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Post by bboat11 on Jan 6, 2022 22:24:03 GMT -5
Alright, I'm going to go ahead and reveal the 5 songs to miss the top 10!! I hope you're ready to kick off the top 15 with our first #1 loss...
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Post by bboat11 on Jan 6, 2022 22:28:06 GMT -5
15. "I'll Always Remember You"
Album: Here For A Good Time
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Post by bboat11 on Jan 6, 2022 22:35:16 GMT -5
And our first #1 loss unfortunately belongs to LBTrocks . Although he can rest easy knowing that it wasn't even really a top 15 contender until he and gardyfan got their hands on it, their consecutive top 2 ranks helping this one's staying power by quite a bit! "I'll Always Remember You" is an emotional tribute that George made for his fans to kick off his "is he going to retire?!?!" phase of his career, lmao. At the time of its release, this was just a touching tribute to his fans, but when he announced his retirement tour during the next album era, this became an absolute gut-wrencher (if you're anything like me...) Lmao I remember putting this on and crying in my dorm room when the Cowboy Rides Away tour was announced 😂 I love the sentiment, and I love the steel guitar, and I love the powerful chorus. It's a bit of a "novelty" song, by design, so I was not sure what to expect from it here, but I was not surprised to see it trending towards the back half of the rankdown... It's just a very niche listen, which makes it kinda difficult to rank alongside "regular" songs.
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Post by bboat11 on Jan 6, 2022 22:38:57 GMT -5
14. "You Don't Know What You're Missing"
Album: Love Is Everything
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Post by bboat11 on Jan 6, 2022 22:43:56 GMT -5
It's finally time for the first loss from Love Is Everything, the album that has been trouncing the competition thus far! This album is absolutely loaded with gems, and this is in my opinion one of the few "average" songs on the album, lol. It's basically the same premise as his 51st #1 hit "I Hate Everything", although with a less catchy hook and less memorable melody. So I may have ended up being the lowest ranker....but just wait till you see my ranks for the rest of the perfect songs on this album
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Post by bboat11 on Jan 6, 2022 22:46:45 GMT -5
13. "God And Country Music"
Album: Honky Tonk Time Machine
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Post by bboat11 on Jan 6, 2022 22:51:13 GMT -5
"God And Country Music" is one of the more buzz-worthy songs from George's newest album. You could even make an argument for it potentially belonging in a "singles" rankdown moreso than an album tracks one, as it was used as a promo song and even got performed at the CMAs, but since we don't have another one of those coming up anytime soon I decided this made sense. I really like the way this one builds. It's a pretty soft song overall, but it still becomes pretty stirring when George launches into the chorus. It tied with "You Don't Know What You're Missing", but managed to sneak ahead thanks to castleoblivion26's top 2 rank. LBTrocks, on the flipside, finally loses his last place.
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Post by bboat11 on Jan 6, 2022 22:55:22 GMT -5
12. "A Showman's Life" - ft. Faith Hill
Album: Here For A Good Time
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Post by bboat11 on Jan 6, 2022 23:03:54 GMT -5
The top 5 predictions are not off to as great of a start for .indulgecountry as the bottom 5 predictions were... "A Showman's Life" unfortunately bows out next at #12, leaving its parent album as the first album to only be down to one song remaining. How much longer can "Poison" last?! "A Showman's Life" is noteworthy for a few reasons. First of all, George managed to coax Faith Hill out of her house and into a recording studio for the first time in several years, temporarily interrupting her 'retirement'! (Actually this was right about the time she was hinting at a comeback, but then her new album Illusion ended up getting shelved and she disappeared again... RIP). Second of all, this was a Gary Allan cover, meaning some were already familiar with it. Third of all, it's just a damn good song in George's masterful hands! He has always had a knack for singing songs about washed up rodeo entertainers, a la "Amarillo By Morning", "Lonesome Rodeo Cowboy", "I Can Still Make Cheyenne", "I Ain't Her Cowboy Anymore", etc. This one fits perfectly right along all of those. Although in this case it has the added benefit of being a little more ambiguous, so you don't know it he's talking about a rodeo star, a musician, an actor, or some other high profile entertainment gig. Regardless of the context, the lyrics cut deep in their portrayal of the loneliness that can come from being loved by everybody. It would be really interesting to discover how many lyrics in this song George can relate to...
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Post by bboat11 on Jan 6, 2022 23:07:18 GMT -5
11. "It Was Love"
Album: Cold Beer Conversation
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Post by bboat11 on Jan 6, 2022 23:11:47 GMT -5
"It Was Love" pretty much immediately became one of the biggest fan favorites off of Cold Beer Conversation upon that album's surprise release, so I admit I was a bit surprised by its weak performance here. This song was barely even a top 15 contender until the final swath of lists brought it to just outside of the top 10. The chorus can be a bit monotonous and repetitive if you are not feeling it, so I can totally understand some of the lower ranks. Still, I expected this to be more of a top 10 contender! In the end, it only missed out on the coveted #10 spot, as well as the album track finale tracklist, by a single point...
