The Big One - A George Strait Rankdown (Revealing)

[bboat11]

You just might miss the point

If you don’t slow down the pace.

Life’s not the breaths you take,

But the moments that take your breath away.

89. "The Breath You Take"

Album: Twang
Year: 2010





Total: 1394
Average: 69.70
Std Dev: 27.61


DistrictTwelve - 2
CoJoFan - 35
Cody Wants Out... - 43
@adam1995 - 44
zaclord 🌈 - 46
castleoblivion26 - 52
LBTrocks - 52
fearlessarrow - 54
countrymusicjunkie - 66
tim - 69
mamasaid - 77
sabre14 - 89
codyj100 - 90
BackwoodsBarbie - 92
carriekins - 95
.indulgecountry - 96
George Strait Junkie - 97
bboat11 - 98
gardyfan - 98
Kanenrá:ke - 99




In direct contrast to the last song, I am beyond shocked at the LACK of hate that this song received! This has always been one of George's very worst singles to me, and I figured it had a strong chance of being #100. However, it was barely even a bottom-10 contender! This #89 finish is actually quite surprising, considering it was close to escaping the bottom 20 only 2 submissions ago!

Also, this is another song that managed to speak to our newfound country fan, DistrictTwelve , as he placed it at #2 I'm sorry, man! I promise there are plenty of songs you ranked high that will do very well!

[bboat11]

I should also point out that with this elimination, Twang is the first album to lose multiple songs!

[bboat11]

I have some more thoughts on "The Breath You Take". The thing is, it is not a bad song by any means. It was just a horrible single. The melody and instrumentation are SO subdued, in a way that can easily be found boring. On 2010 country radio, this was a song that was very obviously not going to be a hit unless a huge star sang it, and George had no business releasing a song like that at that point in his career, as an almost-60-year-old. Even though this ended up being a top 10 hit for him, I remember it absolutely crawling up the charts, which was very uncharacteristic for a George Strait song (I mean, you don't get 60 #1 hits in 30 years by having your songs spend 30+ weeks on the chart). It was pretty plain that this album was when radio kinda started jumping ship on George, and this song felt to me like a final nail in the coffin.

Twang is one of my least favorite modern George albums, but it did have several better single options than this song. "Easy As You Go" especially had a ton of acclaim surrounding the release of the album! "Arkansas Dave" also got a lot of publicity as well. And "He's Got That Something Special" sounded really radio-friendly. Hell, even if they wanted to keep a similar theme to TBYT, "Where Have I Been All My Life" would have been a better choice. That being said, after "Living For The Night" barely missed #1, there was pretty much nothing else on this album that sounded like it was going to be able to get there, so the result on George's career might have been the same whether he had released "The Breath You Take" or not. Still, I think I would like the song a lot more today if it had remained an album track. Hearing it 10+ times per day on the radio REALLY caused it to burn on me.

[carriekins]

I like the idea of The Breath You Take way more than I enjoy the execution...which is saying a lot, considering this is King George we're talking about.

I had NO IDEA that Lovebug was so polarizing. I adore that song - so many fun HS memories tied to it!!! Definitely sad to see it go.

[LBTrocks]

"Lovebug" is a jam. The melody and instrumentation is SO 90s lol I love it.

"The Breath You Take" is beautiful in the verse. LOVE the instrumentation. The chorus isn't as good, but still enjoyable.

[countrymusicjunkie]

"The Breath You Take" isn't necessarily bad, I actually like the lyrics, but it's just so slow and boring.

[bboat11]

My heart’s been on a long vacation,

But now it’s beatin’ like a cha cha cha.

Don’t make me come over there and love you,

‘Cause I will right now.

