The most significant gathering of country musicians and comedians, outside of the Grand Ole Opry's glory days, might've been on set for Hank Williams Jr.'s "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight."
Videos by Wide Open Country
Before it got retooled as the Monday Night Football theme song, the song helped define Bocephus' "Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound" image. In the song, he's got gorgeous women and too many drinking buddies to name. It's proof, for better or worse, that heavy metal didn't have the market cornered on adolescent male fantasies in 1984.
It's also famous for its music video, the winner of the inaugural ACM and CMA Video of the Year awards. In it, Hank Jr.'s "bachelor man" lifestyle allows him to throw the party of the year. A likely incomplete list of special cameos includes Paul Williams, Jim Varney, George Jones, Gailard Sartain, The Oak Ridge Boys, Little Jimmy Dickens, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Grandpa Jones, George Thorogood, and the Destroyers, Cheech & Chong, Kris Kristofferson, Bobby Bare, Porter Wagoner, Mel Tillis, Willie's tropical bird friend and the ghost of Hank Williams Sr. It celebrates country singers and comedians while proving that the "Family Tradition" and "A Country Boy Can Survive" singer doesn't take his image too seriously. Plus, who doesn't laugh about the Possum showing up on his riding lawnmower? That's dark comedy gold if you're a country music fan.
Read More: 10 Best Hank Williams Jr. Songs
In all, it's a great example of a song that straddles the line between classic honky-tonk and bluesy, raucous Southern rock, made all the more memorable by one of the greatest music videos of the 1980s.
"All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight" Lyrics:
I got ketchup on my blue jeans, I just burned my hand.
Lord, it's hard to be a bachelor man.
I got girls that can cook, I got girls that can clean,
I got girls that can do anything in between.
I gotta get ready, make everything right,
'cause all my rowdy friends are coming over tonight.
Do you want a drink? Hey do you want to party?
Hey honey this is ole Hank. Ready to get the thing started
We cooked the pig in the ground, got some beer on ice
And all my rowdy friends are coming over tonight.
Now my party pad is out in the woods
Its long, long way from here to Hollywood,
But I got some natural queens out on the floor
And ole Miss Mississippi just walked through the door.
Got a little whirlpool just made for ten,
And you can jump out and you can jump in
You can do anything that you want to do,
But uh uhh, don't you step on my cowboy boots.
Do you want to drink? Hey do you want to party?
Hey this is ole Hank ready to get your summer started.
I cooked a pig in the ground, we got some beer on ice
And all my rowdy friends are coming over tonight
Do you want to drink, hey do you want to party?
Hey hey this is rock'n Randall Hank, ready to get the summer time started
We cooked the pig in the ground, we got some beer on ice
All my rowdy friends are coming over tonight
Thats right. Come on in!
This post was originally published on August 1, 2018.
