On This Day in 1951, Hank Williams Notched His Fifth No. 1 Single with the Iconic “Hey, Good Lookin’”

On this day (August 13) in 1951, Hank Williams landed his fifth No. 1 single on the Billboard Country and Western chart with “Hey, Good Lookin’.” It would go down in history as one of his signature songs and would be covered by countless artists both in and out of the country genre.

Hank Sr. is one of the most influential figures in country music history. His impact on artists and the genre in general is immeasurable. However, his career was incredibly short. In fact, most of the albums and singles in his discography were posthumously released. Before his death in 1953, Williams only released two full-length studio albums and 41 singles. He notched eight No. 1 singles before he died. Additionally, his first three posthumous singles were chart-toppers.

[RELATED: On This Day in 1949, Country Icon Hank Williams Made His Grand Ole Opry Debut]

Hank Williams Scores a Hit with “Hey, Good Lookin’”

“Hey, Good Lookin’” went to the top of the Billboard country chart and stayed there for eight non-consecutive weeks. While the song has inspired more than 100 cover versions and has been a country classic for more than 70 years, it only took Hank Williams a few minutes to write the song.

As the story goes, Williams was touring the country with Minnie Pearl and Little Jimmy Dickens in 1951. They were on a flight to Wichita Falls, Texas when he wrote both “Hey, Good Lookin’” and “Howlin’ at the Moon.” The latter was a No. 3 hit for him the same year.

Dickens would later quoted Williams as saying, “If a song can’t be written in 20 minutes, it ain’t worth writing.”

To have completed it so quickly, Williams delivered some clever songwriting with “Hey Good Lookin’.” The song starts with a pickup line and an invitation to a date to a place with soda pop and dancing. The relationship progresses with the song.

In the second verse, Williams sings, No More lookin’, I know I been tooken. / How’s about keepin’ steady company? Then, in the final verse, he sings about throwing his date book away, buying a new one, and putting his new love’s name on every page. He also mentions keeping the book until it is “covered with age.”

So, the song takes listeners on a journey from a first date to a long-term committed relationship. Not bad for less than twenty minutes of writing.

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