88. "Don't Make Me Come Over There And Love You"

Album: George Strait
Year: 2000

Total: 1381
Average: 69.05
Std Dev: 27.14


castleoblivion26 - 21
George Strait Junkie - 31
Cody Wants Out... - 33
LBTrocks - 34
.indulgecountry - 38
fearlessarrow - 42
bboat11 - 57
carriekins - 67
Kanenrá:ke - 68
CoJoFan - 70
BackwoodsBarbie - 76
gardyfan - 82
@adam1995 - 86
codyj100 - 91
tim - 94
zaclord 🌈 - 96
sabre14 - 97
mamasaid - 99
DistrictTwelve - 99
countrymusicjunkie - 100




Okay, this is another song for which I have REALLY never understood the hate. I find this song to be a total jam! It is amazing, and it isn't even plagued with outdated production to the same extent that "Lovebug" was! I knew I liked this song better than many people, but I am still disappointed by the overall large amount of dislike. I think even somewhere in the 70s would have been a more appropriate placement for this song than the low 80s... Fortunately it escaped the bottom 10 with the last few submissions!

castleoblivion26 loses yet another top 40, this time narrowly hanging onto his top 20. On the flipside, countrymusicjunkie loses his #100, while mamasaid and DistrictTwelve lose their 99s.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
A Fire I Can’t Put Out
Ace In The Hole
Adalida
All My Ex’s Live In Texas
Am I Blue
Amarillo By Morning
Baby Blue
Baby’s Gotten Good At Goodbye
Blue Clear Sky
Carried Away
Carrying Your Love With Me
Check Yes Or No
Cold Beer Conversation
Cowboys Like Us
Desperately
Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind
Drinkin’ Man
Easy Come, Easy Go
Famous Last Words Of A Fool
Fool Hearted Memory
Give It All We Got Tonight
Give It Away
Go On
Goin’ Goin’ Gone
Gone As A Girl Can Get
Heartland
Here For A Good Time
How ‘Bout Them Cowgirls
I Can Still Make Cheyenne
I Cross My Heart
I Got A Car
I Gotta Get To You
I Hate Everything
I Just Want To Dance With You
I Know She Still Loves Me
I Saw God Today
I’d Like To Have That One Back
I’ve Come To Expect It From You
If I Know Me
If You Ain’t Lovin’ (You Ain’t Livin’)
If You Can Do Anything Else
If You’re Thinking You Want A Stranger
It Ain’t Cool To Be Crazy About You
It Just Comes Natural
King Of The Mountain
Lead On
Let’s Fall To Pieces Together
Living And Living Well
Living For The Night
Love Without End, Amen
Love’s Gonna Make It Alright
Marina Del Rey
Meanwhile
Murder On Music Row
Nobody In His Right Mind Would’ve Left Her
Ocean Front Property
One Night At A Time
Right Or Wrong
Round About Way
Run
She Let Herself Go
She’ll Leave You With A Smile
So Much Like My Dad
Tell Me Something Bad About Tulsa
Texas
The Best Day
The Big One
The Chair
The Chill Of An Early Fall
The Cowboy Rides Away
The Fireman
The Man In Love With You
The Seashores Of Old Mexico
Today My World Slipped Away
Troubadour
True
Unwound
We Really Shouldn’t Be Doing This
What Do You Say To That
What’s Going On In Your World
When Did You Stop Loving Me
Wrapped
Write This Down
You Can’t Make A Heart Love Somebody
You Know Me Better Than That
You Look So Good In Love
You’ll Be There

[zaclord 🌈]

This rankdown is going splendidly so far.

[DistrictTwelve]

Dec 9, 2017 21:28:23 GMT -5 zaclord 🌈 said:

This rankdown is going splendidly so far.

lol. Oh how I wish I could say the same.

[LBTrocks]

I just really love the melody of "Don't Make Me Come Over There and Love You" lol.

[bboat11]

Dec 9, 2017 21:44:22 GMT -5 LBTrocks said:

I just really love the melody of "Don't Make Me Come Over There and Love You" lol.

I know! It's so amazing! I knew it wasn't very well liked, so I figured it would be pretty low, but I literally have no idea why...

[castleoblivion26]

Dec 9, 2017 21:28:23 GMT -5 zaclord 🌈 said:

This rankdown is going splendidly so far.

