Hank Williams - Hey, Good Lookin'

First performance: 14/03/1988


Coverinfo

Bruce covered the song 2 times during sound-checks:


Sound-checked prior to the 18 Dec 2000 show in Asbury Park, NJ but it was not performed on any of the 2000 Asbury Park holiday shows.
 
 
 
1988-03-14 Richfield Coliseum, Richfield, OH 
Sound-checked prior to the 14 Mar 1988 show in Richfield, OH but it was not performed on any of the Tunnel Of Love Express Tour's regular shows.
 
  

Songinfo

"Hey, Good Lookin' " is a 1951 song written and recorded by Hank Williams. The Hank Williams song was inspired by another song by the same title, which was written by Cole Porter in 1942.  "Hey, Good Lookin' " was recorded on March 16, 1951 at Castle Studio in Nashville. The same session also produced the single's B-side "My Heart Would Know". Williams performed the song on the Kate Smith Evening Hour on March 26, 1952; the appearance remains one of the few existing film clips of the singer performing live. He is introduced by Roy Acuff and banters with a young June Carter.  He is wearing his famous white cowboy suit adorned in musical notes. He performed "Hey, Good Lookin' " and joined in with the rest of the cast singing his own "I Saw The Light".  The rare clip displays the singer's exuberance on stage while performing an up-tempo number, and he appears at ease in the relatively new broadcast medium of television.
 
 
  

Bruce on the artist

During the keynote speech at the 2012 South by Southwest music conference : 
 
"I remember sitting in my little apartment, playing "Hank Williams Greatest Hits" over and over. And I was trying to crack its code, because at first it just didn't sound good to me. It just sounded cranky and old–fashioned. But it was that hard country voice and I'm playing it, and it was an austere instrumentation. But slowly, slowly, my ears became accustomed to it, it's beautiful simplicity, and it's darkness and depth. And Hank Williams went from archival, to alive for me, before my very eyes."
 
Bruce also referes in some songs to lyrics from Williams 
 
I went down to the river to watch the fish swim by
But when I got to the river so lonesome I wanted to die, oh Lord
So that I jumped in the river, but the doggone river was dry
She's long gone, and now I'm lonesome blue
 
 
  

Lyrics

Say, hey, good lookin'
Whatcha got cookin'?
How's about cookin' somethin' up with me?
Hey, sweet baby
Don't you think maybe
We could find us a brand new recipe?
I got a hot-rod Ford and a two-dollar bill
And I know a spot right over the hill
There's soda pop and the dancin's free
So if you wanna have fun come along with me
Say, hey, good lookin'
Whatcha got cookin'?
How's about cookin' somethin' up with me?
I'm free and ready
So we can go steady
How's about savin' all your time for me?
No more lookin'
I know I've been tooken
How's about keepin' steady company?
I'm gonna throw my date-book over the fence
And find me one for five or ten cents
I'll keep it 'til it's covered with age
'Cause I'm writin' your name down on every page
Say, hey, good lookin'
Whatcha got cookin'?
How's about cookin' somethin' up with me?