Jake Owen Does Willie Nelson Dirty with “On The Boat Again”

Warning: Some Language
So Jake Owen is still a thing, huh? I thought he’d be managing a Chipotle in Murfreesboro at this point. But the summer drunk song season is here, and so the perennially tan one is back to drop another deuce—this time doing the immortal Willie Nelson and one of his most iconic songs dirty.
Reminiscent of the time Jake Owen fucked up John Cougar Mellencamp’s “Jack and Diane” back in 2018, Owen proves once again that all of those ultraviolet suntan treatments have eradicated any original thoughts from his melon, and he’s resigned to foraging through previous songs for ideas. This time he’s reworked “On The Road Again” into the mindless and indolent “On The Boat Again.” You can probably guess how this goes.
If there was ever a song that deserves to be infested by zebra mussels and red tagged by the game warden, it would be this one. Somebody should tie cinder blocks to this song’s ankles and drop it in the deep water where they can’t dredge.
Sure, not every song has to be “Cover Me Up.” There’s space for silly and simple summer songs. But don’t make me shed IQ points while listening like your lush cousin does her clothing articles after each hard seltzer until she’s flashing her headlights at all the crotchety bass fishers in the reeds, and the beaver’s spotted near the dam.
It’s just nauseating how everything in culture these days is recycled from something that was cool in the past. And what’s up with the dumbass farty drunk guitar that has to accompany all of these kinds of songs? The producer Joey Moi needs to go back to jerking off Nickelback. And of course, it took not one, not two, not three, not four, but FIVE people to write this monstrosity, which includes giving Willie a credit.
Oh, and if you don’t like this new song from Jake Owen, maybe check out his other new song. It’s called “Hot Truck Beer.” I’m not kidding, that’s the name.
Look, to be honest, if “On The Boat Again” ends up being one of the worst songs released in 2023, we’re coming out ahead. At least there’s no wiggy thumps or white boy rapping, which would have accompanied a song like this a few years ago. Just as much as the ceiling has been raised for a lot of mainstream country, so has the floor. This song is less vomit-inducing as it is just kind of dumb, so you can understand it’s appeal to a bunch of drunk rednecks on a pontoon.
If you want want a silly summer country song that doesn’t make you feel like a complete douche rocket, handle up on “Herassmeant” by Hot Country Knights (Dierks Bentley) and Donna McFarland (Lainey Wilson). You can be fun, silly, and not be utterly stupid, unless you’re Jake Owen apparently.
Two Guns Down (2/10)
June 19, 2023 @ 10:22 am
I heard this on WSM and wondered if you’d give it a good, old-fashioned SCM hate-job. I’m so glad you did.
June 19, 2023 @ 10:29 am
???? ???? On the boat again …
???? I just can’t wait to be on Bottom Time, the dive boat, again ????
The life i love is shooting mangrove snapper with my friends ????????
Oh i can’t wait to shoot all those fish again ????????
June 19, 2023 @ 10:33 am
It should be illegal
June 19, 2023 @ 10:33 am
Well, at least it has a pretty good dobro backdrop and real drum beats.
June 19, 2023 @ 10:43 am
Made it to :43 in. Barely.
June 19, 2023 @ 10:54 am
I lasted 46 seconds. Which is longer than this dudebro ever has.
June 19, 2023 @ 5:11 pm
Im almost ashamed I didnt punch out until 1:06
June 21, 2023 @ 11:20 pm
I don’t know how some people lasted that long. I shut it off after 17 seconds. I wasn’t even willing to hurt my senses long enough to look for the shirt changes and such that others had commented on.
What an awful awful song. Just NO.
June 19, 2023 @ 11:08 am
Umm, did he change his shirt while pumping gas? How did a white button down shirt change to a bird print at 0:45 (or whatever it is)? That seems to be about that time when the two commenters above turned it off. Maybe they subconsciously couldn’t deal with the wardrobe change?
June 19, 2023 @ 12:47 pm
Don’t make me watch it again ????
