Sara Evans: A Real Fine Rankdown (Finished)

[zaclord 🌈]

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13

[Kanenrá:ke]

4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 18, 22

[fearlessarrow]

So "As If" gets robbed placing at #11 again (it peaked at #11 on country radio as most of you may know)...

[tim]

I’ve often wondered if “Cryin’ Game” would’ve done better as the second single following the title track versus being the lead single. None the less I’ve always really enjoyed this song and remember playing it over and over in my basement. Very happy to see this one slide into the top 15.

I admittedly wasn’t a big fan of “Coalmine” back when it was released, however my tune on this song has really changed since then. This song really is a surefire jam that builds up to that last minute when Sara and the band bring it home for an all out hoedown!

“Marquee Sign” is a song that had to grow on me because I couldn’t get past how I thought I didn’t like the vocal effects nor the overall production as it sounds really different from anything Sara has done before. I didn’t give this song its due diligence in the previous two rankdowns its been featured in but this time I decided to listen to it until I got past my preconceived notions. My ranking should be reflective of how I’ve changed my opinion of this song and I’ve come to really like the production and the overall mood it sets for it.

A bit of Born to Fly nostalgia always sets in when I hear “I Keep Looking” and whenever it occasionally comes on the radio I always have to turn it up a notch.

I’m very much ok with “As If” not making the top 10 as I honestly think I was a bit overgenerous in my ranking for it. I don’t remember hearing this song much locally in Austin and maybe for that reason I’ve just never warmed up to the song much.

As for the top 10 I have no idea how it’s going to go down but all I know is...

[Cody Wants Out...]

2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 16, 17.

Really likin' everything that's remaining, even though I suspect something in my top ten will win.

[.indulgecountry]

Thank you Kanenrá:ke for making Top 10 predictions! Those are always fun to see, so I'd like to see several more of you take a stab at guessing how things will play out before I can dig into more reveals later.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{Tags}bboat11
austin
tim
George Strait Junkie
Kanenrá:ke
BlueShades874
gardyfan
sabre14
LBTrocks
someguy
zaclord 🌈
@xfer
d3vin44
g8erboi
bigfan101
castleoblivion26
Troublemaker
Cody Wants Out...
kansasmeetsmo
dub
The Brazilian Guy 🇧🇷
ChicaCherry콜라
fearlessarrow
Leo ✔
wavey.
Zeebz
SHOOTER
.indulgecountry

[tim]

Ok if you insist .indulgecountry but doing these always make me anxious lol...

10. Saints & Angels
9. Cheatin’
8. No Place That Far
7. Backseat of a Greyhound Bus
6. Perfect
5. A Real Fine Place to Start
4. I Could Not Ask For More
3. Born to Fly
2. A Little Bit Stronger
1. Suds in the Bucket

[castleoblivion26]

Oct 29, 2018 21:02:56 GMT -5 .indulgecountry said:

Oct 29, 2018 20:58:16 GMT -5 castleoblivion26 said:

No I didn't dislike half the list. I think I enjoyed a few songs I don't normally care for when doing my list. My 20 I dislike the more I hear it though

I guess I'm not understanding because if you dislike your #20 and think #21 is terrible... then that means you ranked half the songs in this rankdown lower than both of those songs and thus must dislike them more, no?

I guess I'm wording this wrong. I never disliked my 20 until recently, and I mean after doing this rankdown. Not sure why but the last time I listened to it, this past weekend, I couldn't stand it. Not sure why that changed so much but my 47 and 20 would probably switch places if I were to do this now. I cannot explain it really other than I didn't like it this weekend.

As for my 21, I have never liked her version but I love the song itself. That being said I didn't really dislike it at all when I did my list and ended up putting it a lot higher than I thought I would. In fact I originally had it in last place but it has grown on me a lot. That being said I don't think it deserves a spot in the top 10 over some of the songs that just got eliminated.

Maybe someday "Coalmine" will grow on me but it hasn't yet.

My 47 is so low because of overplay honestly. I'd be happy never to hear it again, though I do like the song if that makes any sense.

I just don't make sense, just leave it at that lmao

[austin]

1 Real Fine Place
2 Suds
3 A Little Bit Stronger
4 I Could Not Ask For More
5 Saints & Angels
6 Born To Fly
7 Cheatin
8 Backseat of a Greyhound Bus
9 Perfect
10 No Place That Far

[Cody Wants Out...]