>

[countrymusicjunkie]

"Don't Make Me Come Over There And Love You" is just so bad. I thought for sure it would be in the bottom 5.

[Cody Wants Out...]

I should've known that I'd lose a couple of top 50s at this point. I guess I'll go crawl into my bed and do this:

[.indulgecountry]

"Don't Make Me Come Over There and Love You" was robbed! Waaaayyyyy too low!

But at least "The Breath You Take" is out. I'm shocked that horrendous song escaped bottom 10. :X

[BackwoodsBarbie]

Lovebug - this song is anything but earcandy... One of the few songs in this rankdown that I don't want to hear again.

The Breath You Take - I really wanted to like this song because I like the idea behind it. I usually like slow songs but this one is just too slow and also boring on top of that.

[tim]

Dec 9, 2017 21:27:15 GMT -5 bboat11 said:

My heart’s been on a long vacation,

But now it’s beatin’ like a cha cha cha.

Don’t make me come over there and love you,

‘Cause I will right now.

88. "Don't Make Me Come Over There And Love You"

Album: George Strait
Year: 2000

Total: 1381
Average: 69.05
Std Dev: 27.14

tim - 94
LBTrocks - 94
zaclord 🌈 - 96
sabre14 - 97
mamasaid - 99
DistrictTwelve - 99
countrymusicjunkie - 100

Someone forgot to tag me in this one...so I corrected it lol!

I don't really dislike this song per se, but it has easily always been one of my least favorite singles from George. I did enjoy his CMA performance of this song, however, as you can see he was having a good time singing it. I just never could quite get into this one. George Strait is probably one of my least favorite albums from George overall as it came in a year when country music seemed to be in a state of flux about where it was going into the new millennium.

[George Strait Junkie]

have to share these with ya'll man the king can sing anything





just one question why wasn't this a hit single what a song one of my favorites of his this song i would put in my 10 of his songs

[bboat11]

Dec 10, 2017 20:50:36 GMT -5 tim said:

Dec 9, 2017 21:27:15 GMT -5 bboat11 said:

My heart’s been on a long vacation,

But now it’s beatin’ like a cha cha cha.

Don’t make me come over there and love you,

‘Cause I will right now.

88. "Don't Make Me Come Over There And Love You"

Album: George Strait
Year: 2000

Total: 1381
Average: 69.05
Std Dev: 27.14

tim - 94
LBTrocks - 94
zaclord 🌈 - 96
sabre14 - 97
mamasaid - 99
DistrictTwelve - 99
countrymusicjunkie - 100

Someone forgot to tag me in this one...so I corrected it lol!

I don't really dislike this song per se, but it has easily always been one of my least favorite singles from George. I did enjoy his CMA performance of this song, however, as you can see he was having a good time singing it. I just never could quite get into this one. George Strait is probably one of my least favorite albums from George overall as it came in a year when country music seemed to be in a state of flux about where it was going into the new millennium.

Looks like I tagged LBTrocks twice! His actual rank was #34, and then you came right after him in the submissions but for whatever reason I typed his name again. Fixed it now :)

[bboat11]

Hey guys! This past week has been kinda busy for me with the PMAs going on, and now getting caught up with my life the last couple days, but this rankdown will be resuming tomorrow if it's the last thing I do!

[bboat11]

Ain't got no 401,

Ain't got no benefits

They don't hand out stock options,

Not down here in the pits.

87. "Goin' Goin' Gone"

Album: Cold Beer Conversation
Year: 2016





Total: 1368
Average: 68.40
Std. Dev: 28.85

DistrictTwelve - 6
George Strait Junkie - 10
castleoblivion26 - 28
.indulgecountry - 44
zaclord 🌈 - 50
gardyfan - 53
LBTrocks - 62
Kanenrá:ke - 62
sabre14 - 68
codyj100 - 78
carriekins - 80
BackwoodsBarbie - 80
mamasaid - 85
countrymusicjunkie - 86
tim - 90
fearlessarrow - 90
CoJoFan - 98
bboat11 - 99
@adam1995 - 99
Cody Wants Out... - 100



With this song, George's newest album also takes a second loss, meaning the title track "Cold Beer Conversation" is all that is left. Since this song was also treated as a single for the Strait Out of the Box Part 2 project, that set completely loses its singles here. Meanwhile both singles from the first Strait Out of the Box project remain intact!