June 19, 2023 @ 2:20 pm
I thought it was supposed to make us think he had gotten “on the boat again” and it was a second trip to get gas. Then the shirt changed back….so never mind. The video is almost as bad as the song. Almost.
June 19, 2023 @ 2:40 pm
Both the video and song are definitely head scratchers. That’s the first video I’ve seen about being on a boat where there is no water in sight. I can’t imagine what was going in the director’s mind…alright, let’s start with Jake pumping gas, then cut to him putting a bag of ice in the boat, back to pumping gas, back to the ice now, ok gas again – but let’s have him change shirts, ok ice again, back to the gas but in his first shirt…
June 19, 2023 @ 11:48 am
Just wait for the Remix with Jodi Messina
June 19, 2023 @ 11:55 am
???? On The Blog Again,
I can’t wait to go on the blog again.
To leave a comment & reply to my SCM friends
Oh, i can’t wait to go on the Blog again! ????????
Much love,
Hey Arnold
June 19, 2023 @ 12:10 pm
To further add, how unoriginal this is, there’s already a song called on the boat again. That uses the exact same melody, the difference is that song isn’t completely dumb. It’s just kind of childish. It’s just about a guy who wants to sail around the horn.
If a washed up local songwriter for my area, can’t afford a good lawyer, there might be a lawsuit over this. The premise isn’t quite the same, because one is an actual ceiling. Sauna, the other is just about getting drunk, but it would be hilarious to see it happen.
June 19, 2023 @ 12:55 pm
if both songs are “ripping off” the same Willie Nelson melody I don’t think you can sue over copying a premise.
June 19, 2023 @ 5:07 pm
Willie got a writing credit on this, so he’s presumably fine with it and will see his bank account increase if it becomes a hit. He could have always said no and killed it before it ever got recorded, right?
And yes, it is awful, and typical of Nashville bandwagon-jumping.
June 19, 2023 @ 5:40 pm
I’m not sure if Willie could 86 it if he wanted. Anyone can cover anyone else’s song, and parodies are also considered fair game. Weird Al always asks. This feels like a Weird Al song, just not as funny.
June 19, 2023 @ 7:35 pm
As a songwriter you can deny a license to an artist who wants to cut your song. After you grant a license and one person cuts it, anyone else can cut it without your permission. Seems like there’s be a rule about bastardizing it like this but my guess is Willie’s happy as long as the check clears.
June 19, 2023 @ 6:33 pm
Willie hasn’t always made good decision. (Don’t google his “rendition” of Bartender by Dave Mathews band)
June 20, 2023 @ 7:22 pm
Buckcherry’s version of “On the Road Again “ is a complete abortion.
June 19, 2023 @ 1:01 pm
Wonder why he chose the Texaco station in Cowan, TN to shoot the video? Seems like an odd choice and just sitting in the parking lot filling up his truck w/ gas? Not only lazy idea but lazy video too.
June 19, 2023 @ 1:31 pm
I imagine the gas station choice was to stay in line with Jake’s entire fake persona. It looks like a small-town, southern gas station, with old pumps. Jake is an east coast, upper middle-class frat boy. He’s been pushing the uber-redneck persona his entire career. It’s sort of a cope for him, just like the fake drawl and the whole bit:
“I’m not a country person, but if I pretend to be one as hard as I can, maybe, just maybe, I can convince myself and the public otherwise.”
I suspect the reason for the lazy video is his career no longer warrants spending the money it would take to make a quality video; the label simply did not want to over-invest.
June 19, 2023 @ 4:11 pm
I’m curious about that one, too. Jake Owen used to store his boat above Pates Ford Marina on Center Hill and spend most of his time on the water in those parts. He even performed at Steve Smith’s douchebag honkytonk there every now and then.