10. Cheatin'
9. No Place That Far
8. Saints & Angels
7. Backseat of a Greyhound Bus
6. I Could Not Ask For More
5. Perfect
4. A Little Bit Stronger
3. Suds in the Bucket
2. A Real Fine Place to Start
1. Born to Fly

[BlueShades874]

I didn't realize how far behind I got on this!

All the Love You Left Me – I really like this one. I know it never had a chance of doing well at radio, but this is one of my favorites on the Words album.

Low – This song has always just been very “meh” for me. I like the instrumentation and Sara sounds nice on it and all, but for some reason I just never went out of my way to listen to this one.

Anywhere – This one is catchy, but for some reason the lyrics just seemed so generic to me and it kind of killed the song for me. And the way she draws out “Aaaaaaanyyyyywhere” throughout the song was a little annoying. I think this is one of those songs that I wouldn’t like if it were sung by almost anyone else.

You’ll Always Be My Baby – When they released this one, I pretty much knew that New Hometown would never be a single and that upset me. I like this song pretty well though, but it seems to be one of her more forgettable singles that got a music video.

Three Chords and the Truth – I’m really surprised this one made it as high as it did. I guess I just assumed that it wouldn’t make it very high because it is from her debut album. But this was easily my favorite song from her first album.

My Heart Can’t Tell You No – I loved this song so much! I was wanting it to become a huge hit so bad and I was so bummed when it fell short of the top 20. This is still to this day one of my most listened to Sara songs.

Put My Heart Down – By this point the Slow Me Down era was so screwed up this one never stood a chance at radio. It’s a shame because had it been released in a timely manner I think this could have been a much bigger hit. It’s such a good song that never got the treatment it deserved.

Missing Missouri – Why was this never released as a single!? So many of Sara’s singles struggled on the charts, so when this one charted on unsolicited airplay I would have thought they would have released it. This one sounds like it would have easily been a big hit.

Slow Me Down – I remember when I first heard this one, the music intro was so unique and I absolutely loved it. Lyrically this isn’t one of my favorites, but musically I love it.

Cryin Game – I wonder why this one completely bombed on the charts…it was much more radio-friendly than anything else she released at that point of her career and was really catchy. Kind of an odd video, but one of her better songs on her second album.

Coalmine – I’ll be honest, I really don’t care for this one. I think I would like it a lot more if it were just an album track, but I hate how this got released as a single when New Hometown was begging to be released (I’ll always be bitter about that!) I still remember her ACM performance of this song. I don’t know what was wrong that night, she must have been sick or something, but she just sounded bad (plus she obviously flubbed the words and I think she got really nervous after that). Not to mention the awful timing of that Coal Mine tragedy that pretty much happened just after this was released to radio…

Marquee Sign – This is such a good song! It was unique-sounding while still being undeniably Sara Evans. I’m glad this one at least got a video, but I’m bummed that I never got to hear it on the radio. I played the crap out of this song last summer when it first came out.

I Keep Looking – After taking a several year break (because “country music wasn’t cool” my friends said in middle school) I began listening to country radio a lot around 2001 and I heard this song all the time. I’m surprised it didn’t finish in the top 10 (but then again it just missed my top 10 too) but this capped off a pretty perfect era. I think they hit a home run with the singles from that album and I wish I followed the charts back then so I could enjoy an era where Sara had four top 20s, three of them going top five.

As If – I couldn’t get as into this song as I wanted to, but I still remember being so bummed when it just barely missed the top 10! I don’t know how close it actually was to sneaking into the top 10, but I would guess it had to have been close.

[SHOOTER]

1-2-3-5-8-9-10-16-19-32

[.indulgecountry]

Oct 30, 2018 11:06:39 GMT -5 castleoblivion26 said:

Oct 29, 2018 21:02:56 GMT -5 .indulgecountry said:

I guess I'm not understanding because if you dislike your #20 and think #21 is terrible... then that means you ranked half the songs in this rankdown lower than both of those songs and thus must dislike them more, no?

I guess I'm wording this wrong. I never disliked my 20 until recently, and I mean after doing this rankdown. Not sure why but the last time I listened to it, this past weekend, I couldn't stand it. Not sure why that changed so much but my 47 and 20 would probably switch places if I were to do this now. I cannot explain it really other than I didn't like it this weekend.

As for my 21, I have never liked her version but I love the song itself. That being said I didn't really dislike it at all when I did my list and ended up putting it a lot higher than I thought I would. In fact I originally had it in last place but it has grown on me a lot. That being said I don't think it deserves a spot in the top 10 over some of the songs that just got eliminated.