This song was a #100 contender towards the beginning, but .indulgecountry 's high placement almost singlehandedly launched the song out of the bottom 10, and it never looked back. Cody Wants Out... loses a #100 here, while myself and @adam1995 both lose our 99s. On the flipside, DistrictTwelve and George Strait Junkie both accumulate yet another top 10 loss each.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
A Fire I Can’t Put Out
Ace In The Hole
Adalida
All My Ex’s Live In Texas
Am I Blue
Amarillo By Morning
Baby Blue
Baby’s Gotten Good At Goodbye
Blue Clear Sky
Carried Away
Carrying Your Love With Me
Check Yes Or No
Cold Beer Conversation
Cowboys Like Us
Desperately
Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind
Drinkin’ Man
Easy Come, Easy Go
Famous Last Words Of A Fool
Fool Hearted Memory
Give It All We Got Tonight
Give It Away
Go On
Gone As A Girl Can Get
Heartland
Here For A Good Time
How ‘Bout Them Cowgirls
I Can Still Make Cheyenne
I Cross My Heart
I Got A Car
I Gotta Get To You
I Hate Everything
I Just Want To Dance With You
I Know She Still Loves Me
I Saw God Today
I’d Like To Have That One Back
I’ve Come To Expect It From You
If I Know Me
If You Ain’t Lovin’ (You Ain’t Livin’)
If You Can Do Anything Else
If You’re Thinking You Want A Stranger
It Ain’t Cool To Be Crazy About You
It Just Comes Natural
King Of The Mountain
Lead On
Let’s Fall To Pieces Together
Living And Living Well
Living For The Night
Love Without End, Amen
Love’s Gonna Make It Alright
Marina Del Rey
Meanwhile
Murder On Music Row
Nobody In His Right Mind Would’ve Left Her
Ocean Front Property
One Night At A Time
Right Or Wrong
Round About Way
Run
She Let Herself Go
She’ll Leave You With A Smile
So Much Like My Dad
Tell Me Something Bad About Tulsa
Texas
The Best Day
The Big One
The Chair
The Chill Of An Early Fall
The Cowboy Rides Away
The Fireman
The Man In Love With You
The Seashores Of Old Mexico
Today My World Slipped Away
Troubadour
True
Unwound
We Really Shouldn’t Be Doing This
What Do You Say To That
What’s Going On In Your World
When Did You Stop Loving Me
Wrapped
Write This Down
You Can’t Make A Heart Love Somebody
You Know Me Better Than That
You Look So Good In Love
You’ll Be There

[bboat11]

"Goin' Goin' Gone" is a decent song, but something about the phrasing and melody of the chorus has always bothered me. Plus I am super confused about the fact that it was a single, because literally all the best songs on Cold Beer Conversation got slept on... Throughout George's career there have been great album tracks that missed out on radio quite frequently, but it hasn't been for lack of quality of his single selections, so it is hard to be bitter about them. But this entire last era was a mess...

Ugh, I am listening to "It Was Love" right now and imagining what might have been...

[George Strait Junkie]

man how can anybody not like this song its so damn good my second favorite on that album after "Everything I See"

[bboat11]

Album Spotlight: Strait Out Of The Box Part 2

Released: November 18, 2016

Label: MCA Nashville

Producer: Tony Brown, George Strait, Chuck Ainlay

Runtime: ??

