| Hey, Good Lookin' | |
| Cover: | Hank_Williams_Hey_good_looking.jpg |
| Published: | Acuff-Rose Publications[1] |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Hank Williams With His Drifting Cowboys |
| B-Side: | My Heart Would Know |
| Recorded: | [2] |
| Studio: | Castle Studio, Nashville |
| Genre: | Country and western, honky-tonk, country blues, proto-rockabilly |
| Length: | 2:57 |
| Label: | MGM 11000 |
| Producer: | Fred Rose |
| Prev Title: | Howlin' at the Moon |
| Prev Year: | 1951 |
| Next Title: | (I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle |
| Next Year: | 1951 |
"Hey, Good Lookin'" is a 1951 song written and recorded by Hank Williams, and his version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001.[3] In 2003, CMT voted the Hank Williams version No. 19 on CMT's 100 Greatest Songs of Country Music. Since its original 1951 recording it has been covered by a variety of artists.
The Hank Williams song "borrowed heavily" from the 1942 song with the same title written by Cole Porter for the Broadway musical Something for the Boys.[4] The lyrics for the Williams version begin as a come on using double entendres related to food preparation ("How's about cookin' somethin' up with me?"). By the third and fourth verses, the singer is promising the object of his affection that they can become an exclusive couple ("How's about keepin' steady company?" and "I'm gonna throw my date book over the fence").[5]
Williams was friendly with musician Jimmy Dickens. Having told Dickens that Dickens needed a hit record if he was going to become a star, Williams said he would write it, and penned "Hey Good Lookin'" in only 20 minutes while on a plane with Dickens, Minnie Pearl, and Pearl's husband Henry Cannon.[6] A week later, Williams recorded it himself, jokingly telling Dickens, "That song's too good for you!"[7]
"Hey, Good Lookin'" was recorded on March 16, 1951, at Castle Studio in Nashville. The same session also produced the single's B-side "My Heart Would Know" as well as another pair of tunes that would be released as singles: "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)" and "Howlin' at the Moon", released on April 27, 1951. The "Hey, Good Lookin'" single would follow on June 22. Williams was backed on the session by members of his Drifting Cowboys band, including Jerry Rivers (fiddle), Don Helms (steel guitar), Sammy Pruett (electric guitar), Jack Shook (rhythm guitar), Ernie Newton or "Cedric Rainwater", aka Howard Watts (bass), and either Owen Bradley or producer Fred Rose on piano. As author Colin Escott observes, "On one level, it seemed to point toward rock 'n' roll (hot rods, dancing sprees, goin' steady, and soda pop), but the rhythm plodded along with a steppity-step piano, and Hank sounded almost dour."
Williams performed the song on the Kate Smith Evening Hour on March 26, 1952; the appearance remains one of the few existing film clips of the singer performing live. He is introduced by Roy Acuff and banters with a young June Carter. He is wearing his famous white cowboy suit adorned in musical notes. He performed "Hey, Good Lookin'" and joined in with the rest of the cast singing his own "I Saw The Light". The rare clip displays the singer's exuberance on stage while performing an up-tempo number, and he appears at ease in the relatively new broadcast medium of television. The kinescope from this show would provide the footage for the Hank Williams Jr. video "There's a Tear in My Beer" some 37 years later.
| Hey Good Lookin' | |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | The Mavericks |
| Album: | From Hell to Paradise |
| Released: | April 28, 1992 |
| Genre: | Neotraditional country, Americana, rockabilly, country rock |
| Length: | 2:37 |
| Label: | MCA |
| Producer: | Steve Fishell Raul Malo |
| Next Title: | This Broken Heart |
| Next Year: | 1992 |
| Hey Good Lookin' | |
| Cover: | Buffett - Hey Good Lookin cover.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Jimmy Buffett with Clint Black, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, and George Strait |
| Album: | License to Chill |
| Released: | May 17, 2004 |
| Recorded: | 2004 |
| Genre: | Neotraditional country |
| Length: | 3:03 |
| Label: | Mailboat/RCA Nashville |
| Producer: | Mac McAnally Michael Utley |
| Chronology: | Jimmy Buffett |
| Prev Title: | It's Five O'Clock Somewhere |
| Prev Year: | 2003 |
| Next Title: | Trip Around the Sun |
| Next Year: | 2004 |