Hank Williams – I Just Don’t Like This Kind of Living

“I Just Don’t Like This Kind of Living” is a country song written by Hank Williams and released as a single on MGM Records in January 1950. Credited to Hank Williams with His Drifting Cowboys, it was recorded on August 30, 1949 at Herzog Studio in Cincinnati, Ohio, and published by Acuff-Rose on December 14, 1949. Issued as MGM 10609 with “May You Never Be Alone” on the B-side, the record is usually classified as country & western, honky-tonk and country blues. On Billboard’s Best Selling Retail Folk (country) Records chart, the single reached No. 5, giving Williams another Top 10 hit at the turn of the decade.

The August 30 session in Cincinnati was an important date in Williams’s early MGM career. He was backed by members of the Pleasant Valley Boys, including Zeke Turner on lead guitar, Jerry Byrd on steel guitar, Louis Innis on rhythm guitar, Tommy Jackson on fiddle and Ernie Newton on bass. The same session also produced “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” which later became one of his most celebrated recordings. Working outside Nashville allowed producer Fred Rose to use this particular group of players, whose clean, precise style matched Williams’s mix of blues-influenced phrasing and straightforward honky-tonk rhythm.

Biographers and historians generally agree that the song reflects Williams’s troubled marriage to his first wife, Audrey Williams. The lyric describes constant “fussin’ and fightin’” and a partner who is never wrong, summed up in the line, “You ain’t never been known to be wrong, and I ain’t never been right.” Colin Escott notes that the disputes heard in the song mirrored arguments within the Williams household, and that Audrey would have recognized their private conflicts when the record began receiving radio play. As with several of his late-1940s and early-1950s titles, domestic tension provided a direct source for the writing.

Lyrically, the song is built as a first-person complaint about an unsustainable relationship. The narrator states that he is tired of giving, gets no affection in return and “just don’t like this kind of living.” Rather than telling a detailed story, the verses list recurring problems—coldness, criticism and lack of appreciation—before returning to the central refrain. This structure is typical of Williams’s writing: short, memorable lines, everyday diction and a clear hook that encapsulates the main idea. Compared with later songs like “Why Don’t You Love Me,” the tone here is somewhat more resentful and less humorous.

Musically, “I Just Don’t Like This Kind of Living” is a mid-tempo honky-tonk performance with clear blues coloring. Acoustic rhythm guitar and bass provide a steady foundation, while Turner’s electric guitar, Byrd’s steel and Jackson’s fiddle add answering phrases between vocal lines. The arrangement is compact and designed for jukebox and radio play, with a running time of around two and a half minutes. The recording showcases Williams’s characteristic vocal style: slightly behind the beat, with small pitch slides and emphasis on key words, giving an otherwise simple melody a distinct identity.

On the country charts, the single’s No. 5 peak confirmed that Williams could follow early successes like “My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It” with more personal material drawn from his own life. The song later appeared on reissue albums and compilations that highlighted his blues-oriented work, including sets devoted to his late-1940s and early-1950s MGM recordings. It has also attracted cover versions: George Jones recorded it for his 1962 album My Favorites of Hank Williams, Johnny Horton’s posthumous 1965 single used vocals cut shortly before his death, and Hank Williams Jr. later overdubbed a duet version with his father’s original track. These recordings, along with its continued presence on anthologies, have helped keep “I Just Don’t Like This Kind of Living” visible as a key example of how Williams transformed private difficulties into widely resonant country songs.