About The Song
Hank Williams, Jr. was only three years old when his father passed away, yet three visions of Hank, Sr. remain in his mind. Hank Jr. says he can remember him just as plain as day lying on a couch watching TV, also sitting in an airplane (all legs and hat), and performing on his early-morning WSM radio program. Hank, Jr. remembers those three visions of his dad and that’s all.
For years, country fans had wanted the younger Williams to be a living snapshot of his father, but he deliberately shunned life as a die-cast copy and reportedly disowned his earlier recordings of his dad’s songs (including the top 5 “Long Gone Lonesome Blues,” which had marked Hank, Jr.’s first Billboard chart appearance in 1964 at the age of 15). Thus it proved ironic when he remade (and had hits with) three more of his father’s songs – “Mind Your Own Business,” “Kaw-Liga” and “Honky Tonkin’” after switching to a more progressive style of music.
His manager Merle Kilgore used to say that “Hank, Jr. doesn’t play by the rules, so you can’t judge him by the rules.” He wanted to do things his own way, and when he discovered that he could, that’s when he went back and covered some of his dad’s old material. He didn’t plan it that way, but when it happened, Hank, Jr. would get a kick out of saying, “This’ll really knock ‘em off-guard.”
The elder Hank recorded “Honky Tonkin’” at his second recording session in 1947 for the Sterling label (before he was signed to MGM). The tune was re-cut and released by MGM the following year, entering Billboard’s chart on July 3, 1948. It climbed to #14. Hank, Sr.’s breakthough hit, “Lovesick Blues,” was still about nine months away.
Hank, Jr. originally intended his new version of “Honky Tonkin’” to be a duet with Tanya Tucker. Unhappy with her performance, he saved the instrumental tracks and did it as a solo record. It brought new life to his father’s old classic, and Hank paid further homage to his dad by ad-libbing a couple of lines from “Hey, Good Lookin’” in the tune’s chorus. “Honky Tonkin’” became his sixth number one single on August 7, 1982, although it could have easily been Hank, Jr.’s seventh. His prior release, “A Country Boy Can Survive” had stalled at #2 on April 24th.
However, Williams set a record that week when “High Notes” entered the Billboard country album chart. As a result, eight different Hank, Jr. albums were on the chart simultaneously. That achievement didn’t last long – on October 30th “Hank Williams, Jr.’s Greatest Hits” became his ninth album listed. Hank owns this mark for living entertainers. Elvis Presley was the first performer with nine albums on the chart, attaining that level on January 21, 1978 because of the buying frenzy that followed his death on August 16, 1977.
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Lyric
When you are sad and lonely and have no place to go
Come to see me, baby, and bring along some dough
And we’ll go honky tonkin’, honky tonkin’
Honky tonkin’, honey baby
We’ll go honky tonkin’ ’round this town
When you and your baby have a fallin’ out
Call me up, sweet mama, and we’ll go steppin’ out
And we’ll go honky tonkin’, honky tonkin’
Honky tonkin’, honey baby
We’ll go honky tonkin’ ’round this town
We’re goin’ to the city, to the city fair
If you go to the city, baby, you will find me there
And we’ll go honky tonkin’, honky tonkin’
Honky tonkin’, honey baby
We’ll go honky tonkin’ ’round this town
We goin’ honky tonkin’, honky tonkin’
Honky tonkin’, honey baby
We goin’ honky tonkin’ ’round this town