I Should Probably Probably Not
Background: We all have those relationships in our lives that are comfortable for us. I’m not talking about the ones that work, I’m talking about the ones that don’t work, but you’re familiar enough with the person and the feeling that person gives you to justify going back to them. Those are the songs we’ll look at in this blog! Side note, I totally didn’t do this on purpose, but all of these songs are tunes out of Nashville, and only one of them was recorded by the artist who wrote it. Shoutout to the Nashville writers who keep those singers in business!
“I May Hate Myself in the Morning” by LeeAnn Womack
Lyrically: There’s a terrific line in a Seinfeld episode where Jerry asserts to Elaine that 95% of the population is undatable (adding, “Have you seen the DMV? It’s like a leper colony down there!”). Within this conversation, Elaine asks him how he explains all of these people getting together, to which he responds, “Alcohol.” And that’s how “I May Hate Myself in the Morning” starts off, with the narrator laughing saying it’s just like the two of them to call each other “After a couple drinks, saying how ya been, I’ve been wonderin’ if maybe you’ve been thinkin’ about me.” Now here’s where this song gets lyrically fabulous. It’s not what’s said, it’s what’s not said. She says, “Somewhere in the conversation, an old familiar invitation always arrives. I may hate myself in the morning, but I’m gonna love you tonight.” She doesn’t say exactly what he says, but we all know the “invitation” is for her to come over and “sweep together” (to quote another Seinfeld episode). It doesn’t dive into specific details. In the next verse, it talks about how there’s always someone in your life you “Can’t help but want” and despite your best efforts, you can’t resist them because “The thought lingers on.”
This blog’s title is based on a lyric from an Olivia Rodrigo song called “Bad Idea, Right?” and as we discussed when we talked about that song in the “? And the Musicians” blog entry, there’s all kinds of justification for getting back together: “Yes I know that he’s my ex, but can’t too people reconnect?” and my favorites, “I tripped and fell into his bed” and “I told my friends I was asleep, but I never said where or in whose sheets.” The same sentiment is expressed here when the narrator says in the middle 8, “I know it’s wrong, but it ain’t easy movin’ on. So why can’t two friends remember the good times again?” So even though she knows it’s a bad idea, she recognizes that it’s so hard and sometimes it’s better to just go with what’s familiar.
I’m a huge proponent of people singing and writing their own songs, but it’s worth noting that when LeeAnn Womack won a CMA for this song, she said, “If you are listening to music that doesn’t touch you, music that doesn’t mean anything to you, tune into your local country music station, because we have songs about your life, we have songs that you will love, songs that will speak to your heart.” And while Brad Paisley said the exact same thing about “This is Country Music,” which he penned, there’s something powerful about how the tune spoke to Womack as a listener, knowing that it would hit other listeners the same way. It’s like me as a teacher: most of the stuff I do as a teacher is stuff that worked for me as a student. So shoutout to Odie Blackmon for writing this gem and tugging at LeeAnn’s heartstrings so it could tug at ours too!
Melodically: The song begins in the key of C major and begins with C in the intro, followed by C, Dm, G, in the verses. This is a I, ii, V pattern. The middle 8 uses F, C, D7, G, F, Dm7, and G, which is a IV, II, V, IV, ii7, V pattern. The solo between the middle 8 and last verse uses C, Dm, G, and C, which is a I, ii, V, I pattern. Before going to the last verse, the song changes keys to C# major, using C#, D#m, G#, C#, a I, ii, V, I pattern which gets played twice before ending on G# and C#, the V and the I chords. The outro then uses C#, D#m, G#, and C#, the I, ii, V, and I chords. Instrumentally, the song uses a prominently featured pedal steel guitar, as well as acoustic, electric, and bass guitar, fiddle, electric piano, drums, and other percussion.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, verse, middle 8, solo, verse format. Though this is a very typical Nashville song format, the presence of a middle 8, rather than a chorus, breaks up the monotony of that type of song structure. And in this case, the middle 8 serves as self-awareness for the narrator, saying, “I know, I know, but just hear me out” and that’s what makes the song relatable. I heard this song when I was first getting into country music, but I rediscovered it while writing for an album of mine, and just became obsessed with the rhyme scheme. It’s just got a really cool flow to the whole thing and makes it all the more fun to listen to!
