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.
It
Hank Williams Jr. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Intro: [d] ...[a7] ...[d] ... [d7]
Yea! my bucket's got a [g] hole in it
Yea! my bucket's got a [d] hole in it
Yea! my bucket's got a [a7] hole in it
I can't buy no [d] beer.
Well I'm standin' on a [g] corner - with a bucket in my [d] hand
2nd chorus
'cause my bucket's got a [g] hole in it
Yea! my bucket's got a [d] hole in it
Yea! my bucket's got a [a7] hole in it
I can't buy no [d] beer.
Well, I went upon the [g] mountain - I looked down in the [d] sea
I seen the crabs and the [a7] fishes - doin' the be-bop-[d] bee.
2nd chorus
Well, there ain't no [g] use - of me workin' so [d] hard
When I got a [a7] woman - in the boss man's [d] yard.
2nd chorus
Extra verse.
Well, me and my baby - we just bought a ford
And now we sit together - on the running board.
1st chorus
Hank Williams Jr.'s song "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It" speaks of a man who is longing for a drink, but can't afford it because his bucket, which he uses to collect money, has a hole in it. The song appears to be set in a time when people collected money in buckets instead of cash registers. The song's first chorus sets the tone for the song, and the repetition of the line "my bucket's got a hole in it" emphasizes the man's dissatisfaction and desperation.
The second verse of the song suggests that the man is waiting for a woman who is not otherwise attached in order to get some money. The second chorus repeats the first, continuing the theme of the man's inability to purchase a drink due to his faulty bucket. The extra verse breaks from the previous theme, with the man now owning a Ford and sitting on the running board with his baby. This seems to suggest that the man's fortunes have changed for the better, as he has now found a way to improve his situation.
Overall, the song speaks of a man struggling with financial hardships and dreaming of a cold drink to ease his worries. The repeated lines and simple melody give the song a sense of urgency and longing.
Line by Line Meaning
Yea! my bucket's got a hole in it
My container for beer has a crack in it that causes it to leak.
Yea! my bucket's got a hole in it
My container for beer has a crack in it that causes it to leak.
Yea! my bucket's got a hole in it
My container for beer has a crack in it that causes it to leak.
I can't buy no beer.
I am unable to purchase any beer to satisfy my craving.
Well I'm standin' on a corner - with a bucket in my hand
I am standing on a street corner holding my bucket.
I'm waitin' for a woman - that ain't got no man.
I am waiting for a woman who is single to approach me.
Well, I went upon the mountain - I looked down in the sea
I climbed up a mountain and looked down at the ocean.
I seen the crabs and the fishes - doin' the be-bop-bee.
I saw the crabs and fishes moving around in a playful way.
Well, there ain't no use - of me workin' so hard
There is no point in me working so hard anymore.
When I got a woman - in the boss man's yard.
I have a woman in my boss's yard who is distracting me from my work.
Well, me and my baby - we just bought a ford
My significant other and I recently purchased a Ford car.
And now we sit together - on the running board.
We enjoy sitting together on the running board of our new car.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@chrisray6385
This is the heart of America.
Those who make it work
Those who came before
Who gave us this chance
Those who assure our future
Just because my grandfather's blood has been washed away by sand and time
Doesn't mean I have forgotten what he fought for.
How about you...
Have you forgotten?
@JesusKing1105
I am 42 Salvadorean 🇸🇻, raised in the US 🇺🇲and I have so much love and respect for good Americans that love and defend this way of life. God bless you all!
@seancasey8640
Nah brother, your roots are Salvadoran, you are 'Merican.
@jeremymoorer1611
That love makes you one of us. Alabama
@myamadeus1
In America the citizenry loves immigrants. :)
@FahqTyrants
🫡🇺🇲
@user-wr2cd1wy3b
Nothin' but 'A Merry Can' do, from an American dude
@DrPhillipMcCracken
I got hurt at work several years ago and was bleeding out in a hurry. The guy that stopped the bleeding, and made this typing possible, came from the WV coal mines. This song always reminds me of that. I'm a country boy but I couldn't help myself, thank God there was another one there.
@gabbynye7536
god bless
@lillyanp4
💯👍🏻
@743buses
I am a Cajun boy and I got hurt a lot and I am just a kid I almost died before as before and I fought it