Maybe someday "Coalmine" will grow on me but it hasn't yet.

My 47 is so low because of overplay honestly. I'd be happy never to hear it again, though I do like the song if that makes any sense.

I just don't make sense, just leave it at that lmao

Oh okay, well this makes more sense then. I'm used to LBTrocks saying stuff like "Man, this song is hot garbage!" when he ranked it somewhere in the middle and it actually does mean he hates everything below it. I blame him.

[bboat11]

I must say, this rankdown is going basically exactly how I expected it to! The only mild surprise is seeing "Saints & Angels" in the top 10, as that seems to be one of her more frequently under-appreciated hits. Also I wasn't sure "Cheatin'" would make it, since that song feels more forgotten than a lot of her top 10 hits do. I figured "As If" and "I Keep Looking" had just as good of a chance at making the top 10 as those two did. I do wish that "Perfect" wasn't quite so well loved, because I figured it had no chance of missing the top 10, but it is also one of her singles that I have gotten the most tired of through the years. Several of the songs that missed the top 10 ("Coalmine", "As If", "I Keep Looking", "Slow Me Down", "Marquee Sign", etc.) are better songs that may have just been a tad less popular. Still, I am as a whole very happy with this top 10!

Predictions:
10. "Cheatin'"
9. "Saints & Angels"
8. "Backseat Of A Greyhound Bus"
7. "Perfect"
6. "No Place That Far"
5. "Suds In The Bucket"
4. "I Could Not Ask For More"
3. "Born To Fly"
2. "A Real Fine Place To Start"
1. "A Little Bit Stronger"

Holy cow, this top 5 is absolutely untoppable. "Suds" even made the top 2 in a year-end rankdown, and yet there are enough other songs in this rankdown that could potentially outlast it that I would not even be surprised to see it miss the top 5 here... So many of these songs haven't even been in year-end rankdowns yet, so it is hard to say how they measure up! But I am SO excited to see how many of these manage to be top 5 finishers as we keep doing year-end rds from the early '00s and '10s  

[Zeebz]

@ “Coalmine” not making the top ten!!! I’ve always found it to be an underrated part of Sara’s catalogue, y’all did it dirty!

“I Keep Looking” is so wonderful and really just takes me back to my childhood. I underranked it a bit.

Not mad at this top ten though! Gonna hate to lose ‘em, but at least most of my top ten is represented here. :)

[LBTrocks]

Oct 30, 2018 17:25:06 GMT -5 .indulgecountry said:

Oct 30, 2018 11:06:39 GMT -5 castleoblivion26 said:

I guess I'm wording this wrong. I never disliked my 20 until recently, and I mean after doing this rankdown. Not sure why but the last time I listened to it, this past weekend, I couldn't stand it. Not sure why that changed so much but my 47 and 20 would probably switch places if I were to do this now. I cannot explain it really other than I didn't like it this weekend.

As for my 21, I have never liked her version but I love the song itself. That being said I didn't really dislike it at all when I did my list and ended up putting it a lot higher than I thought I would. In fact I originally had it in last place but it has grown on me a lot. That being said I don't think it deserves a spot in the top 10 over some of the songs that just got eliminated.

Maybe someday "Coalmine" will grow on me but it hasn't yet.

My 47 is so low because of overplay honestly. I'd be happy never to hear it again, though I do like the song if that makes any sense.

I just don't make sense, just leave it at that lmao

Oh okay, well this makes more sense then. I'm used to LBTrocks saying stuff like "Man, this song is hot garbage!" when he ranked it somewhere in the middle and it actually does mean he hates everything below it. I blame him.

[fearlessarrow]

Oct 30, 2018 13:24:05 GMT -5 BlueShades874 said:

As If – I couldn’t get as into this song as I wanted to, but I still remember being so bummed when it just barely missed the top 10! I don’t know how close it actually was to sneaking into the top 10, but I would guess it had to have been close.

I got curious and decided to dig in a bit. "As If" is one of my favorite Sara Evans songs so that's also another motivation, haha. It did reach top 10 on Mediabase, but that's due to how the recurrency rules work for the two charts.

