“You can’t take the honky tonk out of the girl”

“You can take the girl out of the honky tonk, but you can’t take the honky tonk out of the girl” was a line in the film Sweet Home Alabama, released on September 27, 2002. Songwriters Bob DiPiero and Bart Allmand published the song “You Can’t Take the Honky Tonk Out of the Girl” in 2003, and it became a hit after it was released on a Brooks & Dunn album in September 2003. It does not appear that the “honky tonk” expression had been cited in print before it was used in the 2002 film.
 
A similar saying is “You can take a boy out of Texas, but you can’t take Texas out of a boy.”
 
   
Wikipedia: You Can’t Take the Honky Tonk Out of the Girl
“You Can’t Take the Honky Tonk Out of the Girl” is the title of a song written by Bob DiPiero and Bart Allmand, and recorded by American country music duo Brooks & Dunn. It was released in September 2003 as the second single from their album Red Dirt Road. It reached #3 in early 2004.
     
The Internet Movie Database 
Sweet Home Alabama (2002)
Did You Know?
Bobby Ray: You can take the girl out of the honky tonk, but you can’t take the honky tonk out of the girl.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
You can’t take the honky tonk out of the girl : piano, vocal, guitar
Author: Bob DiPiero; Bart Allmand
Publisher: Nashville, TN : Sony/ATV Music Pub. ; Milwaukee, WI : Exclusively distributed by Hal Leonard, ©2003.
Edition/Format:   Musical score : Country music : English
 
YouTube
You Can’t Take The Honky Tonk Out Of The Girl
BrooksandDunnVEVO
Uploaded on Mar 5, 2011
Music video by Brooks & Dunn performing You Can’t Take The Honky Tonk Out Of The Girl. (C) 2002 BMG Music
 
The Dartmouth
Embracing Our Rep: The Fight Against Dartmouth
By Maddie Brown
Published on Friday, March 1, 2013
(...)
Toning down or removing the College’s traditions will not alleviate our stereotypes. As they say in Texas, you can take the girl out of the honky-tonk, but you can’t take the honky-tonk out of the girl.