June 19, 2023 @ 1:05 pm
My current thoughts on this song is that it is such a blatant copy of On The Road Again that it ends up being more of a ‘bit’ song. (I think that is the word for a joke song. ala Ray Stevens; just not funny or witty) Even the most pedestrian country listener is familiar with ‘On the Road Again.’ What I hate/fear most is how this could be the smoke for a new trend of flat-out stealing melodies and changing a few lyrics. Like J-Rock in TPB
I hate this less than songs that blatantly name-drop and steal lyrics and melodies from other songs while trying to pass off the song having it’s own special merit. (She had me at heads Carolina’ – Cole Swindell, or Damn Strait by Scotty McCreery, or that monstrosity Keith Whitley by Morgan Wallen)
June 20, 2023 @ 8:08 pm
<3 the reference to J-Rock !
June 19, 2023 @ 1:09 pm
At the Merle Haggard Tribute show 5 years ago’ish, Jake Owen and Chris Jansen together performed one of the best songs of the concert that night with ‘Footlights’. Alison Krauss and Jamie Johnson were the best. Ironically Keith Richards and Willie Nelson, and Lynryrd Skynyrd were the worst.
I don’t understand why this bro-country rut is unbeatable.
June 19, 2023 @ 1:13 pm
I made it to the first chorus, really bad. Jeez.
June 19, 2023 @ 1:41 pm
This song brings to mind again something I thought I was noticing over the last year or two, but am still not quite sure of.
The production of this song almost sounds like a caricature of traditional Country music…like it bears down on the twang to the point of it no longer sounding truly twangy, but campy. Like it’s using traditional country sounds for humorous effect, mocking it in a way.
I’m curious if anyone else has noticed this.
June 19, 2023 @ 2:38 pm
Yes, the guitar is trying to use twang ironically.
June 19, 2023 @ 3:33 pm
Yes, and like a hipster, the camera of the video lingers on architectural details in true upper-class poverty tourism fashion. This is a fine song to play in bars for laughs and tips, but releasing it? Who are these morons?
Oh, and “Cover Me Up” is also a good bar song, but it’s not so much above this one. Really extraordinary songs are rare, so everyone needs to lighten up. Including me, apparently.
Happy summer from down here at the barn.
June 19, 2023 @ 1:47 pm
Alright I’m not gonna lie and pretend I gave it even a tiny listen. I went straight to the comments and the all star line up of posters didn’t disappoint. I believe you all. Not to change the subject but I do like the new Chris Janson album.
June 19, 2023 @ 5:18 pm
Janson is one of many mainstream artists (mainly male) who are capable of some really high quality country music but only allow that quality to come through on half the songs on their albums — and, usually, none of the songs that get sent to radio. Chris Young is another, as is Dierks Bentley. With Janson, you get “Drunk Girl” (thumbs up) and “Fix a Drink” (thumbs down), “Good Vibes” (no) and “21 Forever” (yes). I like to treat every song as separate from the album if I can.
June 19, 2023 @ 1:52 pm
I do have some good news. Tyler Hubbard played a theater in my town this month, and a week before the show, it had sold ~40% capacity on $40 tickets.
The good times appear to be waning on the shit tier, bro country front. Hopefully this is the death knell.
June 19, 2023 @ 2:12 pm
I am going to do you all a favor, since this site concentrates on rating overly bland pop albums and garbage like this, I am going to rate a REAL COUNTRY ALBUM FOR YOU, since trigger is either too damn stupid or just too damn lazy, he says DUH, I HUV TU MANY ALBUMS TO RATE, what a bunch of horse SHIT, HE COULD RATE THE ALBUM, but he won’t TAMI NEILSON, KING MAKER. 10 OUT OF 10. One of her most country and best albums ever. Won’t waste my time going into detail and writing a lengthy review, because trigger won’t print this anyway. So there you go trigger, I did your job for you. But you keep rating trash like this instead of QUALITY MUSIC. WHAT A DUMB ASS!
June 19, 2023 @ 2:51 pm
You’re really angry about what happens on a website, aren’t you?
