For Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adam’s has asked us to pick a song about fishing, a mariner, sailing, seafaring, or ships. Well, there was one song that came to mind immediately.
I had the chance to meet Brad Paisley when he first hit the scene. We had him in town to play a show for us. He blew us away with his guitar playing and his music. His first album was out at the time and he was talking about his next album. He then played us I’m Gonna Miss Her.
According to Wiki, while still a student at Belmont University in the early 1990s, Paisley had been asked to participate in a student concert. Having primarily sung ballads at that point in his career, he decided to add a novelty song to his repertoire. Frank Rogers, a fellow student who would eventually become Paisley’s record producer, agreed, suggesting that they should “write something that will make them laugh”, and the two then began to write the song. Their collaboration resulted in “I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin’ Song)”, a moderate up-tempo, centralizing on a male character whose lover has threatened to leave him if he goes fishing instead of staying home with her. Having chosen to go fishing instead, the character then states that he will “miss her when [he gets] home”.
When Paisley performed the song at the student concert, he received a positive reaction from the audience members, who began to laugh and cheer once he reached the first chorus. After signing to his recording contract with Arista Records in 1999, Paisley planned to place the song on his debut album Who Needs Pictures. Although the label had wanted him to do so, Rogers thought that the “song was better for a more established artist”.
Although Garth brooks, George Strait and Alan Jackson had all shown interest in recording the song, Paisley kept it to himself after the success of his Who Needs Pictures album. He then recorded “I’m Gonna Miss Her” for his Part II album, and the song was released as that album’s third single, despite Paisley’s initial reluctance, as he had thought that the concept of a male choosing fishing over love might be offensive to female listeners. It would become his third number one record.
Well I love her
But I love to fish
I spend all day out on this lake
And hell is all I catch
But today she met me at the door
Said I would have to choose
If I hit that fishing hole today
She’d be packing all her things
And she’d be gone by noon
Well, I’m gonna miss her
When I get home
But right now I’m on this lakeshore
And I’m sitting in the sun
I’m sure it’ll hit me
When I walk through that door tonight
Yeah, I’m gonna miss her
Oh, lookie there, I’ve got a bite
Alright
Now there’s a chance that if I hurry
I could beg her to stay
But that water’s right
And the weather’s perfect
No telling what I might catch today
So, I’m gonna miss her
When I get home
But right now I’m on this lakeshore
And I’m sitting in the sun
I’m sure it’ll hit me
When I walk through that door tonight
Yeah, I’m gonna miss her
Oh, lookie there, another bite
Yeah, I’m gonna miss her
Oh, lookie there, I’ve got a bite
Thanks again to Jim for hosting Song Lyric Sunday!
