Hunker Down “…that’s what that TV man said”
Hunker Down “…that’s what that TV man said”
Anyone living in the Florida Keys during Hurricane season has probably heard the famous hurricane song by Bill Blue, officially titled “Hunker Down”. It’s an anthem that describes living through a hurricane only the way Bill Blue could describe it – in a song.
Bill & Beverly having a moment before a concert.
Bill related his version of how the song came to be written in the Fall of 2004 while living near the ocean on New Smyrna Beach. We came close to running out of names for hurricanes with 16 storms that year. Florida was hit by four major storms is six weeks: Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne.
Each storm caused major damage to Florida. Hurricane Frances had skirted the New Smyrna area and knocked out power on September 5th. While still cleaning up and restoring power, a stronger Category 3 storm, Hurricane Jeanne traveled along the same path landing on September 26. By this time, Bill and his family were growing weary of watching the 24-hour weather channel and its crack weatherman, Jim Cantore.
Bill’s version of the story takes a few liberties, especially with his daughter Molly Anne Foreman who he describes as much younger and fearful of the raging storm. When I confirmed details with Molly, she said that she liked Bill’s version so that’s now the official Blue family record of writing this wonderful song.
The Release Party Sound Check for Bill’s last album King of Crazy Town, at the Green Parrot – 3 days later the world shut down in March of 2020.
It’s recorded as a five-minute song the live versions at the Green Parrot seemed much longer. Almost half of it is a musical introduction of preparations for hurricanes performed to repeating musical chords. Bill would go into detail how the storm warnings would come on the weather channel when the storm was a thousand miles away, warning everyone to get supplies and hunker down. The supplies would always include duct tape, plywood, and dependable quantities of alcohol, insinuating the preparations for a Hurricane party.
Molly spoke at Bill Blues Celebration of Life in Richmond, Virginia.
The front of Bill’s house faced towards the ocean and the back had a garage that opened to an adjoining street. Bill’s hurricane back-up plan was a neighbor’s concrete home which was vacant. If the winds got too bad, they could scurry across the street to the stronger home. The heavy winds coming off the ocean rattled the storm shutters that were still up from Hurricane Francis. The garage was also Bill’s guitar shop while he was building resonator guitars littered with cut pieces of metal guitars.
Bill and his wife Beverly would sit out on the beach sometimes and make jokes of these weather channel storm warnings. Whenever they saw a big wave, they would say, “Looks like it’s time to hunker down”. Famous weatherman Jim Cantore became the butt of many sarcasms. One of the terms that would always be used was the need to hunker down. They never understood what hunker down meant but they kept hearing it over and over.
After weeks of warnings to hunker down along with power outages and previous storm cleanups, Bill and family were on the verge of despair. The latest storm was rattling their shutters. It was hot, they were tired, and young Molly was scared and on the verge of crying.
Bill went out to the garage opened the door for cooler air and started playing guitar. The only thing to combat this despair was music. That helped a little but Molly was still visibly upset. They needed to write a song. They were going to base the entire song on how ridiculous they all felt while listening to the 24-hour weather channel for weeks on end. Bill, Beverly and Molly collaborated on the lyrics. They didn’t use proper names but the chorus contained “Hunker Down, Hunker Down, that’s what that TV man said.” Molly didn’t think the song made any sense and she felt no one would like it. Molly now admits she’s not a very good critic of her dad’s music. It was an immediate hit and Bill performed it often.
Bill called me as we were getting ready to evacuate for Hurricane Irma in 2017 and asked if I had a recording or even Facebook video of one of his performances of Hunker Down. He said Jim Cantore and the Weather Channel wanted a copy to play on their broadcasts. It was soon recorded.
Bill Blue, young Bill Blue, Caffeine Carl Wagoner at the Green Parrot.
Later, during his final months as Bill was battling cancer, his good friend Caffeine Carl Wagoner performed “Hunker Down” at the Key West Theater. Someone posted a full video on Facebook. Bill saw it and sent Carl a message, “Thanks for playing my song. It made me feel good.” Bill Blue passed away three weeks later.
I remember Bill playing Hunker Down at the Green Parrot, often with Caffeine Carl. He would always end his musical introduction by saying “…there’s nothing worse than a Category 5 hangover after a Category 1 storm.”
Bill and Beverly Blue sharing a moment.
Thank you Ralph,for capturing these moments and sharing such amazing stories for others to enjoy! You know when it comes to Bill and Bev the stories and the fun are endless.