‘High Life’ – Brad Paisley
After the disastrous ‘Accidental Racist’ derailed his ambitious album Wheelhouse, Brad Paisley retreated to lick his wounds and came back this year with a good-old country record, Moonshine in the Trunk.
It’s a fun album but not an entirely memorable one, especially when compared to the excellent stretch of records that culminated in American Saturday Night.
But today’s SOTD, ‘High Life,’ tickled me so much from the very first listen that I couldn’t help but slot it in the top ten.
The back story to this song is a copyright lawsuit filed against Brad Paisley and his co-writers over ‘Remind Me,’ a duet with Carrie Underwood. A pair of songwriters claim that he stole a song of theirs also titled ‘Remind Me,’ though a judge decided the tracks shared little in common other than their titles
Paisley conjures up a litigious family that revels in redneck luxury thanks to their repeated scores. He addresses the lawsuit directly in the final verse when he has the family sue Carrie Underwood. He even slips the phrase “remind me” in there.
Few people write funny songs and fewer still write them as well as Paisley.
Grandpa died and our ship came in
Daddy said he left momma and him more money than they’d ever seen
And just like that we were thousandaires
Had a brand new boat and a Frigidaire
And all us kids in our underwear were jumping on a trampoline
A buncha low lives living the high life
Money burning a hole right through the pockets of our holey jeans
Grandpa’s with the Lord now, but we got a new Ford now
And we can watch the Big Orange now on a 57 inch TV
Money was gone by mid-July and we went back to just getting by
‘Til momma slipped on a patch of ice outside of Chick-Fil-A
Now we knew they was a Christian bunch
So we didn’t ask for all that much
Settled out of court for ten thousand bucks
And free chicken ’til our dying day
A buncha low lives living the high life
Money burning a hole right through the pockets of our holey jeans
Momma’s got a limp now but we all get to swim now
Cause we got an above ground sitting out by the trampoline
We rocked, we rolled, we lived it up until it started running thin
We began looking for a way to spin that wheel again
I heard a song a couple months ago, was Carrie Underwood on the radio
Reminded me of a poem my brother wrote back in second grade
I know she didn’t steal it but so what? We lawyered up and we sued her butt
These days we figure we pretty much get paid to go away
A bunch low lives living the high life
Money burning a hole right through the pockets of our holey jeans
The song’s at number one now, and we got a hot tub now
Sitting next to the above ground sitting out by the trampoline
It’s gonna run out some day
And that ain’t gonna be a fun day
But as long as it ain’t a Sunday
We can go to Chick-Fil-A and eat
Meet Me In Montauk 
Great lyrics. Is that Underwood talking at the end?
Yeah, and she sings backup throughout.