June 19, 2023 @ 5:45 pm
It’s interesting to me that Countryfan68, who I’m convinced is mentally ill, is so “popular” on Saving Country Music, that a simple comment mocking her gets close to 30 likes.
I guess people really are drawn to what they loathe.
June 19, 2023 @ 6:27 pm
Who mocked her? She’s obviously really angry about what gets posted on a website. I’m not entirely sure why you’d keep coming to a website that gets that sort of response from you.
June 19, 2023 @ 7:08 pm
I’m sorry if I used the wrong word. Replace “mocking” with “questioning”.
To be clear, I wasn’t criticizing you; I’ve mocked her too. I just find it interesting that your comment has so many likes.
June 19, 2023 @ 7:13 pm
All good. I’m pretty new around here so I’m still figuring out who’s who and all that. But I can’t help but notice that she always seems angry about something. I’ll probably mock her for it eventually, just not there yet. HAHA. It’s like people who hate watch TV shows and shit; I just don’t get it. If you hate something so bad, just stop consuming it. She acts like she hates this site, but her visits and interactions actually help keep it rolling.
June 20, 2023 @ 8:06 am
Hey. I am a man, a man , I am a man okay?
June 19, 2023 @ 10:30 pm
the internet created “anti-fans”
June 19, 2023 @ 4:22 pm
RIP Trigger ????
June 20, 2023 @ 6:38 am
I hope Trigger bans your ass
June 19, 2023 @ 3:57 pm
Hoooo! Tell us how your really feel. Thanks for the laugh. At least something good came of this swill. Lifes too short for crappy music.
June 19, 2023 @ 6:12 pm
As straight-up stupid as this is, I’d much rather hear it than anything by Morgan Wallen (except for Flower Shops—that’s actually an okay song.).
June 19, 2023 @ 6:12 pm
2 outta 10, Trigger? C’mon…Should in the negative!
June 19, 2023 @ 7:15 pm
If there’s a Hall of Fame for great sentences in reviews on SCM, this would be in it:
“But don’t make me shed IQ points while listening like your lush cousin does her clothing articles after each hard seltzer until she’s flashing her headlights at all the crotchety bass fishers in the reeds, and the beaver’s spotted near the dam.”
Classic line. Well done, sir.
June 19, 2023 @ 10:36 pm
I like Jake Owen. I know, I know, I like him and his music. Will I listen to this? Possibly not unless it appears on a CD version of a forthcoming album. Do I feel Willie has been wronged? God no, Willie these days will give his name to anything and I am sure he is OK with this.
June 20, 2023 @ 4:52 am
I read the review and the comments. Listened to the song this morning. I didn’t think it was that bad. I have heard WAY worse. I listened on a computer, but it sounded like actual music to me. It isn’t any dumber than “Beer for My Horses” is it? His vocals didn’t sound auto-tuned. Would I seek it out, no. If I was being exposed to country radio and it came on, I suspect it would sound better than what played before it and after it.
June 19, 2023 @ 10:45 pm
It just struck me as Jake doing a tribute to Willie Nelson. It didn’t get me outraged or even moderately perturbed.
Am I going to listen to it again? No–I didn’t find it clever or creative.
The greatest Willie tribute remains the one by Paul Overstreet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_1rhOcGo24
June 19, 2023 @ 11:23 pm
It’s even more confusing if you watch it on mute. You’d guess it was a song about a Texaco station.
June 19, 2023 @ 11:52 pm
…hillbilly inquisition? don’t burn him at the texaco though.
June 20, 2023 @ 2:14 am
After listening to it, I would put this in the realm of parody. I have heard a lot of atrocious parody songs but this one at best is mediocre. While definitely not as nuanced as other parody songs, it certainly has a place. One of my complaints over the years was the lack of songs that are humorous or downright parodies.
Country Music history has been filled with comedians and parody acts throughout the years, but that trend had changed since the 2000s. The Music takes itself too seriously and there are a fleet of lawyers to ensure that the content doesn’t get altered. Weird Al has to go through all sorts of hoops just to record a parody version of a song and he is not always able to get permission to do one.