You can listen to “I May Hate Myself in the Morning” below. You’re gonna love it tonight.
2. “Bad For Me” by Danielle Peck
Lyrically: While there’s almost always one song that jumpstarts a theme for one of my blogs, with that comes a second tune that makes me realize I’m not crazy for thinking of that theme. In this case, that’s “Bad For Me” by Danielle Peck. This is an interesting one because it functions as an example song. So rather than focusing on the story of how she called her ex, she starts off talking about all the things that are bad for her: “I like chocolate, but my hips sure don’t, I like drinkin’ wine, but tomorrow my head sure won’t. I like shoppin’ but my purse sure don’t, I like wearin’ high heels, but tomorrow my feet sure won’t,” before concluding, “These are just some of the things I love that are bad for me.” But then in the chorus, she says, “But of all the things I shouldn’t do, number one is lovin’ you.” She then ends by wondering, “Why is everything that feels so dang good bad for me?”
Melodically: Instrumentally, the song contains electric guitar, steel guitar, bass, and drums. It is is written in F# major, and uses F# C# (played twice), Eb, F#, C#, F# in the intro (a I, V, VIIb, I, V, I pattern), while the verses use F#, C#, F#, C#, B (a I, V, I, V, IV, I pattern). However, the last two verses just use F#, C#, and B, which is a I, V, IV, I pattern. The chorus uses F#, B, F#, Eb, B, C#, and F#, a I, IV, I, VIIb, IV, V, I pattern). There’s something cool about this song’s melody that creates a melodic counterpoint. The whole hook within the song is a rhetorical question. She knows that it’s bad for her (wine containing alcohol, chocolate containing sugar, this person being toxic), she just doesn’t understand why things she enjoys have to be so toxic. So ending on the I is an excellent idea, because there’s no true mystery, she just can’t believe the truth!
Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus format, with the first verse being double the length of the other two. Again, this format isn’t anything new to Nashville, or songwriting in general, but what makes it stand out to me is that the narrator’s big wonder is why all of the other things are so harmful if she just stays away from this person romantically. Since that’s the number one thing she shouldn’t do, partaking in those other vices suddenly don’t seem all that bad. And although the punchline, so to speak, is already given away, the song functions as a way for her to convince herself to be able to eat chocolate, drink red wine, and party hard, so the more examples she gives of things that are better than going back to this guy, the more she’s able to justify those things (just as long as she doesn’t give him a call). And yet, he’s kind of an afterthought in the song.
You can listen to “Bad For Me” below.
3. “Come Over” by Kenny Chesney
Lyrically: This is a song, along with “Vice” by Miranda Lambert, that could have fit well in my co-dependency blog. The latter song made the cut, this one did not, but I’m making up for that here. There’s a special type of vulnerability in a song like this that stretches beyond co-dependency, because in this one, the narrator has tried everything he could to not need the other person. He winds up in the same place (I don’t know if “accidental co-dependency" is a thing, but I like the term), but the visual he paints in the first verse would make any person come over to comfort him: “I turn the TV off to turn it on again, staring at the blades of the fan as it spins around. Counting every crack, the clock is wide awake, talking to myself, anything to make a sound.” There are a few things about this that I love. “The clock is wide awake” is so spectacular, because it’s saying, “I would be able to sleep if that clock would just shut up,” but then he immediately contradicts himself by saying he’s desperate for a sound of some sort to distract him from what’s going on inside his head.
He knows immediately what he’s in for if he gets ahold of his ex, so he starts with that: “I told you I wouldn’t call, told you I wouldn’t care, but baby climbing the walls gets me nowhere.” He continues with the counterpoints he’s worked out in his head in the bridge: “We don’t have to miss each other, we don’t have to fix each other, you don’t have to say forever, you don’t have to stay forever.” The importance is that he needs her right now. Where the “We’re bad for each other” part comes into play is in the second verse where he says all their friends know they’re bad for each other, but asserts, “We ain’t good for anyone else” as an argument for why she should come over. The public reaction is what my great grandma Myrtle would say when two people she didn’t like got together: “It’s a good thing they did. It’d be a shame to spoil two couples!” It’s a desperate plea on the narrator’s end, but a catchy one!
Melodically: The song is written in Am and is written with a capo on the first fret. Relative to the capo, it uses Am7, Am, Fmaj7, C, and G (with everything from the Am on getting played twice). The verses use the same Am7, Am, Fmaj7, C, and G pattern. This is a i, VI, III, VII pattern. The chorus then uses the same pattern, but when he starts repeating “Come over,” he uses Am7 and G, the i and the VII. The bridge uses the same chords as the verses, played twice. Instrumentally, the song uses electric and acoustic guitar, as well as bass, drums.
Fun Fact: This song was written by Sam Hunt (along with Josh Osbourne and Shane MacAnally, two veteran songwriters in Nashville). Sam made his solo debut a few years later, and it’s always cool to me to see these now-famous artists having started by writing for other artists.
4. “Some Mistakes” by Brad Paisley
Lyrically: “Some Mistakes” tells the early tales of a romance between two people who are not the best for each other. This is evident from the first line of the song: “You may think I’m wrong for you and you’re wrong for me, to look at us on paper I would have to agree.” He doesn’t know whether the circumstances of the night they got together are to blame or if he can blame it on alcohol (which he based a whole song around on his previous album!), but he concludes in the chorus that “Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.” Wanting to keep the relationship going, he implores this supposedly toxic love interest to join him again: “There’s this little straight stretch just south of here, it’s great for mashing down the gas and trying out fifth gear.” But, recognizing the potential downfalls of doing that (much like the relationship), he says, “But it’s also a speed trap, twice I’ve gotten caught. But something ‘bout it calls to me and I can’t seem to stop.”
He keeps going back and forth between the potential toxicity in the middle 8, saying, “There are things in life that I regret, and even more that haven’t happened yet” before concluding, “It would be a shame if our little fling only stayed a one time thing.” The Michael Jordan (or Michael Scott) quote “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” has become somewhat of a cliche over the past handful of years, but that’s what good writing like this is for. That first line of this section is just terrific, but of course the back and forth in his mind makes both of the parts necessary. The last verse recognizes that in their old age, they might regret what they did, saying, “We’ll be just like our parents, responsible and bland, no risk, no excitement, hey let’s get it while we can.” In other words, he’s in it for the long haul, but they might as well have some fun in the meantime.
Melodically: The song’s intro uses a G, C pattern, which are the I and IV chords, since the song is written in G major. The verses do the same thing, using that pattern four times. The pre-chorus then uses D, C, G/B, and D, C (a V, IV, I, V, IV pattern). The chorus uses G, C, G, C, Em, C, D, G, which is a I, IV, I, IV, vi, IV, V, I pattern. There’s an instrumental interlude between the first and second verse that uses the G and C, the I and IV chords. The middle 8 uses C, G/B, D, G, played three times, but the third time around, they sub out an Em for the G, which is the relative minor to the tonic, causing a little more tension than it would if they just ended on the G. This is a IV, I, V, I pattern the first two times, and a IV, I, V, vi pattern the second time around. Again, ending on the vi chord provides tension for us as the listeners, wondering if they’re going to get back together, which we kind of find out at the end. The solo after the middle 8 uses the same chords as the intro. It’s worth noting that the pre-chorus and chorus come to the same conclusion that it’s worth the risk, so the pre-chorus ending on the IV and the chorus ending on the I have more to do with building melodic tension, rather than thematic tension.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, middle 8, solo, verse, pre-chorus, chorus format. This is one of those albums that hit me at just the right time. I had just been to Nashville for the first time, had just seen Brad Paisley in concert for the first time, and after I saw him, I went out and bought a copy of 5th Gear (which was the album he was promoting at the time of the concert). And although songs like “Better Than This” and “Mr. Policeman” from the album are the ones that directly inspired tunes of mine, “Some Mistakes” is what gets credit for motivating me to pay attention to song structure. If you’re talking about a relationship, you have to keep building within the song–It starts off casual, someone has the idea to do it again, and then in the last verse, you talk about the future. If you know my songwriting, you know I write a lot of breakup songs, but the same basic structure is there, it’s just a different ending. Is this the first song to ever do that? Absolutely not. But it’s the one off this album that got me paying attention to other songs not by Bob Dylan that do that.
You can listen to “Some Mistakes” below.