	Billboard Hot Country Songs: 12/22/2007	Mediabase/Country Aircheck: 12/10/2007
1	"Our Song" - Taylor Swift	"Our Song" - Taylor Swift
2	"Firecracker" - Josh Turner	"Firecracker" - Josh Turner
3	"Don't Blink" - Kenny Chesney	"How 'Bout Them Cowgirls" - George Strait
4	"How 'Bout Them Cowgirls" - George Strait	"Stay" - Sugarland
5	"What Do Ya Think About That" - Montgomery Gentry	"What Do Ya Think About That" - Montgomery Gentry
6	"Stay" - Sugarland	"So Small" - Carrie Underwood
7	"More Than a Memory" - Garth Brooks	"Winner at a Losing Game" - Rascal Flatts
8	"Winner at a Losing Game" - Rascal Flatts	"Everybody" - Keith Urban
9	"Everybody" - Keith Urban"	"Fall" - Clay Walker
10	"So Small" - Carrie Underwood"	"As If" - Sara Evans
11	"As If" - Sara Evans	"Letter to Me" - Brad Paisley

Orange are songs that are only on Billboard and blue is the only song that is only on Mediabase. Clay Walker's "Fall" had just gone recurrent on Billboard that week after peaking at #7, but due to Mediabase's recurrent rules there's no way "Fall" would've gone recurrent on Mediabase. "As If" actually made the top 10 on Mediabase but fell short on Billboard because "Don't Blink" and "More Than a Memory" were falling really slowly, whereas on Mediabase it went recurrent this particular week since both songs were on its third straight consecutive week of negative bullets.

Interestingly enough, "As If" backed into #10 on MB as it did not have a bullet that week while the song retained its bullet on Billboard. The #10 song on Billboard, Carrie Underwood's "So Small", had 3449 spins and 25.276 million audience impressions on Mediabase and "As If" had 2788 spins and 21.768 million audience impressions, which leads me to think that "As If" wasn't that close to #10 on Billboard that week. Mediabase to Billboard conversions are always wonky, so it might actually have been close (the only way to know for sure is to pull out Billboard data). "As If" would go recurrent on Billboard and fell 10-11 on Mediabase the following week (still behind "So Small") for its final week on the chart.

I find it so funny that the two songs that hadn't gone recurrent on Billboard were Kenny Chesney and Garth Brooks, who our host and Sara Evans stan .indulgecountry hates.

[.indulgecountry]

I knew I had a valid reason for hating Kenny Crapney and Barf Brooks!

[BlueShades874]

Thanks for that, fearlessarrow! I completely forgot about More Than a Memory...I guess I try to block that out of my mind since it still aggravates me how they set that up to debut at #1, especially when it wasn't even that great of a song to begin with! And now I can say that one partially was the reason As If missed the top ten, more reason to dislike it haha.

[.indulgecountry]

Sorry for the delay in kicking off the top 10, but we start with the song that snuck in at the last minute with a 1-point lead over "As If." "Cheatin'" was the second single from Real Fine Place and remains one of Sara's most neotraditional hit singles, with one of her most deliciously twangy vocal performances to date and a production laced with ample steel guitar. The savage bridge/final verse (depending on how you look at the song -- its an unusual structure) is also one of her best moments on record lyrically. Ironically recorded not long before her messy divorce made headlines, the song became retroactively autobiographical, and for that reason, it seems Sara Evans has put this one out to pasture as she never performs it anymore and hasn't in a long time. Half of us lose a top 10 here, and while no one loses a bottom 10, a few close calls come to the tune of two #30 ranks.

"Now what became of whatshername
After she spent all your money
Did she leave you just like you left me
Sometimes life is funny
Yes I'll be glad to take you back
Just as soon as I stop breathing
Maybe you should have thought about that"

10. "Cheatin'"



Total Points: 371

George Strait Junkie : 3
Troublemaker : 3
wavey. : 5
.indulgecountry : 5
zaclord 🌈 : 5
sabre14 : 6
The Brazilian Guy 🇧🇷 : 6
kansasmeetsmo : 6
austin : 7
d3vin44 : 8
bboat11 : 9
castleoblivion26 : 9
SHOOTER : 9
someguy : 10
fearlessarrow : 10
Zeebz : 12
gardyfan : 15
bigfan101 : 16
Cody Wants Out... : 16
LBTrocks : 16
tim : 17
@xfer : 21
Leo ✔ : 21
Kanenrá:ke : 22
dub : 26
BlueShades874 : 28
g8erboi : 30
ChicaCherry콜라 : 30

[.indulgecountry]

Also enjoy this great live performance:



She sadly flubbed her CMA debut performance of this track, but she nails it here. Complete with her signature combo of fun hand gestures/throwin' her head back on the high notes that I love so much.

[Zeebz]

“Cheatin” was my favorite new discovery from this rankdown. It’s one of her finest moments. Honestly ranked it a tad low - would totally be in my top ten now.