In summary, we need more Roger Millers and Ben Colders out there hamming it up. This song to me was a delightful change of pace, albeit mediocre in execution.
June 20, 2023 @ 7:24 am
Obviously there is space for lighthearted songs and parody efforts. This was mentioned in this article, and an example of this being done right was given. But this doesn’t even come close to an actual “parody,” and Roger Miller’s name should never be brought up in connection with it. Is it the worst song ever? No. But as you say, “mediocre execution.” We can have some fun at this song’s expense too.
June 20, 2023 @ 4:06 am
You mean Josh Owen, right?
I was at Florida State at the same time back in the day, played the same bars and clubs…that guy had a showcase at Potbellys and hired a handful of local session guys/guitar store employees to play with him. Treated them like utter crap. Got his deal and skipped town for Music City. Congrats Josh, but maybe don’t step on the local talent on your way up.
June 20, 2023 @ 4:42 am
My mom will undoubtedly be texting me a link to this song sometime in the next week. Thanks for the heads up
June 20, 2023 @ 7:35 am
You could watch an IMAX movie on that forehead.
June 20, 2023 @ 7:55 am
To all of you, I AM A MAN. I AM MAN , I AM A MAN , I AM A MAN , I AM A MAN, I AM A MAN, but the majority of people on this site are too stupid to understand logic
June 20, 2023 @ 5:16 pm
Hot Take: Willie Nelson is overrated AF. So who cares?
June 20, 2023 @ 9:24 pm
Willie far outlived the era of his greatest influence.
June 22, 2023 @ 10:00 am
Not a hot take but the truth.
Can we trade Waylon or Pride for Willie?
June 21, 2023 @ 8:20 am
with all the (well deserved) trash you had to talk about this song im surprised you didn’t mention how equally terrible the video was
June 21, 2023 @ 5:49 pm
I remember when his first album “Startin With Me” came out. I really enjoyed the title track as well as most of that album. It sucks that he continues to put garbage out like this as that first album shows he is capable of much better output
June 22, 2023 @ 10:03 am
Willie doesn’t care. We are talking about the same guy who portrayed Uncle Jessie as a pot smoker and has sold out multiple times to perform subpar pot songs.
Or, you know, pushed “On the Road Again” during March Madness, so America could hear Jim Nantz sing it.
C’mon, for a hippie, he sure loves his dough.
June 22, 2023 @ 10:16 am
Yeah boy, “Roll Me Up And Smoke Me When I Die” was a huge pop hit. “Sellout” Shotgun Willie.
June 22, 2023 @ 12:09 pm
He did a weed song with Toby and another with Brantley Gilbert. Both soundly mocked here.
Willie sold his dignity down the river years ago.
July 17, 2023 @ 8:29 pm
I just went to his Outlaw Fest and was surprised by the amount of people who attended and how much money this event seemed to generate. I think the greatest good was that Molly Tuttle and Trampled By Turtles performed for many who likely never heard of them before.
June 23, 2023 @ 3:41 pm
I don’t even mind for artists to reach for some old music for inspiration, but they should at least bother to find a song that has dropped out of public consciousness. I would love to hear people covering some Hazel Dickens, whose songs seem more timely than ever to me, or Louvin Brothers or something like that. I don’t want to hear you cover Hank, Willie, or Johnny, because they don’t need to reexposure and there’s no reason to compete with their versions.
December 17, 2023 @ 3:57 am
It took 5 writers to pen this simplistic song? One person could have done it with a checklist. It’s likely Dustin lynch would sing anything to get an unearned piece of the publishing because that’s where the money is. The best songwriters in Nashville won’t play that game so you’re left with the hack writers. Why do you think Elvis recorded 2/3 junk?
January 19, 2024 @ 4:40 pm
Unfortunately,Waylon and Pride are performing to eternal audiences,but nonagenarian W. H. Nelson is still boppin’ !!!!!!!