A sad man’s song to all his friends who are now married and settled down.
Hank Williams Jr., or Bocephus as some know him, had many stories of being wild and rambunctious during his prime. The singer of “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight” has one of the best party anthems in country music, which was later used as the anthem for Monday Night Football.
However, few know that his hit “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight” was actually a secondary tune to “All My Rowdy Friends (Have Settled Down).” 43 years ago today, on September 5th, 1981, Hank Williams Jr. released his fifth number-one hit and the lead single off his The Pressure Is On record. “All My Rowdy Friends (Have Settled Down)” was the song that started his infamous catchphrase about his wild and crazy friends. However, before Bocephus talks about having “girls that can cook, I got girls that can clean,” he is singing a sad ballad about how he feels he is losing all his rowdy friends.
The song, written by Williams Jr., talks about how getting older is for the birds. Not only does the hangover last longer, but your friends start to have families and aren’t available to tear up the town like they used to. As Williams Jr. has not yet found himself ready to give up this wild side, he moans the sorrowful feeling of not having the boys around like he once did.
“And the hangovers hurt more than they used to
And cornbread and ice tea took the place of pills and 90-proof
And it seems like none of us do things quite like we used to do
And nobody wants to get high on the town
And all my rowdy friends have settled down.”
Although this number one single is a sorrowful song about the realities of growing up, it coined one of Williams Jr.’s most iconic phrases. “All My Rowdy Friends” would later appear in the infamous 1984 “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight,” but also “Born to Boogie,” “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over For Monday Night Football,” and in his 2011 track “Keep the Change.”
Thank goodness Bocephus was feeling blue about not hitting the town as often because out of it became one of the best phrases in country music.
While you’re here, take a listen to the other tracks that the iconic phrase is found in.
