What the FUCK do these lyrics mean?

[desperatelyhungry]

I'm from the south and I've been listening to country and I stg I don't understand half the shit they talk about. I heard this song and I really like it but I don't recognize one fucking thing he talks about in the first verse

[Foxtrot_Yankee]

"Thumping Skeeters" - As noted previously, flicking mosquitoes which tend to come out at night as well as right before a storm.
"Stringer full of keepers under thundery clouds" - Cane pole fishing (which he mentions later) is very simplistic, worms, doughballs, grasshoppers etc., is your bait.. so you time when you fish and fish bite very well right before it rains. The "stringer" is literally a thick string or cable with a needle on the end that you run through the fish that you want to keep (Keepers).
"Picking off a blackberry" - most wild blackberry bushes have thorns. Pick the right blackberry and it comes off very easily... don't and you might get pricked. Get pricked and it get swell... get out your cherry Skoal.
"Cherry Skoal dip make the swelling go down" - rub the tobacco in and it has anti-inflammatory properties. Why cherry? Because girls like sweet things...
So now... put it all together...
Out fishing just before it rains, head out with your fish, grab some blackberries on your way out, have some cherry Skoal... got that buzzy head feeling... tuck back away from the rain and "stay warm"
Next verse he talks about summer heat... in the south after a rain storm it can get crazy humid so you head for the lake, creek, river, etc.

[ItsAMeA]

"Thumping skeeter with your fingers"= Flicking mosquitos to kill them.

"With a stringer full of keepers under thundery clouds?"= Something to do with fishing I believe.

"Whatcha know about picking off a blackberry?"= He means this literally.

"Little Cherry Skoal Dip make the swelling go down."=Cherry Skoal Dip is a type of tobacco. Skoal is the brand name. Cherry is the flavor. And "dip" is the type of tobacco. The swelling part has to do with the medicinal properties of tobacco.

[ItsAMeA]

To put it all together; I think he's talking about night fishing and having to get the mosquitos off of you by flicking them. And then eating blackberries and then using tobacco to reduce the swelling that they cause.

[desperatelyhungry]

You are the man. I am impressed lol

[ItsAMeA]

Haha, thank you.

[ItsAMeA]

Correction: The blackberry line is unrelated to the tobacco line. Blackberry picking is simply common in the South. And the tobacco part is just about using tobacco to help swelling.

[desperatelyhungry]

I had no idea tobacco helped swelling go down? And I wonder if the blackberry picking doesn't have a double meaning because it seems pretty damn random among the other lines?

[ItsAMeA]

Yeah tobacco can also be used to help remove bot flies too. A lot of plants have surprising medical properties. And honestly probably not, I think it's just that it's a common thing to do in the South.

[desperatelyhungry]

Okay well later on in the song he says whatcha know about a hillbilly backstroke, that's an innuendo right? Or am I the literal dumbest person in the world and it means something else?

[ItsAMeA]

Lol I have no idea what a hillbilly backstroke is. I've never heard that phrase before.

[desperatelyhungry]

Me neither but the way he says it and in the context (alone on a lake or by a lake or some shit) that's how I take it. Anyways thanks for the help

[ItsAMeA]

No problem :)

[dbosley]

"Thumping skeeters" - it's a flick of your finger to kill mosquitos that landed on you.
"Stringer full of keepers under thundery (thunderhead) clouds" - a stronger is literally a string with a metal piece that goes through the fish's mouth and out a gill. The string does into the water so the fish does not die while you keep fishing. Keeper is a term meaning fish that are the right size to keep. Thunderhead clouds - storm clouds.
"Picking off a blackberry" - literally picking blackberries off the vine.
"Cherry Skoal dip make the swelling go down" - if you get stung by a wasp, hornet, etc - you get dip or a cigarette wet with spit and you put it on the stung skin. It does take the sting out and keeps it from swelling.

[dbosley]

stringer - jeeze autocorrect,

[AmourHoney]

Not a clue

[desperatelyhungry]

At least it's not just me. I was like am I just stupid lol

[AmourHoney]

Nah you’re not stupid, I don’t have the slightest clue what it’s supposed to mean either 😂

[LeeCee1]

The hillbilly backstroke is when you’re skinny dippin in the lake and a guy floats on his back to where only his boner is sticking up out of the water, it impresses the girls and draws them over and makes the other guys jealous at the same time that they can’t pull that off

[Gentle-Man]

I'm sure it's so super sexy hidden meaning