Toby Keith recalls inspiration for post-9/11 song 'Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue'

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Toby Keith on why he loves and writes patriotic music

Country music star discusses his new album on 'Fox & Friends'

NEW YORK – Toby Keith sat down to write his now-hit song "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" a mere 48 hours after Sept. 11, 2001.

The country singer was watching the news when something a reporter said about the terrorist attacks really got under his skin.

"I just remember where I was about 48-something hours after, and I remember watching the news and they were saying, 'Well, I guess we could bomb 'em. That would be so the American way.' And it just got all over me," Keith told Fox News.

Keith explained the reporter's comment didn't sit well with him.

"They just flew planes into the Twin Towers and killed thousands of people and you're saying if we go bomb them, that's 'so the American way' to do things? That's so the terrorist way to do things," Keith told us.

He said in the wake of the attacks he anticipated the troops being sent overseas to fight and he was tired of hearing the "same old anti-American rhetoric."

"I just sat and wrote it in 20 minutes on the back of a fantasy football sheet and it exploded," the singer recalled.

Keith eventually released the song as the lead single off of his 2002 album "Unleashed."

In the song Keith sings, "Oh, justice will be served/ And the battle will rage/ This big dog will fight/ When you rattle his cage/ And you'll be sorry that you messed with/ The U.S. of A'/ Cause we'll put a boot in your ass/ It's the American way."