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Post by bboat11 on Jan 6, 2022 23:14:20 GMT -5
Recap:
21. Blue Water (183)
20. House Across The Bay (182) 19. Old Violin (166) 18. Two More Wishes (164) 17. Rock Paper Scissors (156) 16. Shame On Me (138) 15. I'll Always Remember You (135) 14. You Don't Know What You're Missing (129) 13. God And Country Music (129) 12. A Showman's Life (117) 11. It Was Love (115)
The Top 10:
Everything I See Honky Tonk Time Machine Kicked Outta Country Poison Sittin’ On The Fence Some Nights Take Me To Texas That’s What Breaking Hearts Do When Love Comes Around Again When The Credits Roll
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.indulgecountry
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Post by .indulgecountry on Jan 6, 2022 23:42:22 GMT -5
Okay "Poison" is massively overstaying. I can't believe people like that one more than "A Showman's Life." 😑
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Post by tim on Jan 7, 2022 9:54:50 GMT -5
I was anticipating that "I'll Always Remember You" would bow out somewhere in the top 15 as I myself also found it a bit hard to rank. In regards to the song itself, @bboatt11 hit on all the points as it's both a sentimental and a niche listen all at the same time. While it didn't quite have the same impact on me initially like it did our host, I've found that in these last couple of years or so the song definitely is an emotional listen for myself as it takes me back from when I first saw him in concert in 1993 and all of the many miles I've traveled since going to his shows. I'm not at all surprised that Love Is Everything remained unscathed going into the top 15 as it's a great listen from front to back. Whenever I do happen to revisit the album, "You Don't Know What You're Missing" is for sure high up on that list as a must-listen and is one that I've long adored. Songs such as this one is what made this one of the harder decades to rank overall because I could've just as easily put this inside my top 10. I've also always thought of "God And Country Music" moreso as a single than an album track since it was a pre-release prior to the album coming out as well as George singing it at the ACMs that year (not the CMAs ). Had I seen the predictions prior to this getting an early start, I would've guessed this as a top 10 contender. The same goes for "A Showman's Life" as I thought that the addition of Faith Hill alone would propel this into the top 10. I too was already familiar with this song as I remember listening to Gary Allan's version quite a bit back in the day, but George's is of course my favorite of the two. I probably would've also predicted that "It Was Love" would be in the top 10 of only because it received quite a bit of fanfare when the album was initially released. I want to like this one more than I do, however, the loud production behind it holds the song back some for me and is what kept this down inside the middle of my rankings. As I and bboat11 have made reference to before, you could easily split George's lengthy career into thirds based on who his producer was at the time with Jimmy Bowen in the 80s, Tony Brown in the 90s and 00s, and finally Chuck Ainlay in the 10s. This song is a reflection and a perfect example of just that.
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Post by bboat11 on Jan 7, 2022 23:00:58 GMT -5
10. "Everything I See"
Album: Cold Beer Conversation
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.indulgecountry
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Post by .indulgecountry on Jan 7, 2022 23:04:45 GMT -5
Wow, not a good start to this top 10. This song is just MAGIC. Shame it didn't make it further.
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Post by tim on Jan 7, 2022 23:06:51 GMT -5
"Everything I See" far exceeded my expectations as I wouldn't have guessed for it to be a top 10 contender as I don't remember it necessarily being a favorite from the album. And despite me putting it just outside of my top 15, I'm happy to see it make it in as lyrically it's such a well-written song that George conveys with great emotion.
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Post by bboat11 on Jan 7, 2022 23:09:17 GMT -5
We kick off the top 10 with our second #1 loss, this time courtesy of George Strait Junkie . "Everything I See" was another immediate fan favorite from Cold Beer Conversation. It's a song dedicated to George's father in light of his passing. I do think some of the mentions of technology are a bit cheesy, like slipping a phone in his suit so that he could check out all the pictures that they are uploading in the "cloud" about all the stuff he would be missing out on but would have loved to be there for. That being said, the majority of the lines do hit hard, especially lines like, "I could send a picture of all the things you touched. To think a man who lead such a simple life could leave behind so much," "it's just a lot of little things, but they mean the world to me. Everywhere I look there's one more memory," etc. in the chorus. This one did well enough here to make it to the finale!! It will be interesting to see how well it stacks up against the fan faves of the '00s, '90s, and '80s!!!
