I had the hook in my head for a few years, but thought it would be “dated” because it referred to Rodney King’s quote after his beating by the police and the race riots that followed. Then one day, I blurted it out in front of our then staff writer Chris Clark and Michael Smotherman. Chris and I had a day in the book, [and we] started working on it, then we decided to bring Michael in on it. He came over and we finished it in one sitting. We figured it was about time to have a song about the war that was a little more fun and light hearted. On the one hand, it’s a peace song; on the other hand, Arabs don’t drink beer. At the Country Radio Seminar that year, Hank jovially told country radio they can all just kiss his ass. The next day, [the] song disappeared off of all Clear Channel Radio playlists. Nine weeks later, the song died at #36. But the title has become a catch-phrase.