If I was runnin' this country I'd build a big old bar With a stage for a singer and a fiddle and a steel guitar If I was runnin' this roost I'd use an iron fist You wouldn't hear one lick of that tailgate drum loop shit It'd be nothin' but Cash Hank, Waylon and Willie We'd be the honky tonk party If I was runnin' this country If I was runnin' this country I'd go back in time Between 1953 and '79 There'd be a man in black An Okie from Muskogee And Hank Williams in the back of a big old Cadillac A Buck Owens and Lefty A Bob Wills and Patsy We'd be the honky tonk party If I was runnin' this country They never vote us in, but buddy, if they did I'd be the first ever rhinestone suit wearin' president And I can play the part on this old guitar Call it the honky tonk party If I was runnin' this country If I was runnin' this country I'd change a thing or two We'd start The National Anthem with a little bit of workin' man blues There'd only be one law You have to be an outlaw I'll make my oval office out of any ol' hole in the wall No tax on beer Free government whiskey We need a jukebox junkie To start runnin' this country They never vote us in, but buddy, if they did I'd be the first ever rhinestone suit wearin' president And I can play the part on this old guitar Call it the honky tonk party If I was runnin' this country We'd be the honky tonk party If I was runnin' this country