"If I get stoned I'm just carrying on an old family tradition"

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, what exactly do we call the horrific self-parody on example yesterday as Hank Williams Jr. butchered one of his better songs, the pro-drug, anti-Nashville "Family Tradition," by refashioning it into the moronic "McCain-Palin Tradition"? Here are a few snippets from my own transcription:

John and Sarah tell you just what they think
They're not gonna blink
And they don't have radical friends to whom their careers are linked

[...]

Sarah, why do you hunt?
John, why do you fish?
How can you be so smart and savvy and such a "hey good lookin'" dish?

That's a reference to Gov. Palin, by the way, not the Maverick. Hardly an improvement on this bit from the original:

Hank, why do you drink?
Hank, why do you roll smokes?
Why must you live out the songs that you wrote?

Here's the video from yesterday's rally at the Richmond International Raceway:

Comments

Billy Beck | October 14, 2008, 10:45am | #

By now -- more than fifteen years on from my time in The 615 (Nashville area code) Syndrome -- I can safely speak to this in public. That man is one of the most random chaos generators I ever knew.

"...what exactly do we call the horrific self-parody..."

You call it "Hank". It just is what it is. More than two years on that tour taught me that there is no telling what he'll ever do next. Hell, man: half the time his own band didn't know what he was going play next.

Just about everybody to the right of, say, David Brooks is grading this whole Palin deal on a retard-class curve. Bless his heart: Hank is naturally going to be set to whoops in a scene like that.

Abdul | October 14, 2008, 10:52am | #

Dammit. After reading Bob Weir's support for a Obama, I had my mind made up. Now I see that Hank Jr. is for McCain.

How can we undecided voters make a decision when even our nation's musician class is divided?

jayjayhawker | October 14, 2008, 10:59am | #

And the responses to the 3 questions posed in the original version are (in order)

To get drunk

To get stoned

To get laid



These 3 might not apply as well to the newer version

MassHole | October 14, 2008, 10:59am | #

Must. Obey. Bocephus.

Warren | October 14, 2008, 11:00am | #

Hank Jr's entire career life has been a horrific self-parody. Why change now?

PC | October 14, 2008, 11:00am | #

We should all be glad that Hank didn't decide to sing "If the South Would Have Won", that one would have caused a bigger stir.

Winthorpe | October 14, 2008, 11:01am | #

Who's Timberlake voting for?

Also, the guy out of High School Musical 3. He has nice eyes.

P Brooks | October 14, 2008, 11:11am | #

REPUBLICANIACS! The No Shame Tour!

When does David Allen Coe come on?



If The Real Hank Williams had strangled Junior in the crib (however much it would have been justified), we wouldn't have HankIII.

jody | October 14, 2008, 11:16am | #

the horrid overexposure of hank jr is only exceeded by hank III's underground awesomeness.

xx | October 14, 2008, 11:24am | #

Not Bocephus!
Will someone think of the children. John mccain couldnt smoke if he tried.

Johnny Nowhere | October 14, 2008, 11:29am | #

Jody / P Brooks,

'Aint that the truth?

Any fan of Hank Sr. who's never heard Hank III should really give him a try.

Bill Hicks | October 14, 2008, 11:33am | #

It's only your dignity, Hank. Suck it!

mediageek | October 14, 2008, 12:07pm | #

Shit like this simply reinforces my belief that I made the right choice in adopting libertarianism.

In the last few years, the Republicans seem much more willing to trot out semi-talented redneck morons in a bid to gin up support from the base.

And all I can think is "If I were a Republican, I'd be so embarrassed."

Warren | October 14, 2008, 12:37pm | #

So who is Dee Snider backing?

zoltan | October 14, 2008, 12:44pm | #

Hank 1: Good.
Hank 2: Bad.
Hank 3: Good.

There was a generation jump. Like twins or something.

Mosby | October 14, 2008, 12:53pm | #

Old Hank Jr is badass. Dinosaur is one of the greatest country songs of all-time.

henry | October 14, 2008, 12:53pm | #

At least Coe has some back catalog songs that would REALLY fire up the GOP "base".

kevrob | October 14, 2008, 12:56pm | #

I'm a big fan of Hank v. 1.0, but even he cranked out those Luke The Drifter sides.

Kevin

Angry Sam | October 14, 2008, 1:01pm | #

Yeah, I can't imagine Senior would agree with Junior's endorsement, and I highly doubt III does.

He'll probably write in Kinky Friedman.

Jeffersonian | October 14, 2008, 1:02pm | #

Did Reason ever link to that ridiculous Celebrity prayer bullshit about Obama?

Probably not. It's far more ridiculous than this admittedly bad thing.

brotherben | October 14, 2008, 5:04pm | #

If you act like a giant flaming douchebag while backing angry, pitiful old buttmunch and raving, empty headed, christisaurus cunt, you might be a washed up ole redneck.

Tom Walls (Fla. not FL) | October 14, 2008, 8:11pm | #

Hank Williams Jr. Honored By Institute For Football Preparedness

Kant feel Pietzsche | October 14, 2008, 9:00pm | #

Gee, brotherben, I'm having an awful time figuring out where your sympathies lie.

Metal Messiah | October 14, 2008, 9:36pm | #

The Williams family is irrefutable proof that talent does indeed skip generations.

Why Hank!!?? | October 15, 2008, 5:41am | #

First of all, Hank Jr. has put out some good stuff (and plenty of crap) Also Hank Jr. Jr. (Hank III) rules.

That being said, right about now, I'd like to spit some Beechnut in that dude's eye.

Although I don't really feel it necessary to shoot him with my ol' 45.

ARM | October 17, 2008, 1:45pm | #

Did anyone notice that Palin appears to have no sense of rhythm?