I read a “reader’s response” editorial in a newspaper recently where a respondent was mad about a comment an earlier respondent had made.  The earlier comment was that Alabama shouldn’t have any problem naming a stretch of highway after anybody, since they’ve already done the same for Hank Williams (1923-1953 — this is the guy they usually refer to as Hank Sr, except that he isn’t a Sr. & Hank Jr isn’t a Jr. — that was a marketing ploy by Jr, which was the smartest thing he ever did), as if you couldn’t get much lower than naming a highway after “Ol’ Hank”, and proceeded to call him a drunken country singer.

Like the 2nd respondent, I also took exception to this, but only because he left out his heavy drug use — he should have called him a “drunken addict”, and a dumb & ignorant one at that; you see, I’ve always been a stickler for the truth, no matter how unpleasant or unpopular it may be.  Anyone who’s a drug addict or alcoholic is stupid — education & intelligence otherwise notwithstanding.  

The 2nd writer simply said that the previous writer was dragging Hank’s name in the mud. 

I counter that 2nd respondent’s opinion that Hank “Sr.”, with his own shortcomings (such as drinking to excess & being fired by the Grand Old Opry for it & his drug use), had already dragged his own name & reputation into the mud, so he shouldn’t have a problem with being dragged there again, and don’t forget that he was a heavy drug user also, and that combination is what was alleged to have killed him in his sleep in the back of a car on the way to a gig on New Years Day, 1953 by a number of writers on the subject.  For the record, the official autopsy said he died of heart failure, but 29-yr-old men typically don’t just die from heart failure in the back of a cab unless they’re abusing their body or have a disease.  he actually had a disease — his back pain was very bad and caused by spina bifida, a birth-related dysfunction of the vertebrae that people typically live with forever nowadays if they get past their childhood & their life expectancy is as normal as that of sedentary people being that they typically don’t get the exercise needed for true longevity, but in those days, adults did die early in their 20’s & 40’s as a result of it.  I agree that he might have died early anyway due to spina bifida, but that’s not what killed him, just like Marfan’s Syndrome didn’t kill Abraham Lincoln — though he may have had it & it might have killed him soon, Booth’s bullet did it, not Marfan’s.

Now that’s getting deep in the mud, and that’s the way ol’ Hank woulda done it; I’m just surprised his ignorant, loudmouth, jackass son didn’t die in the same way at the same age, but maybe he’ll follow him in his senior years if he mixes some drugs & booze, as that’s the way Hank woulda done it and that’s the way he actually did it if you believe some who’ve researched it.