just a girl
“song about a girl, one you can’t forget … blows your mind, every time … “
Eric Paslay
Whew.
I haven’t written about a country song for months.
And then this one hit the radio.
Song about a Girl by a country singer I have never heard of before … Eric Paslay.
First.
The song.
Musically it is tight. With an addictive riff & groove. Its not complicated which I think actually makes it better.
Lyrically … well … in the marketing world we so often discuss the fact that it is as often important to say what you are not rather than focus on solely what you are.
This song is simply about a girl <any girl>.
And tells you that by telling you what it is not about < “This ain’t about tailgates/Ain’t about bonfires/Ain’t about souped-up cars, water towers/Or drowning in a bottle of Jack.” >.
The song relentlessly focused on stripping away the cliché accoutrements associated with dates and being with a girl … and making it all about the girl <beautiful implication that all the other associated romantic notions & images are kind of irrelevant without the girl>.
Fabulously simplistically written.
“We kind of turned brevity into a three-minute song,” says Paslay. “It’s just one line. The main point is that every song that comes on the radio today, you could say, ‘That’s about a girl.’ Like, ‘What’s this about?’ ‘It’s a song about a girl.’ If your kid in the back seat ever asks what this song is about, you just play them my song: ‘It’s a song about a girl.’ ”
And, yes, it’s a song about a girl lyrically always returning to a simple conclusion … “It’s a song about a girl.”
Song about a girl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px-oCnms8Pg
Now.
A quick thought on the video.
Oh. They were so close to doing it right. Oh so close.
The basic simple framework is perfect for the song and the sound. Where they slipped off track is the ‘girls’ shown.
Look. I know making a music video is difficult and there is always the challenge of dipping into the soul of the song balanced by some film ‘eye entertainment’ so people want to watch. In this case they went the clichéd ‘model looks girls.’ And that seems silly because the song is about as anti cliché as you can get.
I personally would have scrounged around thru some home videos which had the neighborhood girl in it. The kind of girl that you don’t look at as ‘stunningly unattainable’ but rather ‘they stunned my soul’ type. They are attractive but real. They make you take a second look even though they are not, lookwise, for everyone.
The girl normal guys get.
That would have made this video perfect.
Lastly.
Eric Pasley.
He is a singer songwriter writing or co-writing everything on his debut album. He also co-wrote Jake Owen’s “Barefoot Blue Jean Night”, Eli Young Band’s “Even If It Breaks Your Heart”, and Love and Theft’s “Angel Eyes”, all of which were No. 1 hits on the coutry charts. Paslay also wrote and co-wrote album cuts for Lady Antebellum and Rascal Flatts’ 2014 single “Rewind.”
I also liked what I read about how they worked out the song:
Altman, playing banjo, and Paslay, playing electric guitar, built a new version from the ground up, creating a pinging riff that formed a backbone for the song and changed it from a major key to a minor. That altered it from an anthemic piece into a more relentless groove — Paslay initially protested, then decided it was an improvement. They also planned to add a bluesy harmonica to the opening, though Paslay ad-libbed more “oo-oos” while they were setting up. His off-the-cuff lines became a new hook. They ditched the harp in favor of his vocals, run through a hand-held harmonica mic and a series of distortion-producing pedals that give it a muddy quality. That intro riff repeats throughout the recording — first played by two banjos, then by a bubbly rhythm guitar in the second verse (think The Chakachas’ disco hit “Jungle Fever” or Talking Heads’ new wave single “Burning Down the House”), then by banjos and fiddle.
I have no clue if Eric Paslay will ever have another song worth a shit. Who cares. This one is worth a shit.
Enjoy.