Craig Morgan- "Wake Up Lovin' You"

[rbundy1987]

New single from upcoming album by Craig Morgan

"Wake Up Lovin' You"

Black River Entertainment

Going for adds: June 24th

Songwriters:

Audio:

Source: Billboard Country Update: 6/17/2013 (PAGE 13)

[.indulgecountry]

Can't wait to hear it! I know Craig isn't very popular on Pulse, but I do honestly love his voice and hope this is a good song to match.

[churchchoir]

I love his voice, too, but I just hope he'll put it to better use than he has with his recent singles. We need more stuff like "This Ain't Nothin'," "Almost Home," and "Love Remembers" and fewer releases like "Corn Star" and "More Trucks Than Cars." I'd say Craig has been treated fairly by radio. When he puts out decent music, he gets played, but when he puts out ridiculous songs such as his two recent releases, the songs rightfully go nowhere on the charts. Craig can really kill a ballad, in my opinion, but when he's trying to sing a "fun" or novelty song, I feel he can be one of the worst singers in the country format.

[Deleted]

Jun 18, 2013 2:50:43 GMT -5 churchchoir said:

I love his voice, too, but I just hope he'll put it to better use than he has with his recent singles. We need more stuff like "This Ain't Nothin'," "Almost Home," and "Love Remembers" and fewer releases like "Corn Star" and "More Trucks Than Cars." I'd say Craig has been treated fairly by radio. When he puts out decent music, he gets played, but when he puts out ridiculous songs such as his two recent releases, the songs rightfully go nowhere on the charts. Craig can really kill a ballad, in my opinion, but when he's trying to sing a "fun" or novelty song, I feel he can be one of the worst singers in the country format.

I agree. He's got a solid voice but most of his material is pretty awful, at least in my opinion. I couldn't stand any of the singles from This Ole Boy, as well as his last single for BNA, "Still A Little Chicken Left On That Bone". "This Ain't Nothin'" wasn't too bad, but before that he had "Bonfire" and "International Harvester". Then "Little Bit Of Life"...he just sounds way too twangy and obnoxious on. "I Got You" and "Love Remembers" are both tolerable for me, and "That's What I Love About Sunday" would be if it hadn't been overplayed so much (I could seriously go the rest of my life without ever hearing that song again, and I'd be perfectly fine with that). The only track that Craig's released that I absolutely LOVE is "Almost Home".

Hopefully this new tune is above average. The title alone already makes it seem like it should be better than his last 4 singles.

[Ten Pound Hammer]

Jun 18, 2013 2:50:43 GMT -5 churchchoir said:

When he puts out decent music, he gets played, but when he puts out ridiculous songs such as his two recent releases, the songs rightfully go nowhere on the charts.

Then how do you explain "Bonfire"? It was a total piece of crap that had him screaming instead of singing, and yet it was his biggest hit since 2005.

I really wish he'd quit the country boy songs already. His are typically the worst of the bunch, although I admit I genuinely liked "International Harvester", and "Little Bit of Life" outside the oversinging.

That's something he really needs to stop, too. He overdoes his twang to nearly Aaron Tippin levels, and it just sounds so corny. Just sing like you did on "Almost Home". I can even grant the belting he did on "Love Remembers" because at least it wasn't over-twangy.

[.indulgecountry]

Personally I find myself tolerating his lower grade songs a little more because I do enjoy his vocals so much. He's still, because of his inconsistency in material, not someone whose records I buy, but I definitely prefer hearing him on the radio than many of today's male vocalists. In a sense, he reminds me of Luke Bryan; a voice I can get behind and enjoy on certain songs, but never motivated to necessarily want an entire album of material.

And while there's no question that songs like "That's What I Love About Sunday," "This Ain't Nothin'," and A"lmost Home" are really his shining moments, I loved "This Ole Boy," for instance (that one had a really strong melody for me). So, I'm looking forward to how this will sound. The title, as jhomes87 mentioned, does sound at least more promising than some of his others have in recent years.

[kw9461]

Listen here

Not sure how I feel about this one. It starts out solid, but the chorus is way overproduced and Craig oversings to compensate. Still, the guy has a great set of pipes and I do like the verses. Going to have to hear it a few more times to really form an opinion.

