“We Can’t Do Toby Like This”: Tyler Hubbard Powers Through Toby Keith Lyric Flub During Tribute Performance

Tyler Hubbard’s “Red Solo Cup” lyric flub might not have been the touching tribute to the late Toby Keith he wanted it to be. But hey, at least it was an appropriate gaff for a song about drinking, right? Hubbard was one of many country stars who joined forces for the charity fundraiser-slash-tribute show in Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena that aired on NBC on August 28. Other performers included Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, Lainey Wilson, and Trace Adkins.

Hubbard was responsible for performing Keith’s 2011 ode to the red plastic cups that have graced beer pong tables and backyard picnics nationwide for decades. It’s one of Keith’s more laid-back tunes, but unfortunately, that didn’t save Hubbard from his noticeable gaff.

Watch Tyler Hubbard Flub the Lyrics to “Red Solo Cup”, Rebound Nicely

The energy of Bridgestone Arena was high as Tyler Hubbard began Toby Keith’s iconic party anthem. Attendees cheered their red plastic cups together, sipping and singing along as Hubbard performed the opening verses. Trouble arose in the second verse, however, when Hubbard was supposed to be singing the lines:

Now I really love how you’re easy to stack
But I really hate how you’re easy to crack
‘Cause when beer runs down the front of my back
Well, that, my friends, is quite yucky

The verse is a goofy group of lines anyway, but Hubbard’s lyrical flub made it even more nonsensical. Missing his entrance to the second verse, Hubbard stumbled: Now you, I really love how you…stack. It didn’t take long for the former Florida Georgia Line star to call out his mistakes. Can we redo that second verse? We can’t do Toby like this.

Toby Keith Called It “The Stupidest Song I Ever Heard”

In Tyler Hubbard’s defense, if you’re going to mess up the words to any Toby Keith song during his televised tribute concert, “Red Solo Cup” is a pretty decent contender. After all, a gaff on a song that Toby Keith once called “the stupidest song I ever heard in my life” seems more of an appropriate artistic choice than a disrespectful brain fart. If anything, Hubbard’s slip was a testament to Keith’s original intentions.

In a 2014 interview with The Boot, Keith compared the song to a “squirrel loose in a church house. We can play it in an office and then play five other songs. Give it an hour, walk out, and you’d hear the receptionist singing it. It’s like nursery rhyme stupid.” The country icon wanted to translate the song’s lightheartedness into a music video by having “20 celebrities in it, make it like a frat party, and get people to act goofy and drink. So, that’s what we did.”

Plus, Hubbard’s mistake was hardly so disastrous that it halted the performance. He acknowledged the flub, asked the band to start over on the verse progression, and continued the show like any other consummate performer would. And besides, who knows what potent courage elixir (or memory eraser) could have been in the red solo cup Hubbard was waving in the air during his song? We might have slipped up a lyric or two, too.

(Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)