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.
Getting Over You
Hank Williams Jr. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I hocked my watch, I've lost track of time
Days with you went by so fast now I'm trying to relive the past
You don't know what I've been through getting over you
I've tried to love other women but I can't
You've really made a mess out of what used to be a man
I thought I drowned the fire in others but you're still my only lover
Bridge:
I got some pills from a ol' doctor friend
The bottle said one every 12 hours for pain
But this pain I feel aint small that's why I took them one and all
It was something I had to do to get over you
No, the pain I feel ain't small
Lord I took them one and all
It was something I had to do to get over you
Hank Williams Jr.'s song "Getting Over You" is a dismal ballad about a man struggling to move on from the loss of a relationship. The opening lines, "I sold my car to buy more wine, I hocked my watch, I've lost track of time," reveal the singer's emotional state. He has turned to drowning his sorrows in liquor and has lost all sense of time. The days he spent with the woman he once loved flew by so quickly, and now he's left trying to relive the past. But, as the chorus suggests, getting over her hasn't been an easy process.
The second verse delves deeper into the singer's struggles. He's tried to move on by loving other women, but none of them compare to the one he's lost. The pain he feels is evident in the third verse, where he admits to taking pills to cope. Though the bottle says to take one every twelve hours, the singer takes them all at once to dull the pain of his heartbreak. The final lines, "It was something I had to do to get over you, no, the pain I feel ain't small, Lord I took them one and all," underscore this desperation.
Interestingly, these heartbreaking lyrics are set against a catchy, fast-paced melody. This juxtaposition of upbeat music with sad lyrics is a characteristic of many country songs. The song was released in 1984, and it became a top ten hit on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. "Getting Over You" remains a popular song for karaoke and has been covered by various artists, including Tanya Tucker and David Allan Coe.
Line by Line Meaning
I sold my car to buy more wine
I was so devastated and heartbroken that I sold my car to buy more wine which served as a temporary escape from the pain you caused.
I hocked my watch, I've lost track of time
I was so lost and consumed by the memories of us that I even hocked my watch and lost track of time in the process.
Days with you went by so fast now I'm trying to relive the past
The days that I spent with you flew by so quickly and now I'm left trying to relive those moments even though they won't come back.
You don't know what I've been through getting over you
You have no idea how hard it was for me to move on from our relationship and the pain that I had to endure in the process.
I've tried to love other women but I can't
I've tried to move on with other women but I can't seem to love them the same way I loved you.
You've really made a mess out of what used to be a man
You've completely destroyed me and turned me into a shell of the man I used to be.
I thought I drowned the fire in others but you're still my only lover
I tried to extinguish the flames I had for you by pursuing other relationships, but you still remain the only one I truly love.
I got some pills from a ol' doctor friend
I turned to pills to numb the overwhelming pain that I was feeling.
The bottle said one every 12 hours for pain
The prescription was meant to be taken once every 12 hours to alleviate pain.
But this pain I feel aint small that's why I took them one and all
The pain I am feeling is too intense and overwhelming, which is why I took more pills than prescribed.
It was something I had to do to get over you
Taking the pills was a necessary measure for me to finally move on from the pain and heartbreak you caused me.
No, the pain I feel ain't small
The pain that I feel is not insignificant or easy to overcome.
Lord I took them one and all
I took all the pills to suppress the pain that I was feeling.
It was something I had to do to get over you
Taking the pills was a difficult yet necessary step for me to finally put our relationship in the past and move on.
Contributed by Mackenzie O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Tommy Wood
I've never heard this song before. Hank Jr is one of best. Thanks for posting 🎩🎸
LoneWolf78
At some point every man has been here...This is a word for word great Hank song...His early work was deep and great just like his volumes 1-11 with Curb Records...
Lisa Evans
I can say with all of me that he is one of a kind
Jenna
Love this man!
Charlie Etheridge
Lord this pain I feel ain't small that's why I took them one and all.......hit me hard the first time I heard that....I've been there
Lisa Evans
The thing about Hank is he sings where we’ve all been
Miriam Williams
Sounds like my life !!!!.
Tim Selk
damn good song
Robertgg Mckenzie
The greatest
Tiffani V. Vela
my favorite