Country Albums Chart: 3
Certification: None

Tracklist:
Disc 1:
1. Blue Clear Sky
2. Carried Away
3. Rockin' In The Arms Of Your Memory
4. I Can Still Make Cheyenne
5. Round About Way
6. Carrying Your Love With Me
7. One Night At A Time
8. Today My World Slipped Away
9. The Nerve
10. I Just Want To Dance With You
11. True
12. Maria
13. We Really Shouldn't Be Doing This
14. Meanwhile
15. Write This Down
16. The Best Day
17. Looking Out My Window Through The Pain
18. Go On

Disc 2:
1. She'll Leave You With a Smile
2. Run
3. Living And Living Well
4. My Life's Been Grand
5. Cowboys Like Us
6. Desperately
7. Four Down And Twelve Across
8. I Hate Everything
9. The Seashores Of Old Mexico
10. She Let Herself Go
11. Give It Away
12. Wrapped
13. It Just Comes Natural
14. Texas Cookin'
15. How 'Bout Them Cowgirls
16. Come On Joe
17. Troubadour
18. River Of Love
19. I Saw God Today

Disc 3:
1. Living For The Night
2. Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind
3. Arkansas Dave
4. Love's Gonna Make It Alright
5. Drinkin' Man
6. Shame On Me
7. Here For A Good Time
8. House Across The Bay
9. Blue Marlin Blues
10. I'll Always Remember You
11. Give It All We Got Tonight
12. I Just Can't Go On Dying Like This
13. That's What Breaking Hearts Do
14. The Night Is Youn
15. I Believe
16. Goin' Goin' Gone
17. Everything I See
18. Kicked Outta Country
19. You Gotta Go Through Hell


Album Tracks:





This album, which is technically Strait's most recent release, is a collection of songs from the second half of his career. It is a sequel to his 1995 boxed set Strait Out Of The Box, which included songs from the first half of his career (1981-1995). That last boxed set was an incredible release, because it included a booklet with all kinds of details about the recording process of those songs and stories of George's career up to that point, as well as all the hits, several of the best album tracks, a couple new songs, and several songs that George had recorded but never released.

After how amazing the first set was, I have to admit that I was incredibly disappointed in this second one... "Goin' Goin' Gone" was treated as the "single" for the project, despite technically being the 3rd single from Cold Beer Conversation, which means that neither of the songs which were actually new to this set (both highlighted above) got to be singles. The entire thing was about 1 disc short to be able to appropriately honor the second half of George's career, so many noteworthy album tracks and even a few singles got left off. To make matters worse, when album tracks were included, many of them were the worst song on their respective albums... No previously unreleased songs that never made an album were included. As the final straw, this box did NOT come with a book talking about the songs and George's career... It was literally underwhelming in every sense of the word.

However, both of the brand new songs here are simply incredible! "Kicked Outta Country" was a song that George wrote with Jamie Johnson, basically talking about how radio was starting to phase George out and put a fork in his career, and the end product is amazing! And "You Gotta Go Through Hell" is pretty strong as well, although not quite as epic as the former. It's a shame that "Kicked Outta Country" didn't even get released to radio, because it could have potentially done much better (as a lead single to a new project) than "Goin' Goin' Gone" did (as a 3rd single to a project that had already flopped and then lazily slapped onto the boxed set and called a single even though it had already failed at radio).

[bboat11]

Tell me something bad about Tulsa,

So I won't have to go back believing I belong there again.

86. "Tell Me Something Bad About Tulsa"

Album: Honkytonkville
Year: 2003





Total: 1365
Average: 68.25
Std Dev: 23.19


mamasaid - 18
.indulgecountry - 37
DistrictTwelve - 39
countrymusicjunkie - 45
sabre14 - 45
CoJoFan - 55
Cody Wants Out... - 59
zaclord 🌈 - 60
BackwoodsBarbie - 64
bboat11 - 67
George Strait Junkie - 74
Kanenrá:ke - 78
gardyfan - 80
fearlessarrow - 83
tim - 86
@adam1995 - 90
carriekins - 93
codyj100 - 96
LBTrocks - 97
castleoblivion26 - 99





Finishing off the bottom 15, we say goodbye to the lead single of the Honkytonkville era, "Tell Me Something Bad About Tulsa". And I am not surprised to see this one go now, even though I ranked it almost 20 positions higher personally. This song peaked at #11, which was a major underperformance for George in the early 2000s. Coming off of the massive trifecta of "Run", "Living And Living Well", and "She'll Leave You With a Smile", he undoubtedly had a ton of momentum leading into the Honkytonkville project. Why "Tulsa" was chosen as the lead single is beyond me, because it is a slow boring ballad that does not sound like a hit in any way, shape, or form. And it set the tone for the rest of the album, because this became his first album since his debut to not have a #1 single (although "Cowboys Like Us" came VERY close).

