Tune Tuesday – All I Want

I spent the majority of my radio career playing country music.  I started with oldies, dabbled in classic rock, played adult contemporary songs, and even had a stint at an urban station.  If I add up the years by genre, I have played more country music than anything.

Today’s country music, in my honest opinion, is more like a southern rock.  Some of it even borders on rap.  My current PD (and many others) call it “bro country,” whatever that means.  Recently, on my weekend show, I actually played a George Strait song – a new one at that!  It actually sounded country!

While some laughed at Darius Rucker for cutting a country album, he actually fit right in.  Darius, of course, was/is the lead singer for Hootie and the Blowfish who burst on the scene with their album Cracked Rear View in 1994.  They had some huge hits and great success.  Darius did some solo stuff in 2001, and in 2008 signed with Capital Records to release a country album.  That album was called “Learn to Live”.

The album had some great songs on it.  The first three singles (Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It, It Won’t Be Like This For Long, and Alright) all reached #1!  While I Still Got The Time, Drinkin’ and Dialin’ and Learn to Live are also great songs lyrically and musically.  The song that just stands out the most for me on the album is “All I Want”.

Darius co-wrote the song with songwriter Frank Rogers, who wrote Brad Paisley’s “I’m Gonna Miss Her.”  (Brad Paisley, coincidentally, plays lead guitar on the song. )  Darius says that the song sounds like it was written by two guys who hate their wives, and thought when he played it for his wife, she’d think he wanted a divorce.  He says that wasn’t the case at all.  Darius stated that when they wrote the song, there were a lot of people around him getting a divorce, and that’s where the idea came from.

As someone who was recently divorced, this song was one that I played often on the iPod.  The entire first verse, I could relate to:

“Don’t act surprised, it ain’t like you didn’t know.
It’s been like a long time coming and it’s time for me to go.”

While the subject matter of the song is a bit more serious, the way it is written in a tongue and cheek sort of way, is just one of the reasons I love it.  The last lines of the chorus, is one of my favorite lines in music.  Darius said when his wife heard it, she was on the floor laughing.  I also love it because it has a great boogie-shuffle rhythm to it.

“All I Want”

Don’t act surprised, it ain’t like you didn’t know
It’s been like a long time coming and it’s time for me to go
Tryin’ to split things up could drive us crazy
So I’m gonna make this easy, baby

You can have the money, you can have the house
Take the Cadillac and that boat out back
And your mother’s pink and yellow couch
You can have every penny that I’ll make from this here song
Girl all I want you to leave me is alone

Don’t get me wrong I will always love you, girl
You were my life you were my heart, you were my world
But we both know it’s over, there’s no need to fight it
Girl I just need some peace and quiet

So you can have the money, you can have the house
Take the Cadillac and that boat out back
And ugly pink and yellow couch
You can have every penny that I will make from this here song
Girl all I want you to leave me is alone

You can have the money, you can have the house
Take the big screen and your diamond ring
And those shoes that you swore you couldn’t live without
You can have every penny that I will make from this here song
Girl all I want you to leave me is alone
Girl all I need you to leave me is alone

Side note to trolls:  All I want you to leave me is alone!  🙂