Saturday, June 18, 2022

Hank Williams Sr. and Hank Williams Jr. - There's a Tear in my Beer

Tomorrow is Father's Day, and there's no more famous father/son pair in Country Music than Hank Williams, Senior and Junior.  Senior died when Junior was a baby (there's an old photo of the two of them in the video, Senior with baby Junior sitting on his lap).

But the late 1980s was a time of emergent technology miracles, and this video is the highlight of the pre-digital editing age.  Keep in mind in today's age of "Deep Fakes" and special effects that the merging of old Hank Sr. footage with a modern day Junior was done without any computer graphics at all.  The Hank Sr. footage wasn't even of him singing this song - it was actually "Hey Good Looking", and an actor/singer recorded the new song and his mouth was superimposed on thew old footage.  This was cutting edge, a third of a century ago.

The song was pretty much a sensation - it was video of the year for both CMT and ACM, and Hank Jr. and Sr. shared a Grammy for best Country vocal collaboration.

I remember watching this when it came out, and how poignant it was - what might have been but never was.  


There's a Tear in my Beer (Songwriter: Hank Williams, Sr.)

There's a tear in my beer
'cause I'm cryin' for you, dear
you are on my lonely mind.
Into these last nine beers
I have shed a million tears.
You are on my lonely mind
I'm gonna keep drinkin'
until I'm petrified.
And then maybe these tears
will leave my eyes.
There's a tear in my beer
cause I'm crying' for you dear
You are on my lonely mind.

Last night I walked the floor
and the night before
You are on my lonely mind.
It seems my life is through
and I'm so doggone blue
You are on my lonely mind.
I'm gonna keep drinkin'
till I can't move a toe
and then maybe my heart
won't hurt me so.
There's a tear in my beer
cause I'm cryin' for you dear
You are on my lonely mind.

Lord, I've tried and I've tried
But my tears I can't hide
You are on my lonely mind.
All these blues that I've found
Have really got me down
You are on my lonely mind
I'm gonna keep drinkin' till I can't even think
Cause in the last week I ain't slept a wink
There's a tear in my beer
cause I'm crying for you dear
You are on my lonely mind.

1 comment:

Aesop said...

Why is it "Tear In My Beer"?
Shouldn't it be "Teer In My Beer"?
It couldn't possibly be "Tear In My Bear".
I mean, who'd tear a bear, right?

I swear, the government is in charge of English grammar.
Which explains a lot, actually.