In 2003, seven years after The Road to Ensenada, Lyle Lovett finally released another album of original material. Unfortunately, that album — My Baby Don’t Tolerate — was a major disappointment.
Granted, there is really no such thing as a “bad Lyle Lovett album” — that’s just not a concept that computes. But if everything can be ranked, and the presence of a best necessitates the presence of a worst… well, allow me to introduce you to Lyle Lovett’s worst album.
It was once said of former Denver Broncos all-star running back Terrell Davis that his strength was that he had no weaknesses. Well, the weakness of My Baby Don’t Tolerate is that it has no strengths.
The songs aren’t as clever as Lovett’s usual output. The melodies aren’t as strong. The musicianship isn’t as awe-inspiring. The jokes aren’t as funny, the sad spots aren’t as sad. It’s good, not great, right across the board, and Lovett fans are used to great, not good.
This album is so off my radar that I don’t have a favorite song from it. Listening to a batch of them to prepare this blog entry, they all strike me as similar in sound and subject matter. All are well-performed and sound great. None are the least bit memorable.
I chose this one pretty much at random.
All six-foot-seven
She sent him to where they parked
To go and get the car
She stayed behind there
She stood in line there
She got something to drink
And then she told me her name
She said the Alamo
Was someplace we could go
Or to the Hemisfair
To ride the needle there
And all along the River Walk
Well all she did was talk
And all i did was think
Things are about to change
CHORUS:
San Antonio girl
She makes me crazy
San Antonio girl
She’s the one for me
She ain’t exactly white
But she’s a little bit pretty
She’s the whole wide world
San Antonio girl
We watched that Darwin
Walk in San Marcos
The we went over
And ate some supper
Drove to Helotes
Flores County Store is
Out Highway 16
We heard old Robert Keen
CHORUS
Well it was late by then
We should have turned it in
But she was hungry
And I was interested
In Mi Tierra’s
Huevos Rancheros
We took some Polaroids
Right at the table
Meet Me In Montauk 
“Everything here is out in the open, and it’s the better for it; musically, it may offer no surprises, but its directness is appealing, particularly because Lovett simply sounds good singing country songs,” says Steven Thomas Elerwine for All-Music guide. I tripped over this quote when looking for a quick list of the songs on t his album to see if I agreed with you – since I, too, certainly couldn’t begin to recite them from memory.
Elerwine’s quote juxtaposed with your blog post suggests the classic case of glass half full/ glass half empty 🙂 I think you’re both right. I don’t reach for this album, but the moment I started playing the SOTD I wondered why not. Then I was reminded that, in addition to the title song which I like quite a bit, this album contains “Cute as a Bug,” a song I was at least momentarily nuts about – probably because I was singing it to my then 2 year old son 🙂
Anyway, to sum up – good Lyle Lovett is better than great almost anyone else. But if you’re not a fan already, start with Large Band, Pontiac, Joshua Judges Ruth, and The Road to Ensenada.
I think the standout song on this album is probably the title track, but I agree that the album as a whole never did much for me. Too much country (and not even interesting or funny country), not enough blues/jazz/swing. The country bent finally yields with the last 2 tracks, which are fairly good gospel numbers, though nothing on the order of the gospel songs on Joshua Judges Ruth or his most recent release. Overall, this was a disappointment, certainly by Lyle standards.