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.
Promises
Hank Williams Jr. Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I don't mind if you just
Keep on rolling away on a distant sea,
'Cause I don't love you and you don't love me.
You cause a commotion when you come to town.
You give 'em a smile and they melt.
And your lovers and friends is all good and fine.
La la la la la la la
I don't care what you do late at night.
No, and I don't care how you get your delights.
I'll leave you alone,
I'll just let you be.
I don't love you and you don't love me.
I got a problem, can you relate?
I got a woman callin' love hate.
We made a vow that we'd always be friends.
How could we know that promises end?
La la la la la la la
I tried to love you for years upon years.
You wouldn't take it for real.
It's time you saw what I wanted you to see,
And I'd still love you and you'd still love me.
I got a problem, can you relate?
I got a woman callin' love hate.
Aw, we made a vow that we'd always be friends.
How could we know that promises end?
La la la la la la la
La la la la la la la
Hank Williams Jr.'s song "Promises" is a tale of an unfulfilling relationship. The singer expresses his indifference to his partner's absence and disinterest in their personal affairs. He acknowledges their ability to enchant others, but the spark between them has fizzled out. The singer reflects on the promises they had made to each other and the hopes they once had, only to realize that promises sometimes do not have a happy ending.
The song is evidently about a relationship that has lost its fire. The singer is content to let his partner go and live their life while he goes on living his. The lyrics "I don't love you and you don't love me" emphasizes the absence of passion between them. The singer also notes the transient pleasure his partner finds elsewhere, and the fact that he has no urge to control it. The song speaks of the harsh reality of relationships; how promises can break and love can die.
Line by Line Meaning
I don't care if you never come home.
It doesn't matter to me whether you return or not.
I don't mind if you just Keep on rolling away on a distant sea,
It's fine with me if you continue traveling far away.
'Cause I don't love you and you don't love me.
Neither of us has any true affection for the other.
You cause a commotion when you come to town.
Your arrival stirs up a lot of attention.
You give 'em a smile and they melt.
Your smile has the power to charm and captivate others.
And your lovers and friends is all good and fine.
It's alright for you to have your own relationships.
But I don't like yours and you don't like mine.
We're not fond of each other's companions.
I don't care what you do late at night.
I'm not concerned about your activities in the evening.
No, and I don't care how you get your delights.
I have no interest in how you seek pleasure.
I'll leave you alone, I'll just let you be.
I won't interfere with your life or impose myself on you.
I got a problem, can you relate?
I'm facing a dilemma, can you understand?
I got a woman callin' love hate.
I have a female partner who both loves and hates me.
We made a vow that we'd always be friends.
We promised to remain friends forever.
How could we know that promises end?
We didn't realize that even the strongest promises may not last forever.
I tried to love you for years upon years.
I made an effort to love you for a long time.
You wouldn't take it for real.
You didn't believe in my love or take it seriously.
It's time you saw what I wanted you to see,
It's about time you understand my perspective.
And I'd still love you and you'd still love me.
We would still have feelings for each other despite everything.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: VERNON WHITE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind