Kenny Chesney has gone through multiple phases in his career. When he started out he was more neo-traditional with a bit of a pop to his touch to his music, then he entered his stadium rock phase in the early 2000s which lead to his beach bum era that still lingers, even now, while he makes more adult contemporary pop music. This album sees him morphing a lot of all of those sounds from his past into one collective.
1. Born – “For every unknown, one thing’s for sure/We’vе all been livin’ since the day we wеre born” This is sort of just one of those songs that states the obvious and tries to speak for a collective “we’re all in this together” type of thing. It’s not the most inspired way to start the album off.
2. Just To Say We Did – “Just to say we did/Just to feel alive/To take a leap of faith/To feel that kind of high” sings Chesney on the chorus of this song about taking the chance and doing things just because. It’s a sort of you-only-live-once so you better live it as best you can now. Compared to the lead single this doesn’t really have as much oomph to it, however it is a great concert type track.
3. Take Her Home – Chesney’s song uses the hook “take her home” to refer to some of the landmark moments in a person’s life that come up. A relationship starting, the day of a child’s birth, and bringing the little girl home afterwards are all brought up here as times the man in the song takes her home. It’s a neat little change on a song that starts off singing like one of the stereotypical finding love in a bar song. “And take her home, and fall in love/Thank the good Lord up above/That He sent one down into your arms/And put a chain around your raised-hell heart”
4. Few Good Stories – “If I ain’t done it all, just means I ain’t done it yet/When I look back, I don’t wanna have one single regret” Chesney sings about getting the absolute most of our life and trying to make the most of every opportunity you can. Drinking up all that he can, he’s going to try and get every drop out of the proverbial bottle that he can.
5. Thinkin’ Bout – Chesney sings one of those simmering “we shouldn’t but we want to” love songs with this track. Driven by a pulsing drum beat, Chesney’s song is similar to those “Need You Now” Lady A songs where the relationship is done but the two people can’t move on because of a continued intimate relationship. “Thinkin’ ’bout not thinkin’ ’bout you/Try to make last night the last time/Instead of doin’ what we always do”
6. Guilty Pleasure – No strings attached is the name of the game here. Chesney knows what kind of relationship (if you can even go so far as to call it that) he’s in and he’s perfectly fine just being the sometimes type of person for the woman he’s singing to. “You can just text, you don’t have to call/You can say that you love me but you don’t have to fall/I can be your guilty pleasure and you don’t have to feel guilty at all”
7. One More Sunset – “This spinnin’ ball keeps spinnin’ around/That man in the sky keeps setting ‘еm down/I ain’t done yet/I got one more sunset” Another song about trying to embrace life while you still have it, Chesney sings that he’s got a little more time left so he’s not going to waste it.
8. Top Down – “Baby’s got the top down/Baby’s got her eyes closed/Baby likes the sweet sound of rock and roll” Honestly, there’s not a ton to this song. He’s basically just describing a girl (it’s almost like the Country version of a manic pixie dream girl) and saying she likes driving around with the music up and the top down on a convertible.
9. The Way I Love You Now – “If reconciliation is the best that we can do/And I knew how it would hurt me/I’d still fall in love with you” One of the best songs on the album, Chesney sings about a relationship that has previously ended poorly but with time and maturity he is able to better appreciate the relationship and partner. It’s a complex song that contemplates sad emotions but also has a hopeful tone. It’s a mature breakup song that you don’t hear very often.
10. This Too Shall Pass – “How am I doin’? Hell, I thought you’d never ask/Cheers, I believe this too shall pass me a beer” A comma song (if you read a few of my reviews over the last year you’ve probably heard this phrase) where Chesney smirks through a hook that seems inspirational and then turns into a humorous one. He’s taking the common phrase that people will say as comfort during bad times, and spinning it with being passed a beer.
11. Blame It On The Salt – Chesney has spent a lot of time on islands and it’s unlikely his music will ever be disconnected from those beach/island sounds as a result. Here is a sort of pick-up-no-strings-attached song that has that tropical spin on it. Nowadays people often say “blame it on whiskey”, while Chesney is blaming it on a tropical themed drink. “Hello, what’s your name?/Where you been all my life?/Just playin’, just sayin’/We should probably get a couple more drinks, and we can”
12. Come Here, Go Away – “We nevеr stay, never leavе, never say what we mean/Never mean what we say, come here, go away” Chesney sings about a couple that can’t seem to really figure out what they want to do. The will they/won’t they sort of song where a couple is unable to stick with each other for any number of reasons but they come back to one another due to the comfort and familiarity.
13. One Lonely Island – “I know you’re feelin’ what I’m feelin’/We both could use a night of healin’” This is basically the island version of let’s be together tonight instead of being alone (Blake Shelton’s “Lonely Tonight” as an example of the song without the island flavor).
14. Long Gone – “Love where I come from/Sometimes I miss it some” Chesney sings about a wanderlust that doesn’t let him ever settle down (something that likely has been developed with his traveling musician career). While he loves his home, he knows that he can’t be content to stay there for too long as he is not made that way.
15. Wherever You Are Tonight – “Hearts will break, we cry, we grieve/We die, we go, but never leave/We linger in the lives of those wе love/We’re flеsh and bone in beams of light” Chesney has a real special song here. He ends the album of a quiet, somewhat melancholic note (although, as he’s done on a couple songs on the album, it has hope underlying the hurt). Chesney processes emotions of losing someone but finds hope in the memories they leave and ways they have changed you when they were alive.
DWBelcherWorks 