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Post by bboat11 on Jan 7, 2022 23:10:32 GMT -5
"Everything I See" far exceeded my expectations as I wouldn't have guessed for it to be a top 10 contender as I don't remember it necessarily being a favorite from the album. And despite me putting it just outside of my top 15, I'm happy to see it make it in as lyrically it's such a well-written song that George conveys with great emotion. Lmao really? For once we're not on the same page!!!! I remember it being the most talked about song on the album, maybe second only to "It Was Love", lol.
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Post by bboat11 on Jan 7, 2022 23:14:39 GMT -5
9. "Kicked Outta Country"
Album: Strait Out Of The Box Pt. 2
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Post by tim on Jan 7, 2022 23:15:53 GMT -5
Lmao really? For once we're not on the same page!!!! I remember it being the most talked about song on the album, maybe second only to "It Was Love", lol. Yea, I just looked back and had forgotten that it made the top 3 in the album rankdown. For some reason it had just slipped my mind that this was a favorite.
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Post by tim on Jan 7, 2022 23:20:03 GMT -5
"Kicked Outta Country" was probably the hardest song for me to rank as I just have never felt compelled to revisit it much if at all. I've heard it come on the radio here locally in and around the Austin area and always enjoy hearing it, but again the desire to put it on myself just isn't there.
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.indulgecountry
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Post by .indulgecountry on Jan 7, 2022 23:21:13 GMT -5
"Kicked Outta Country" is an interesting song concept and pretty scathing lyric, but it's just kinda clunky? I just can't fully get into this one and it doesn't hold up with repeated listens.
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Post by bboat11 on Jan 7, 2022 23:24:24 GMT -5
This time it's gardyfan's turn for a #1 loss, as "Kicked Outta Country" gets kicked outta this rankdown... This song is basically a celebration of the fact that the spirit of country music doesn't live and die with radio, and George promises that he is going to continue to cement his legacy in the industry with or without radio's help! It is very interesting to hear the perspective of a veteran artist who is coming to terms with their age in an industry that is made for the young. The opening lines are very telling. "Just got the news today. The record I sent 'em, they threw it away. It don't make the format, don't make the list. They say I'm too old, won't even be missed." It really makes you wonder what stories George could tell if he wasn't such a private person. I doubt he has friction with his label home of like 40 years, but it wouldn't surprise me if he had started to encounter some resistance from radio people as he got older...
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Post by bboat11 on Jan 7, 2022 23:27:35 GMT -5
"Kicked Outta Country" is an interesting song concept and pretty scathing lyric, but it's just kinda clunky? I just can't fully get into this one and it doesn't hold up with repeated listens. I definitely agree with this overall. I think it makes for a really compelling song at first...but it's almost like it loses a bit of its edge by singing about Cash, Haggard, Jones, Waylon, Willie, etc. in the chorus. Like if it was just a first-person reflection on what it is like to age in this industry, that would have been a fascinating song! But talking about the Highwaymen tour like it was some big act of rebellion against an ageist industry isn't quite as effective as hearing about George's own experiences with radio people.
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Post by bboat11 on Jan 7, 2022 23:31:28 GMT -5
8. "Honky Tonk Time Machine"
Album: Honky Tonk Time Machine
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.indulgecountry
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Post by .indulgecountry on Jan 7, 2022 23:34:19 GMT -5
This is good, but was one of the weaker links in this top 10 for sure.
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Post by tim on Jan 7, 2022 23:34:54 GMT -5
"Honky Tonk Time Machine" is such a JAM and would've made for a great single back in the more modern times of George's career. I remember having this song on repeat when it was first released.
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Post by bboat11 on Jan 7, 2022 23:35:58 GMT -5
Next we oust the title track to George's most recent album, leaving it down to just one song! In fact, at this point, Honky Tonk Time Machine, Cold Beer Conversation, and Here For A Good Time are all down to just one song each, while Love Is Everything still has four 😂 It's safe to say which album is the Pulse fave from this decade! "Honky Tonk Time Machine" is quite a fun, energetic jam! I could hear George having a sizable hit with this at almost any point in his career. Maybe even a couple years ago, when they opted to go with "The Length Of The Nap" instead This one and "Some Nights" were RIGHT THERE!!!!!
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.indulgecountry
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Post by .indulgecountry on Jan 7, 2022 23:49:22 GMT -5
Next we oust the title track to George's most recent album, leaving it down to just one song! In fact, at this point, Honky Tonk Time Machine, Cold Beer Conversation, and Here For A Good Time are all down to just one song each, while Love Is Everything still has four 😂 It's safe to say which album is the Pulse fave from this decade!"Honky Tonk Time Machine" is quite a fun, energetic jam! I could hear George having a sizable hit with this at almost any point in his career. Maybe even a couple years ago, when they opted to go with "The Length Of The Nap" instead This one and "Some Nights" were RIGHT THERE!!!!! 6. Which album will be the last to still have multiple songs remaining? Love Is EverythingNot me slaying with my predictions AGAIN!
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