And now the third reason I totally dig Mr. Kimberly Williams: Brad Paisley is romantic.
And I mean very romantic. His albums are generally split between three kinds of songs… the funny songs, the heartbreak songs and the love songs. I wouldn’t say he’s any better at one group than the others — he’s great at them all — but he comes across as particularly sincere in the love songs.
I imagine that’s because he’s still in the extended honeymoon phase of his marriage, together seven years with two young children, and because Kimberly Williams — in addition to being extremely cute — seems like a very cool person. I shamefully admit to reading her Twitter feed in preparation for this blog entry.
I like that he celebrates not just romantic love but marital love… the comfort and friendship of commitment. In ‘She’s Her Own Woman,’ a great track on the new album, he muses:
Where we keep the tarragon
Or even what the hell that is
Well I wouldn’t last 45 minutes in this house
Without her living in it
Bus as for her…
Boy, that one hits home.
Or ‘I Hope That’s Me,’ which he says was written during the time after he and Williams first met and she was not quite ready for a relationship but he knew he’d met his future wife:
When your fever hits a hundred and two,
Go down and pick your prescription up,
And come home and fix you soup,
And I hope that’s me, I hope that’s me
The big hit on American Saturday Night is the most unabashed love song Paisley has written, an anthem for new loves and old couples alike. It’s called ‘Then.’ There’s a little clip of Paisley explaining the inspiration for the song below the song itself (this has since been removed from YouTube), and I know exactly what he means.
I was also happy to see my niece post this song on her Facebook page. That girl’s got great taste. 🙂
The night that I first met you
You had me mesmerized
And three weeks later in the front porch light
Taking forty five minutes to kiss goodnight
I hadn’t told you yet
But I thought I loved you then
Now you’re my whole life
Now you’re my whole world
I just can’t believe
The way I feel about you, girl
Like a river meets the sea
Stronger than it’s ever been
We’ve come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then
I remember
Taking you back to right where I first met you
You were so surprised
There were people around but I didn’t care
I got down on one knee right there and once again
I thought I loved you then
Now you’re my whole life
Now you’re my whole world
I just can’t believe
The way I feel about you, girl
Like a river meets the sea
Stronger than it’s ever been
We’ve come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then
I can just see you
With a baby on the way
I can just see you
When your hair is turning gray
What I can’t see
Is how I’m ever gonna love you more
But I’ve said that before
And now you’re my whole life
Now you’re my whole world
I just can’t believe
The way I feel about you, girl
We’ll look back some day
At this moment that we’re in
And I’ll look at you and say
And I thought I loved you then
Meet Me In Montauk 
Yup, this is the one that made me a fan. When Maddie commanded an audience in order that I hear her new favorite song (or at least one of them; my presence was also “requested” to listen to “Little Moments”), I stood there swooning like an idiot.
What I love about it, upon further analysis, is that it’s a bit of a twist on that stock formula I was mocking during our discussion on yesterday’s post. Rather than have the song chart their entire married life, he allows himself to sing from the present day perspective but imagine how this epiphany he has already had a couple of times in their very new marriage will play itself out over the years. It may be a slight tweak, but it’s a significant one.
Now, of course, if when Ms. Kimberly’s hair actually DOES start turning grey, he’s out the door, THEN I’ll revisit this blog entry. But I’d like to think that just as Jeff Bridges, after winning the SAG award for Best Actor, looked out at the audience for his wife Susan (to whom he’s been married for 31 years) with such obvious love and appreciation, Brad Paisley will live these lyrics. And THAT is an extremely romantic idea.
This is, indeed, a very sweet song. It doesn’t break any musical ground and is very predictable in structure. Still, it’s effective lyrically (as evidenced by my wife and daughter swooning in unison). And, for better and worse, the song easily gets stuck in your head (yes, even MY head!).
very sweet song, and of course she could keep her hair from turning grey 🙂
thank you clay ^_~ This is my favorite out of this album for sure. I didnt know Brad Paisley at all (except for a few random name mentionings when listening to Taylor related things) until he played in this country night out. He played this song and i thought it was so beautiful. It seemed as if his entire audience (who were not just there for him) knew every word to the song. After that i looked this song up on youtube and saw all the comments of couples (mainly the girls) saying how this was “their song” and they have been seranaded by their boyfriend with this song. Any song that can represent so many couples has to be romantic. And while i may like the quirky cute romance little moments has to offer better, this is an amazing song.
oh, there is a Taylor song that follows a similar format. Because she is so young it would have been nearly impossible to write an entire life long love story about her own life. Instead she cleverly looks to her next door neighbors to make her own song in this standard country song writing format.
here it is?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOnAvewqjrY
That’s a very sweet song. For me, it’s the songs about lasting love that are always more powerful than the ones about falling in love in the first place.
doesnt this one do both?
Sure, but both of these songs are about more than just those first moments.
right, I do like this kind of format when it is done right.
Here’s a great song I just discovered (from the one Paisley album I don’t own)… it’s not a love song but it’s about growing up. Very sweet:
This song reminds me of fifteen 🙂
I thought the same thing. 🙂
That’s a great song and such an effective video (both of them, but I’m talking about Brad’s right now) – I love how he assures his young self that these are nowhere near the best years of his life.