[.indulgecountry]

I love the melody of the verses; the speedier lyrical delivery reminds me of "This Ole Boy," which I really enjoyed. And I like the chorus vocals a lot. He sounds really good, as he often does.

That said, I wanna know what idiot thought that the sound of an alarm clock was a good addition to this song. Seriously, that was a terrible and unnecessary addition. I don't mind sound effects in songs, and I even like them in certain situations, but an alarm clock? That's probably most people's least favorite sound to hear and I can't imagine someone will actually enjoy hearing that.

[Deleted]

This might get sent to radio on Monday, but it looks like Black River thought twice about sending it for adds on the 24th considering that there are a ton of other tunes going for adds that day. According to the R&R Going For Adds site, the new adds date is now July 8.

[Ten Pound Hammer]

Jun 19, 2013 22:27:10 GMT -5 .indulgecountry said:

That said, I wanna know what idiot thought that the sound of an alarm clock was a good addition to this song. Seriously, that was a terrible and unnecessary addition. I don't mind sound effects in songs, and I even like them in certain situations, but an alarm clock? That's probably most people's least favorite sound to hear and I can't imagine someone will actually enjoy hearing that.

Yankee Grey's "Another Nine Minutes", anyone?

[.indulgecountry]

Jun 21, 2013 1:38:08 GMT -5 Ten Pound Hammer said:

Yankee Grey's "Another Nine Minutes", anyone?

Never heard of him.

[Ten Pound Hammer]

Jun 21, 2013 1:44:41 GMT -5 .indulgecountry said:

Jun 21, 2013 1:38:08 GMT -5 Ten Pound Hammer said:

Yankee Grey's "Another Nine Minutes", anyone?

Never heard of him.

That's because there were six guys, not one: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_Grey

"All Things Considered" is one of my favorite 90s country songs, and "Another Nine Minutes" was great too. No idea why they didn't catch on.

[Deleted]

"All Things Considered" is an amazing song. I'd love it if we got a song similar to that one on today's radio. I don't have their album in my library but I always loved the lead singer's voice, and "All Things Considered" was a sizable hit in 1999. "Another Nine Minutes" peaked at #15; I vaguely remember hearing that one, although not nearly as much as I heard ATC.

[bigfan101]

Jun 21, 2013 2:02:54 GMT -5 jhomes87 said:

"All Things Considered" is an amazing song. I'd love it if we got a song similar to that one on today's radio. I don't have their album in my library but I always loved the lead singer's voice, and "All Things Considered" was a sizable hit in 1999. "Another Nine Minutes" peaked at #15; I vaguely remember hearing that one, although not nearly as much as I heard ATC.

If I remember correctly, the lead singer had severe vocal issues, and doctors would not give him clearance to sing anymore.

[Ten Pound Hammer]

^ They did two more singles for Monument that went nowhere. I remember "Untamed" getting a lot of play around here. I wonder why they couldn't keep momentum?

They did one album independently with the keyboardist singing lead, I think.

Anyway, back to Craig Morgan.

[churchchoir]

This song is nothing special...it's got a decent melody, but the lyrics do not stand out at all and I agree that the alarm clock is a major detractor. Craig needs something really different if he wants to return to relevance. I doubt this will do much on country radio. I say top 20 at best. I wonder if Black River will release a radio version without the alarm clock, because with how competitive the charts are and how PDs often look for excuses not to play music from the older artists, I can see a lot of stations refusing to play the song because, as .indulgecountry noted, the sound of an alarm clock is not a pleasant one for most people.

[goodsoul81]

[dajross6]

I actually like the alarm clock later in the song, and think it goes well with the "wake up" part of the song. I think this is going to be a slow mover up the chart into the top ten if not higher. It's been about 8 years since he released a song I really got behind (Redneck Yacht Club - don't judge me), but this sounds good on the radio. I'm a sucker for sing-songy verses though.

[Ten Pound Hammer]

I still think he's over-singing a little. There are a couple spots where does the overdone twang thing that he started doing on "Little Bit of Life". He gets a little belt-y on the chorus too, but at least here, it works from an emotional standpoint. In addition, this is a great lyric, and the production isn't distracting.

Seriously, though, why is he ALREADY releasing another greatest hits? This is worse than Tim McGraw releasing 47 Greatest Hits album, because Craig didn't even have enough hits to fill out the last Greatest Hits album.