Anyway, I really like "Tell Me Something Bad About Tulsa", but I wish it had not been chosen as a single. Almost anything from the album would have made a better lead single... They probably should have just cut right to the chase and released "Cowboys Like Us" first, because that definitely became the definitive hit from the album, and would have probably gone #1. "Honk If You Honky Tonk" also seemed to be a fan favorite, that I was shocked to see was never released as a single.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
A Fire I Can’t Put Out
Ace In The Hole
Adalida
All My Ex’s Live In Texas
Am I Blue
Amarillo By Morning
Baby Blue
Baby’s Gotten Good At Goodbye
Blue Clear Sky
Carried Away
Carrying Your Love With Me
Check Yes Or No
Cold Beer Conversation
Cowboys Like Us
Desperately
Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind
Drinkin’ Man
Easy Come, Easy Go
Famous Last Words Of A Fool
Fool Hearted Memory
Give It All We Got Tonight
Give It Away
Go On
Gone As A Girl Can Get
Heartland
Here For A Good Time
How ‘Bout Them Cowgirls
I Can Still Make Cheyenne
I Cross My Heart
I Got A Car
I Gotta Get To You
I Hate Everything
I Just Want To Dance With You
I Know She Still Loves Me
I Saw God Today
I’d Like To Have That One Back
I’ve Come To Expect It From You
If I Know Me
If You Ain’t Lovin’ (You Ain’t Livin’)
If You Can Do Anything Else
If You’re Thinking You Want A Stranger
It Ain’t Cool To Be Crazy About You
It Just Comes Natural
King Of The Mountain
Lead On
Let’s Fall To Pieces Together
Living And Living Well
Living For The Night
Love Without End, Amen
Love’s Gonna Make It Alright
Marina Del Rey
Meanwhile
Murder On Music Row
Nobody In His Right Mind Would’ve Left Her
Ocean Front Property
One Night At A Time
Right Or Wrong
Round About Way
Run
She Let Herself Go
She’ll Leave You With A Smile
So Much Like My Dad
Texas
The Best Day
The Big One
The Chair
The Chill Of An Early Fall
The Cowboy Rides Away
The Fireman
The Man In Love With You
The Seashores Of Old Mexico
Today My World Slipped Away
Troubadour
True
Unwound
We Really Shouldn’t Be Doing This
What Do You Say To That
What’s Going On In Your World
When Did You Stop Loving Me
Wrapped
Write This Down
You Can’t Make A Heart Love Somebody
You Know Me Better Than That
You Look So Good In Love
You’ll Be There

[.indulgecountry]

I hate that everyone dislikes "Tulsa." It's a good song. :(

[DistrictTwelve]

Yeah more George Strait reveals! 'Goin' Goin' Gone' was a very solid song at first listen hence my ranking. Sad to see it out here, but I have basically gotten used to the onslaught directed to me by this rankdown lol. Having fun though!

[CoJoFan]

Was Honkytonkville the album with the song “Stars On The Water”? If so it was a favorite of mine on that album. I can’t remember if it was on that album or The Road Less Traveled album.

[CoJoFan]

Dec 13, 2017 18:32:49 GMT -5 .indulgecountry said:

I hate that everyone dislikes "Tulsa." It's a good song. :(

I don’t dislike any George Strait song. I just had others I liked better.

[Cody Wants Out...]

Dec 13, 2017 18:32:49 GMT -5 .indulgecountry said:

I hate that everyone dislikes "Tulsa." It's a good song. :(

I like "Tulsa" too. There's just over 50 others I like better, though.