[.indulgecountry]

This is one of her best vocal performances on record for me. I love how twangy she sounds here, especially the moment on "Too bad you don't have cable / How do you like that paper plate." I get chills. I wish it had been a much bigger hit!

[zaclord 🌈]

Oh my God "Cheatin'" is iconic. The "I'll be glad to take you back just as soon as I stop breathin'" line leaves me dead. Glad this made the top 10!

[.indulgecountry]

Up next we take our second hit out of the Restless era since we first lost "Tonight" way back at #28. Coming in ninth, we have the groovy summertime jam "Perfect," known for its noticeable use of cowbell, being one of her sexiest music videos, and for being the second half of the 1-2 punch that made me a Sara Evans stan when I was only ten years old (the first of course being "Backseat of a Greyhound Bus," which remains in the running). Over time, this one hasn't held up as one of my favorite of her hits, but I still love it and the nostalgia it brings for being the first music video of her's that I ever saw on GAC. This one skewed a little more polarizing than our last reveal as this one had more higher ranks in the top 5, but we also see two posters lose a bottom 10 with this reveal. Despite those two outliers, almost everyone else put this one in their top 20.

"You don't mind if I show up late for everthing
And when you lose your cool It's kinda cute to me
Ain't it nice to know that we don't have to be
Perfect"

9. "Perfect"



Total Points: 363

BlueShades874 : 2
ChicaCherry콜라 : 3
Kanenrá:ke : 4
sabre14 : 4
bigfan101 : 4
Cody Wants Out... : 4
castleoblivion26 : 5
d3vin44 : 6
someguy : 7
The Brazilian Guy 🇧🇷 : 8
SHOOTER : 8
austin : 9
zaclord 🌈 : 10
George Strait Junkie : 11
Troublemaker : 11
gardyfan : 12
kansasmeetsmo : 13
fearlessarrow : 13
tim : 14
Leo ✔ : 16
LBTrocks : 19
dub : 19
wavey. : 20
Zeebz : 22
.indulgecountry : 22
bboat11 : 26
@xfer : 35
g8erboi : 36

[ChicaCherry콜라]

“Perfect” is what made me a super fan of Sara’s. I knew of her and liked her music but I wasn’t a massive country fan until 2003/2004 when this song was everywhere on CMT and I was LIVING for it. Those years were perfection for country music and now this song has the best nostagic feel to it.

[zaclord 🌈]

Oh, good! I'm a little surprised to see this one out already, but I like most of the top 10 more than it. Still an awesome song

[.indulgecountry]

Since entering the top 10, we've seen back-to-back eliminations for second singles from Sara Evans albums... and that trend continues here as we see the loss of "I Could Not Ask for More" from Born to Fly. A cover of Edwin McCain's successful adult contemporary smash from a few years prior, Sara turned this song into one of her own biggest hits, even eclipsing his version's Hot 100 peak. She was kept from hitting #1 by Lonestar, but this remains one of her biggest hits and a favorite concert staple at her shows. It also lives on as a popular country music wedding selection, and is memorable for its music video filmed at White Sands National Monument. It received only one bottom 10 rank here, while everyone else had this in their top 20 or just outside it, indicating it has a pretty general favorable opinion. For the first time in a few reveals, we do see someone lose a #1 placement here, with this time it being at bboat11's expense.

"Lying here with you
Listening to the rain
Smile just to see the smile upon your face
These are the moments I thank God that I'm alive
And these are the moments I'll remember all my life
I've found all I've waited for
And I could not ask for more"

8. "I Could Not Ask for More"



Total Points: 357

bboat11 : 1
zaclord 🌈 : 4
kansasmeetsmo : 5
The Brazilian Guy 🇧🇷 : 5
dub : 7
sabre14 : 7
Cody Wants Out... : 8
ChicaCherry콜라 : 8
LBTrocks : 9
d3vin44 : 9
bigfan101 : 9
BlueShades874 : 10
Zeebz : 10
SHOOTER : 10
austin : 11
.indulgecountry : 12
gardyfan : 13
fearlessarrow : 15
Leo ✔ : 15
tim : 15
Kanenrá:ke : 18
someguy : 19
George Strait Junkie : 20
Troublemaker : 20
castleoblivion26 : 21
g8erboi : 22
wavey. : 23
@xfer : 36

[.indulgecountry]

One of her best live performances:



And one with Adam Levine of Maroon 5 for CMT Crossroads:

[zaclord 🌈]

Rude. ICNAFM is so freakin' good. How did I only rank it at #4!? :(