Hank, Jr - "Red, White & Pink-Slip Blues"

[kevin59]

New Single by Hank, Jr. - "Red, White & Pink-Slip Blues"

Single Release Date: APR 15 (Curb)

AUDIO: [LISTEN] Hank Williams, Jr. - "Red, White & Pink-Slip Blues" (Allaccess)

VIDEO: www.cmt.com/videos/hank-williams-jr/379535/red-white-and-pink-slip-blues.jhtml

[rsmatto]

He seems to be following John Rich into topical song territory. I doubt this does much of anything.

[Uncle Lumpy]

Apr 9, 2009 19:54:12 GMT -5 rsmatto said:

He seems to be following John Rich into topical song territory. I doubt this does much of anything.

Yea thats new territory fot Hank.....

[Ten Pound Hammer]

Apr 9, 2009 23:50:26 GMT -5 Uncle Lumpy said:

Apr 9, 2009 19:54:12 GMT -5 rsmatto said:

He seems to be following John Rich into topical song territory. I doubt this does much of anything.

Yea thats new territory fot Hank.....

...NOT!

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

[kevin59]

[LISTEN] Hank Williams, Jr. - "Red, White & Pink-Slip Blues" (Allaccess)

[leilamaurizia]

Country Universe

Hank Williams, Jr., “Red, White and Pink Slip Blues”
by Leeann Ward

I’ll confess that when I read the title of this song, “Red, White and Pink Slip Blues”, I mentally groaned. But alas, Kevin assigned the single to me and like a dutiful blogger, I clicked on the link anyway.

Hank Williams Jr., though inarguably talented, is often known for his swagger that, sometimes, overshadows the quality of his art. So, a song that quite obviously covers the theme of economic hard times that this country, and the world, is currently facing could easily seem like an opportunistic ploy to capitalize on the nation’s vulnerability, as seems to have been the problem with other recent songs of this nature. As a result, I was all but certain that a song with this title would be more frivolous than cathartic.

Instead, ol’ Hank comes through with a song that aptly captures the story of so many Americans at this frightening time. From the first person perspective, he tells of a man who’s tried to do everything right, but still finds himself jobless and unable to even afford survival. He desperately sings:

“I hide the pickup truck

In Ricky Brown’s garage,

‘Cause there’s a repo man to dodge.

Slip out the back door,

Lord, I never thought I’d live to see this day.

We’re going to need that truck

When they come to take the house away.”

His delivery appropriately reflects desperation and frustration, while the story he tells has become sadly realistic for all too many people as of late. Moreover, with the mood set by both the bluesy/swampy melodic structure and Hank’s heartfelt delivery, the song conveys sensitivity and conviction, which is surely imperative in a song such as this.

Grade: A

The 9513

Hank Williams Jr. - “Red White and Pinkslip Blues”
Jim Malec

There is a growing disconnect between the reality of life in the 21st century and the world in which country music exists. This is especially evident when it comes to social issue songs, which are, with increasing frequency, little more than hollow shells built around stereotypes and nuggets of dumbed-down populism. If, for instance, you took country music’s lyrics literally, you’d think that everyone worked in a mill and that babies all over the rural south were toddling around without shoes.

In “Red White and Pinkslip Blues,” Hank Jr. has lost his mill job, which was sent to Mexico. And although there are certainly millworkers in our country who have been handed pinkslips, the illustration drawn here is so symbolic that it maintains essentially no sense of realism. While Americans from all walks of life are struggling within a faltering economy, there can be little solace found in a song that presents the most simplistic view of life and hardship within that context.

From this critic’s perspective, it is evident that “Red White and Pinkslip Blues” is born from a desire to commercialize the topical issues and soundbytes we are constantly inundated with in our society; it is outwardly derived and constructed from a framework of audience accessibility rather than being born from, and inwardly focused on, the observations and feelings of its creators.

That is not to say, by any stretch, that the song’s creators don’t believe what they wrote, or that they don’t feel–and even feel strongly–the emotion behind their words. What it is to say, however, is that the song is crafted in such a way that it exists as a caricature of itself, written to express the feelings of an anonymous audience member who bears little resemblance to our flesh and blood brethren. The lines that outline the portrait of this song’s character are stretched and exaggerated: A mill foreman who has had his job shipped to Mexico and who is losing his truck, his house and can’t afford to buy his kids’ shoes–even though he has “paid his bills,” his “due,” and his taxes.

This character is more a marketing concept than a real person, and this song is a heavy-handed attempt at scoring a hit by summing up a collective sense of discontent and worry into what amounts only to a soundbyte itself.

Construction theory aside, it’s hard to shake the inconsistencies that plague this story. The song’s singer declares that he’s paid his bills and his taxes, but if he has paid his bills and his taxes, why is he losing his truck and his house? We are to presume that he has been unable to fulfill those obligations since losing his job, but what has he been doing to rectify the situation? After all, it’s not as though once he was handed a pinkslip an alert was fired off to his creditors, who then begin repossession proceedings. There is time involved in such matters–18 months and two days, according to the lyric–and within that time there is pain and hardship and joy and victory; there is weakness and strength and all of the experiences that make up what we call being human.

But songs like this just focus on the topical issues, the most obvious solutions, and the easiest and most recognizable images. The emotion here may be genuine, but the construction in unbearably contrived. And that’s unfortunate, because I doubt there is an artist more suited to effectively convey sentiment like that which underlines this song than Hank Jr.

Williams voice sounds better here–more vibrant and less muffled by bloated low tones–than on the majority of his recent recordings. It is a highly enjoyable vocal performance from an artist who, although legendary, has perhaps compiled an underachieving catalog.

But although Williams sounds younger here than he has in years, lyrics about how the streets used to be safe and the schools used to be good make him sound like a cranky old man. And while “Red White and Pinkslip Blues” deserves considerable credit for forgoing any particular political association, it does little to actually address the very real people who it simplifies down to a single stock character. In trying to capture the shared emotions of the everyman, it is a song that struggles to connect, on a very intimate level, with all but the few who actually fit the stereotype.

(thumbs down)

[Ten Pound Hammer]

Wow, talk about disparity.

[kevin59]

Watch Video for song (CMT)

www.cmt.com/videos/hank-williams-jr/379535/red-white-and-pink-slip-blues.jhtml

[Ten Pound Hammer]

What do you suppose this dies out after 5 weeks like the remix of A Country Boy Can Survive? That's one of the most abruptly-ended chart runs I've ever seen. Climbing for five weeks, then suddenly gone.

[Ten Pound Hammer]

^Hah, can I call 'em or what? This song fell off this week.

[killintime]

Haha, good call.

I do have to give this song credit for getting stuck in my head the past few days. I even hear myself recalling the cheesily sung "over on the next block" lyric.