American Saturday Night is so chock full of good songs that I could dedicate the next four weekends to it and not hit all of the highlights.
I could pair up the jack-rabbit guitar workout of the hilarious ‘Catch All the Fish’ with the delicate ballad ‘Anything Like Me,’ in which Paisley imagines all the trouble his young son will get into over the years if he takes after his old man.
Certainly I should find room to highlight ‘The Pants,’ in which Paisley exposes macho chauvinists the world over as the helpless babies they really are. Or the title song, a celebration of our melting pot, with its wonderful audience shout-along moment (“Little Italy, Chinatown, sittin’ there side by side… live from New York, IT’S SATURDAY NIGHT!”) that makes you think every time you hear it how great Paisley must be in concert.
Today’ I’m choosing to go with one of the album’s heartbreak ballads (I’ve featured another of them already). ‘Everybody’s Here’ has a laid-back 70s vibe that really works for me — I could hear Harry Chapin or Jim Croce singing this song.
I might as well start living again
And so I threw on a shirt
Put on a jacket went out to meet some friends
And now I’m acting like I couldn’t be better
Like I’ve always got this smile on my face
Walking around weaving through the crowd
And trying not to look out of place
Cause everybody’s here
Yeah but if you look close you’ll see
Everybody’s here
Everybody’s here but me
The first time somebody asked where you were
I didn’t know what to say
The second time somebody asked where you were
I lied and said she’s on her way
The third time somebody asked where you were
Well I just wanted to scream
I guess the land of the living
Ain’t no place for a heartbroken zombie like me.
Cause everybody’s here
Yeah but if you look close you’ll see
Its painfully clear
Everybody’s here but me
Now I look around and see a lot of single people
But there ain’t a single one like me
Because they all wanna leave here with somebody
And I just wanna leave
Everybody’s here
Its painfully clear
Yeah but if you look close you’ll see
Everybody’s here
Everybody’s here but me
Meet Me In Montauk 
This is a great heartbreak song – so poignant and simple. I agree that it has a 70’s vibe. I wonder why this song didn’t make a bigger impression on me when this album was in constant rotation. I’m loving it this morning.
So you like this, but reject something like “New Kid in Town” by the Eagles, huh? So odd….
I just listened to ‘New Kid in Town’ to get to the bottom of this. It’s nice enough. I think the main reason I like today’s song better is vocals… I really don’t like the vocals on The Eagles’ track. Also, these lyrics are better.
I could see John Travolta and Debra Winger two-stepping to this 🙂
I just picked the first similar Eagles song that came to mind, and not even one I particularly like, as I don’t like Glen Frey’s stuff generally.
Maybe try “Victim of Love” or “Try and Love Again” from Hotel California….