[LBTrocks]

I really like this. His vocals are great, as usual, but maybe he tried a little too hard to implement powerhouse vocals here. The verse is borderline wordy and almost rap-like, which I don't care for, but overall the song is good. I think we can expect at least a top 20 while being cautiously optimistic for a top 10 with this one. Craig is extremely talented, so I'd like to see this do well for him.

[rsmatto]

Sept 8, 2013 1:50:08 GMT -5 Ten Pound Hammer said:

I still think he's over-singing a little. There are a couple spots where does the overdone twang thing that he started doing on "Little Bit of Life". He gets a little belt-y on the chorus too, but at least here, it works from an emotional standpoint. In addition, this is a great lyric, and the production isn't distracting.

Seriously, though, why is he ALREADY releasing another greatest hits? This is worse than Tim McGraw releasing 47 Greatest Hits album, because Craig didn't even have enough hits to fill out the last Greatest Hits album.

Licensing.

[.indulgecountry]

If #13 is as high as "This Ole Boy" managed to go, I don't think Top 10 is likely for this at all. I'd be surprised if this actually managed to go as far as Top 20, even. At best, I'm personally expecting a chart run and peak similar to "More Trucks Than Cars." This is a decent song (my main gripe with it is just the alarm clock sound, which is a terribly unnecessary addition), but Craig's star power isn't high enough to expect much more than that.

[.indulgecountry]

Dec 2, 2013 17:21:47 GMT -5 @countryfan72 said:

This is my favorite single from him since "Corn Star", but it's awful he can't get many hits anymore. I can't believe he only had 2 #1s. There's a bunch of songs from him that should have been #1!

Lol, he's only put out one single in between "Corn Star" and this. Oh, did "Redneck Yacht Club" get to No. 1 on Mediabase? I know on Billboard his only No. 1 remains "That's What I Love About Sunday."

[sabre14]

Dec 2, 2013 17:21:47 GMT -5 @countryfan72 said:

This is my favorite single from him since "Corn Star", but it's awful he can't get many hits anymore. I can't believe he only had 2 #1s. There's a bunch of songs from him that should have been #1!

I hope I am not alone here, but I thought "Corn Star" was Awful!!! I thought nothing would be as bad as "Bonfire", or "Still A Little Chicken", but that might have been.

As for "Wake Up Lovin You" I think Craig is more well equiped to sing this kind of song without me laughing at him (See above songs)

[Ten Pound Hammer]

^ I thought "Still a Little Chicken" had some good lyrics to make up for his screaming on that song.

[sabre14]

Dec 2, 2013 18:36:47 GMT -5 Ten Pound Hammer said:

^ I thought "Still a Little Chicken" had some good lyrics to make up for his screaming on that song.

Funny you should bring up screaming with "Still A Little Chicken", cause that's the biggest problem I had with "Bonfire". That song was the definition of annoying. And "Chicken" was so fast with the loudness of the vocals I couldn't understand half of it.

I do like "Wake Up Lovin You", but there are still traces of screaming in there...."I wake up lovin you, YEAHHH!!!"
To me the chorus would turn out better if it wasn't for that last part.

[Ten Pound Hammer]

"Love Remembers" was also a scream-fest, but I liked its lyrics.

I don't know why he thinks he has to belt in every song. His voice used to be quite restrained.

[.indulgecountry]

Dec 3, 2013 1:15:14 GMT -5 Ten Pound Hammer said:

"Love Remembers" was also a scream-fest, but I liked its lyrics.

I don't know why he thinks he has to belt in every song. His voice used to be quite restrained.

I don't think he belts too much (as in, in excess -- it's usually used effectively imo), and he has a fantastic voice, so why not?

[sabre14]

^ I personally would disagree his voice is fantastic. I always saw Craig as a good enough vocalist. I do agree with hammer that when he started out I didn't think there was anything unusual about his singing. But somewhere between "International Harvester" and "Love Remembers" it seems he tries to really stretch his voice when it doesn't have to be. All in All I still enjoy many of his songs over the years.

[Markus Meyer]

I've never thought of him as a great vocalist, but still very good.

I do think he sounds great here though, aside from the chorus which he stretches out when he doesn't have to.