In the late 1960s, George Jones‘ then-wife Shirley Ann Corley would hide all the keys to their cars before leaving the house to prevent him from driving to nearby Beaumont, Texas to purchase more alcohol. Corley’s attempts proved futile one day when Jones spotted a lawnmower on their property and decided to take the “vehicle” for a drive to the nearest liquor store.
“I can vaguely remember my anger at not being able to find keys to anything that moved and looking longingly out a window at a light that shone over our property,” recalled Jones in his 1996 autobiography I Lived to Tell It All. “There, gleaming in the glow, was that 10-horsepower rotary engine under a seat, a key glistening in the ignition. I imagine the top speed for that old mower was five miles per hour. It might have taken an hour and a half or more for me to get to the liquor store, but get there I did.”
Jones also used a lawnmower to procure alcohol while married to Tammy Wynette. Jones’ lawnmower alcohol runs became a thing of legend and was later used as a humourous slant in country songs throughout the next few decades. Here’s a look behind four songs that memorialize the Jones’ John Deere-driving days—including one he recorded himself.
Videos by American Songwriter
“All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight,” Hank Williams Jr. (1984)
Written by Hank Williams Jr.
In Hank Williams Jr.’s hit “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight,” from his 1984 album Major Moves, he cites his father’s 1949 song “Lost Highway”—Now boys don’t start to ramblin’ round / On this road of sin, are you sorrow-bound? / Take my advice or you’ll curse the day / You started rollin’ down that lost highway.
On “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight,” Williams Jr. talks about Kris Kristofferson moving to Hollywood to act, Waylon Jennings staying home with his wife Jessi Colter more, and George Jones getting straight.
Jones makes his first cameo on the lawnmower in the music video “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight.”
All my rowdy friends have settled down
And it seems to be more in the laid-back songs
Nobody wants to get drunk and get loud
Everybody just wants to go back home
I myself have seen my wilder days
And I have seen my name at the top of the page
But I need to find a friend just to run around
But nobody wants to get high on the town
And all my rowdy friends have settled down
And I think I know what my father meant
When he sang about a “Lost Highway”
And old George Jones, I’m glad to see he’s finally getting straight
And Waylon’s staying home and loving Jessi more these days
And nobody wants to get drunk and get loud
And all my rowdy friends have settled down
From 1989 to 2011, Williams Jr. reworked the song, “All My Rowdy Friends Are Here on Monday Night”) as the opening theme to Monday Night Football (MNF). The song went to No. 1 on the Country chart and remained the MNF theme song through 2011 when ESPN dropped him after his political tirade on television. When the network reconnected with Williams Jr. in 2017, he revived his song for MNF, featuring Jason Derulo and Florida Georgia Line. It remained the theme song through 2019 before the network severed ties with the outlaw a second time.
[RELATED: The History of ‘Monday Night Football’ Theme Songs (1970-2024)]
“One More Last Chance,” Vince Gill (1992)
Written by Vince Gill and Gary Nicholson
Jones’ lawnmower incidents later inspired Vince Gill‘s 1992 song “One More Last Chance.” Co-written with Gary Nicholson, the song was released as the fourth single from Gill’s fifth album, I Still Believe in You, and went to No. 1 on the U.S. and Canadian country charts. Gill and Nicholson’s lyrics try to deliver a somewhat humorous take on the more serious problem of alcoholism, what it drives some people to do, and how it oftentimes, results in a broken heart.
First, she hid my glasses
‘Cause she knows that I can’t see
She said you ain’t goin’ nowhere boy
‘Til you spend a little time with me
Then the boys called from the honky tonk
Said there’s a party goin’ on down here
Well she might’ve took my car keys
But she forgot about my old John Deere
So give me just one more last chance
Before you say we’re through
I know I drive you crazy baby
It’s the best that I can do
We’re just some good ol’ boys, a makin’ noise
I ain’t a runnin’ ’round on you
Give me just one more last chance
Before you say we’re through
In the music video for “One More Last Chance,” directed by John Lloyd Miller, Gill is seen driving a John Deere lawnmower to meet up with band members and Belmont basketball coach Rick Byrd, at the golf course. Jones also makes a cameo in the video on a lawnmower of his own.
[RELATED: 5 Songs Vince Gill Wrote for Loretta Lynn, Alabama, Rosanne Cash, and More]
“Honky Tonk Song,” George Jones (1996)
Written by Frank J. Myers and Billy Yates
Jones even parodied his former lawnmower drives to the liquor store in his 1996 song “Honky Tonk Song.” In the song, Jones is still faced with the dilemma of missing keys when he wants to meet up with friends and drink at the honky tonk. The song was released on Jones’ album I Lived to Tell It All, a companion to his autobiography of the same name from 1996.
I saw those blue lights flashin’
Over my left shoulder
He walked right up and said
“Get off that riding mower”
I said sir, “Let me explain
Before you put me in the tank”
She took my keys away
And now she won’t drive me to drink
I need a honky tonk song a cold cold beer
A hardwood floor a smoky atmosphere
A pocket full of change to last me all night long
I gotta hear old Hank a moanin’ a honky tonk song
“Country Done Come to Town,” John Rich (2011)
Written by John Rich and Vicky McGehee
Though John Rich gives a shout-out to Hank Williams in his 2011 single “Country Done Come to Town” from 2011 EP Rich Rocks, the music video features party guests arriving by car, wagon, and one final cameo by Jones driving a red lawnmower.
I’m just a country boy and yes I do enjoy
Showing them city folk my hell-raising ways
Valet my muddy truck in a highfalutin’ club
I holler “howdy” just to see what they say
They say oh whoa
Country done come to town
So put your gucci shoes up
And pull your roller cases out
We’re gonna have ourselves a hell-raising time
Yeah we’re gonna party like cowboys tonight
Singin’ oh whoa
Country done come to town
I give the girls a wink I buy the boys a drink
I keep on tipping ’til they play me some Hank
And when they finally do I show ’em my boot scoot move
By closing time they’re all talking that twang
Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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