of plunder.
Let sleeping dogs lie don't give us a reason
This line means that people in the USA are not afraid of their army and old tanks. One shouldn't provoke them by taking innocent lives as this could lead to severe consequences.
Cuz people in the USA are not really afraid
This line clarifies that the general people of the USA are not afraid of Saddom's army and his old tanks.
And if you take some innocent lives
This line conveys a warning that Saddom shouldn't take lives of innocent people as the USA wouldn't tolerate such activities.
Hey, man back off get smart, don't give us a reason
This line suggests that Saddom should understand the situation carefully and not give the USA a reason to come after him.
Don't give us a reason
To come gunning for you
Cuz the odds don't look so good
And your neck is in a nouse
This line means that Saddom should not give the USA a reason to attack him because the chances of winning are minimal, and he would be in serious danger.
Cuz the eagle and the bear
Make a mighty strong pair
And my advice is don't give us a reason
This line means that both the USA and Russia are allies and refers to them as an eagle and a bear, which are both strong animals. The advice stated here is that Saddom shouldn't give the USA a reason to attack him.
When all our people over there
Know that we all care
Now that's a situation ole' Saddom you don't wanna be in
This line means that the USA cares for its people, and when Saddom is in a situation where he is up against the USA, he doesn't want to be there.
And if you do something stupid
We're gonna come down hard ole cupid
You better think this thing all the way out
Don't give us a reason
This line warns Saddom not to do anything foolish as the USA will strike back hard when they do. Saddom should think long and hard before engaging in any foolish activities.
Yeah you picked on your little neighbor
So do yourself a favor
Get out and go home and don't give us a reason
This line means that Saddom should do himself a favor and go back home instead of picking on his little neighbor. This way, he wouldn't give the USA a reason to come after him.
Yeah we've heard all your threats
and you're gonna freight yourself to death
My advice is don't give us a reason
This line tells Saddom that he shouldn't bother making threats because he would only be scaring himself. Saddom should avoid giving the USA a reason to attack him.
You can take that poison gas, and stick it in your sassaphras
Don't give us a reason
This line tells Saddom that he should do nothing with his poison gas as he may end up provoking the USA, which would be a disaster for him.
Yeah I'd like to find out, just for fun, just how fast those camels run
I'll tell you son don't give us a reason
This line means that the singer is curious to know how fast camels run, but he wouldn't want Saddom to give the USA a reason to attack him.
No the desert ain't Veitnam
And there ain't nowhere to run
And we got the real top guns
Don't give us a reason
This line means that the USA has the real top guns, and the desert isn't suitable for running away from them. Saddom should avoid giving the USA a reason to attack him.
Contributed by Taylor H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Miss Vikie The Texas Take USA 🇺🇸
Love this Song ✨💖✨
I played it for my bully neighbors that have been harassing me...
I turned the guy down and told him to leave me alone so him and his 30 yr old son started doing all kinds of crazy stuff to scare me... Because I live alone they thought they could get away with it I guess...
I started looking up country fight songs and playing it out my door whenever they started stuff.
One night I caught the 30yr old breaking into my old 1978 GMC at 2am.. I came out my front door with an automatic ~ Never saw a dude run so fast 😜😍🤣
They have stopped most of their crap but the 30 yr old still likes to play his jungle music first thing in the morning or Late at night while smoking his pot~ which is still illegal here in Texas but hard to get the police to do anything about it. 🤔
But he knows I won't back down even if I am small thing ~ for a girl I pack one hell of a punch when necessary
My FAVORITE PART IS
YEAH YOU PICKED ON YOUR LITTLE NEIGHBOR, SO DO YOURSELF A FAVOR GET OUT & GO HOME AND DON'T GIVE US A REASON.
YEAH WE'VE HEARD ALL THREATS YOUR GONNA THREAT YOURSELF TO DEATH BUT Don't GIVE Me a Reason
Then this next part because the dad started burning plastics & dumping chemicals into a fire every time I came outside to work in my gardens. It was making me so sick I almost passed out ~ he was doing it every day & Night for almost 2 months and we have garbage pickup so that is supposed to be illegal too... Little sheriff refused to even go give him a warning🤔 but I found out he is friends with one of them.
So this part of your song was great to play when they were trying to Smoke me out of house n home...
You can take that poison gas and stick it in your sassafras 😍🤣
Thanks Hank your song got me through a scary difficult time💋
Daniel Burns
this song went to #27 on the country charts in 1990!!!
bloocheez3
Holy moly that "neck in a noose" line was prophetic.
daniel correard
really though saddam was just hanging around lol
Super Amanda
Get up and swing to this great song!
Skymaster 47
Man predicted it 16 years before.
Linda Vaughn
Hank Williams Jr loves our country and our military. ❤❤❤
SSJGBrice
Amazing song
Jason Keith
Hank Jr. for president!
texaskidzuk
My favorite song while in the U.S. ARMY in 1992. Good times.
Jeff Hamrick
2021 that's what's up now 11 years later still drinking to this one