“Country Boy Can Survive” is a country song by Hank Williams Jr. The song was released in 1980 and became one of the most popular songs on country radio that year.
The lyrics are about a country boy who is able to survive with his own wit, resourcefulness, and common sense. This blog post will provide you with an analysis of this catchy tune for your enjoyment!
The first verse of the country song is arguably its most memorable. The lyrics are about a determined and self-reliant country boy who can survive on his own: “Country boy, he knows how to live/ Country boy will show you with mule meat in your hand”.
In the second verse Hank Williams Jr. sings that our country boys do not need no welfare when they have their firearms for hunting deer. He then goes into detail about the other necessities needed by country folks living off-grid as well as descriptions of what it’s like to work hard all day doing manual labor such as chopping wood and picking cotton tobacco leaves while also farming crops: “He’ll be up before sun so he can milk cows/ And go out in the field and plow cotton”
The country people of Alabama are often stereotyped as lazy, ignorant and uneducated. The song by Hank Williams Jr. is a great example that country boys can survive on their own without any help from anyone else.
Furthermore, there is no shame in living off-grid or being uneducated when you have the skills to provide for yourself with manual labor. It’s not about what type of work you do but about your determination to make it through life with dignity and self respect.
Lyrics of Survival
by Hank Williams Jr.
“He’ll be up before sun so he can milk cows/ And go out in the field and plow cotton.” “And if anyone ever says that country boys ought to quit, just tell him this: they’re gonna do it their own way!” The lyrics are set against a typical country landscape filled with old trucks, dirt roads and farmhouses where people live off-grid without modern infrastructure like electricity or running water. Country folks have always been stereotyped as lazy, ignorant and uneducated which is why we need your help now more than ever! Don’t get us wrong; there’s no shame in being an uneducated country boy but instead focus on one thing – country boys can survive.
This country boy is proud to be a country boy and I’m here to tell the world that we’re gonna do it our own way!
Unplugging from social media, unplugging from your phone charger or cable box doesn’t make you any less of an educated person; it just might teach you more about life in general. You have no idea how much water, time and money (not to mention sanity) sometimes gets wasted on this stuff but trust me when I say: don’t let someone else’s opinion of what makes a “smart” person bother you – country boys still know best.
Non-country people often think nothing happens out there until they come for vacation, then all of a sudden it’s like we’re they only ones out there.
Country people don’t know about the latest and greatest until someone from town, or a vacationer who comes for one week every year tells us what happened at the big city up North (by that I mean any place more than two hours away). We have to share information using letters instead of texting because our cell service is so bad but trust me when I say: country boys still know best.
We all live different lives with different backgrounds and none of those are wrong – just non-country boys should learn to respect country life before coming down here thinking they can give orders in their fancy shoes. Country boy doesn’t need anything you’ve got, he’s happy where he is.
I’m not going to tell you country boys can survive without your help, but I will say that country boy knows how to take care of himself and his family – he doesn’t need you or anyone else telling him what’s best for him.”
The lyrics on this album are about living in the country, surviving as a country boy. It takes a lot more than just getting by when there is nothing around besides dirt roads and fields of cows – it takes hard work and determination to get through life day-to-day with all these obstacles standing in our way. Life isn’t easy anywhere we go, but at least out here we have time to slow down; back home where they don’t know better than us is different.
