Hank Williams, also known as the “Hillbilly Shakespeare”, emerged as country music’s first superstar in the 1950s.
Born in 1923 in Alabama, he showcased prodigious musical talent from a young age, influenced by Rufus Payne, a street performer.
Despite his rise to fame, Williams struggled with alcoholism, partly due to chronic back pain and tumultuous personal relationships.
He made significant contributions to country music, blending various genres and writing emotionally resonant songs.
Hits like “Lovesick Blues” and “Cold, Cold Heart” showcased his talent. However, his struggles culminated in his premature death in 1953.
Posthumously, his influence on American music was acknowledged with a special Pulitzer Prize in 2010.
I have listed below some of the most powerful quotes by him.
Top 10 Hank Williams Quotes
I think I’m good enough to play and sing. ~ Hank Williams.
If you think I’m a drunk, you shoulda seen my old man. ~ Hank Williams.
The way I feel is that if you don’t like folk music, stay away from my shows. ~ Hank Williams.
I have been living in Montgomery so long that I call it home. ~ Hank Williams.
Man, it’s hell to have a wife who thinks she can sing, and she can’t. ~ Hank Williams.
I have noticed that these pop bands will play our hillbilly songs when they can’t eat any other way! ~ Hank Williams.
Folk songs express the dreams and prayers and hopes of the working people. ~ Hank Williams.
If you’re gonna sing, sing ’em something they can understand. ~ Hank Williams.
If anybody in my business knew as much about their business as the public did, they’d be all right! ~ Hank Williams.
Don’t take life TOO serious you can’t get out alive anyhow. ~ Hank Williams.
Popular Hank Williams Quotes
I ain’t gonna worry wrinkles in my brow, cuz nothin’s never gonna be alright nohow. No matter how I struggle and strive, I’ll never get out of this world alive. ~ Hank Williams.
I wish I was back at WSFA making twelve dollars a week. At least then, if someone come to see me, I’d know they were coming to see me. Now I reckon they just want something from me. ~ Hank Williams.
I’m nothing but a drunkard. Why do people expect me to be anything else? ~ Hank Williams.
I’ve just signed a contract to make records in Nashville. It won’t amount to much at first, but after a year or so, I will really be in the money. ~ Hank Williams.
In this business, if you’re a success, there’s some folks who actually worship you. I have been to some places where it’s impossible to walk across the stage without having the major portion of my outfit torn off for souvenirs. ~ Hank Williams.
Best Hank Williams Quotes
Personally, I cain’t stand classical stuff, but I don’t tell the world about it. I just turn the radio off. Now, why cain’t these folks who don’t like my kind of music do the same? ~ Hank Williams.
To sing like a hillbilly, you had to have lived like a hillbilly. You had to have smelt a lot of mule manure. ~ Hank Williams.
You booked him, and you didn’t worry about crowds. For drawing power in the South, it was Roy Acuff, then God. ~ Hank Williams.
It makes me mad to hear these popular orchestras make a jammed-up comedy of a song like ‘Wreck on the Highway.’ It ain’t a funny song. ~ Hank Williams.
My mother played the organ in church at Georgiana, and I sat on the seat beside her. ~ Hank Williams.
There ain’t a man livin’ who hasn’t talked to his dog. ~ Hank Williams.
Famous Hank Williams Quotes
I was a pretty good imitator of Roy Acuff, but then I found out they already had a Roy Acuff, so I started singin’ like myself. ~ Hank Williams.
Somebody got the idea nobody didn’t listen to my kind ‘a music. I told everybody on the radio that this was my last program. ‘If anybody’s enjoyed it,’ I said, ‘I’d like to hear from ’em.’ I got 400 cards and letters that afternoon and the next mornin’… They decided they wanted to keep my kind of music. ~ Hank Williams.
I learned to play the git-tar from an old colored man in the streets of Montgomery. He was named Tetot, and he played in a colored street band. ~ Hank Williams.
I don’t know one note from another. ~ Hank Williams.
No matter how I struggle and strive, I’ll never get out of this world alive. ~ Hank Williams.
You got to have smelt a lot of mule manure before you can sing like a hillbilly. ~ Hank Williams.
There ain’t nobody I’d rather have alongside me in a fight than my mama with a broken bottle in her hand. ~ Hank Williams.
So these were the 30 top Hank Williams quotes on music, love and life.
If you like these quotes and sayings, then you can also read my other posts on Jade West quotes and Marv Levy quotes.
