‘King Of The Hill' by HARDY - Lyrics & Meaning

'King Of The Hill' is akin to HARDY's THE CROW era, playing with his grungy, rockier side. Although not in the same lane as his singer-songwriter sound, the lyrics are still astute and echo HARDY's unparalleled talent at turning his hand to damn near any sound.

HARDY's EP, Sides, follows his genre-blending, expansive, truly clever ‘Man In The Box’, which signified all of the pillars to HARDY's music. This new era has centered around how he himself does not fit into a box and has a multi-faceted approach to his music. He amalgamates sounds from four cornerstones of his repertoire and each of these are represented together in 'Man In The Box' and as individual tracks on Sides.

It's almost, not quite but almost, something not too dissimilar to early 00s punk when it starts, but as soon as HARDY's vocals kick in, we know this track is his classic country rock.

With each chorus, HARDY hits everything harder. The drums get louder, the guitars get grungier and the vocals get heavier.

The final section of the song is just keys, calming the melody down before it bleeds into the final track.

HARDY sings from the point of view of someone who lives and dies in his souther holler. It's a satirical song, where the protagonist stands firm on his ground. He's irritated by the younger boys littering on his land, keeping an escaped dog with it's orange hunting collar until the owners - possibly the drunk trailer park boys - realise it's missing.

"Natty Light working on ‘em day and night V H S T K and Mike deer hunting three on a rewind" references round the clock drinking, watching old VHS tapes of 'Outdoors with T.K. and Mike' an iconic 90s and early 00s hunting and fishing show.

HARDY goes on to reference further classic country tropes like the legendary southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, having a .38 gun loaded and getting into camo to go hunting. His well-known phrase, 'put your bottomland on we got shit to kill' features heavily in this song.

The 'King of the Hill' is the man that thinks he's owed something because he's been there a long time. He rejects the major American cities where the white collar corporate ladder shines bright for many, but not him. He was born in the red dirt and he'll damn sure die in it, too.

"Damn these dumb drunk trailer park boys throwing beer cans all in my ditch
Don't know why the hell they don't wait ‘til they get home
-
Another dog climbing out of the holler with a hunter's orange collar ‘round his old neck
I'll keep him in the pen ‘til they figure out one's still gone
-
Natty Light working on ‘em day and night V H S T K and Mike deer hunting three on a rewind
Perked up Lynyrd Skynyrd turned up if you never heard of me I'm
-
King of the hill
I ain't ripping these roots from the mud and I never will
Keep a 38 bellied you can bet your bottom dollar bill, bill, bill, bill, bill
Put your bottom land on we got shit to kill, kill, kill
King of the hill
King of the hill
-
Every Sunday stock on the Panasonic yelling at my man the body in the wall on turn three (dammit
Bobby)
Need to smoke a little weeeoooo
Pass the fuck out with my gut out fall asleep to
-
King of the hill
I ain't ripping these roots from the mud and I never will
Keep a 38 bellied you can bet your bottom dollar bill, bill, bill, bill, bill
Put your bottom land on we got shit to kill, kill, kill
King of the hill
-
And I go fuck Atlanta, fuck L.A.
Box my bones in the crimson clay
Fuck Seattle, Fuck New York
Got the whole world sittin’ right here on the back porch
-
I ain't ripping these roots from the mud and I never will
Keep that fuck around bellied you can bet your bottom dollar bill, bill, bill, bill, bill
Put your bottom land on we got shit to kill, kill, kill
King of the hill
King of the hill"

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