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Post by tim on May 11, 2021 19:03:39 GMT -5
"The Road Less Traveled" has and always will be one of my all-time favorite album tracks from George's entire career (and looking at my last.fm stats it's actually in my top 10 most played George Strait songs of all time!). This was always going to be at the top of my list for this decade and so I'm just happy to see that it was at least able to make the top 10 here as well. I'm not surprised though that this ended up coming in as the most polarizing song of the rankdown as I likely would've made that prediction had it been one of the questions.
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Post by bboat11 on May 11, 2021 19:04:14 GMT -5
"Texas" stands out on this list because it was actually a top 35 hit....based purely on unsolicited airplay!!! Radio wanted this song, especially Texas radio, but for some reason George's team never officially gave it to them. Based on its stature as an album-track-that-was-basically-a-hit, it is totally fitting that it should end up in the top 10 here! I had it in my own bottom 7 because I have no personal connection to Texas Pride types of songs, and I have always found the title track to be the better Texas Pride song on this album. Still, I am glad to see it have such a strong showing! (Especially for ClevelandRox, who got to see his #1 last quite a bit longer than he was expecting!!!)
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Post by tim on May 11, 2021 19:05:53 GMT -5
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Post by tim on May 11, 2021 19:09:12 GMT -5
"Texas" stands out on this list because it was actually a top 35 hit....based purely on unsolicited airplay!!! Radio wanted this song, especially Texas radio, but for some reason George's team never officially gave it to them. I still hear this quite regularly down here in Texas, although that likely doesn't come as a surprise to y'all lol. I'm not sure why they never released it to radio, but I'm sure George and MCA were just a bit hesitant sending a song such as this one out nationally.
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Post by bboat11 on May 11, 2021 19:09:17 GMT -5
6. "If The Whole World Was A Honky Tonk"
Album: Somewhere Down In Texas
Total: 164 Average: 13.67 Std Dev: 6.68Cody Wants Out... - 1 gonecountry - 7 George Strait Junkie - 7 tim - 10 castleoblivion26 - 12 LBTrocks - 13 ClevelandRox - 15 gardyfan - 18 kw9461 - 18 .indulgecountry - 19 bboat11 - 19 taylor - 25 {Songs Remaining} Designated Drinker Honk If You Honky Tonk I Ain’t Her Cowboy Anymore If It’s Gonna Rain Murder On Music Row
Songs Per Album:
George Strait: (1/5) If It's Gonna Rain
The Road Less Traveled: (0/5)
Honkytonkville: (1/5) Honk If You Honky Tonk
Somewhere Down In Texas: (0/5)
It Just Comes Natural: (1/5) I Ain't Her Cowboy Anymore
Troubadour: (0/5)
Twang: (0/5)
Extras: 2/2 Murder On Music Row - ft. Alan Jackson Designated Drinker - Alan Jackson ft. George
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Cody Wants Out...
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Post by Cody Wants Out... on May 11, 2021 19:09:56 GMT -5
Slightly fun fact: I initially had "The Road Less Traveled" as my #1 before making multiple revisions to my list. Beyond surprised to see my #1 still in btwSpoke too soon
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Post by tim on May 11, 2021 19:13:27 GMT -5
"If The Whole World Was A Honky Tonk" has also always been one of my favorites from this particular decade and is such a fun song to kickoff an album with. Speaking of, Somewhere Down In Texas has held up incredibly well and is much more of a consistent album than I ever remember giving it credit for. I always thought this would've been a great choice for a single as well, but George was really pushing for "The Seashores of Old Mexico" and that is what MCA went with for the third and final single.
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Post by bboat11 on May 11, 2021 19:14:17 GMT -5
And it's back-to-back losses for the Somewhere Down In Texas album, taking it directly from being the last album with multiple songs remaining to being the next album to be eliminated! "If The Whole World Was A Honky Tonk" is in a similar boat to "She Used To Say That To Me" in my mind. As in, it could have literally finished anywhere in the top 30 and I would have been like "This makes sense". I was not expecting it to be this strong of a top 10 contender, but I'm not at all upset about it! This is low-key an underrated bop! It would have made a much better single than "The Seashore Of Old Mexico", but also just stands out as a great album track. I'm not really sure what else to say about it, because it doesn't really stand out as much as any of the songs that outlasted it to land in the top 5, but it still is a very pleasant listen! Cody Wants Out... loses his #1 here, while everybody except taylor had this in their top 20.
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Post by gardyfan on May 11, 2021 19:16:00 GMT -5
Tay is short for Tank.
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Post by bboat11 on May 11, 2021 19:16:01 GMT -5
Here's the top 5!!!!
Designated Drinker Honk If You Honky Tonk I Ain’t Her Cowboy Anymore If It’s Gonna Rain Murder On Music Row
Anyone want to make any new predictions for how this is gonna play out?!?!
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Post by tim on May 11, 2021 19:16:57 GMT -5
This is honestly what I thought the top 5 might end up looking like, but I just wanted to go with some off-the-wall predictions for the heck of it lol. With that said, I still have no idea how this is going to go other than my prediction for "If It's Gonna Rain" stands firm.
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Post by bboat11 on May 11, 2021 19:24:13 GMT -5
I didn't get around to the pre-reveal questions, but still think my #34 (the only song I dislike, but didn't want to get annihilated for it being my last place 😂) will have this. 5. "Murder On Music Row" - ft. Alan Jackson
Album: Latest Greatest Straitest Hits
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Post by castleoblivion26 on May 11, 2021 19:27:43 GMT -5
the taste is rather questionable with some of these ranks. Definitely disappointed to see "House Of Cash" only be at #10, and ClevelandRox how can you not like "Murder On Music Row", that one is incredible! I'm sad anyone could dislike that one.
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Post by tim on May 11, 2021 19:27:46 GMT -5
I suppose I really shouldn't be all that surprised that "Murder On Music Row" made it into the top 5, but at the same time I kind of am if only because I just don't think of this as a go-to album track myself. Sure, I have the upmost respect for what George and Alan were able to do with this and how it has gone on to remain a fan favorite in which George still performs live. I still feel like I ranked this a bit too high on my list, but again that is only because it's just not a song I get the itch to revisit much if at all. If I had ranked this solely based on the importance of it to George's career, then yea I likely would've put this in my top 5.
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Post by bboat11 on May 11, 2021 19:31:07 GMT -5
"Murder On Music Row" ft. Alan Jackson is also one of George's biggest unsolicited airplay hits, as it made it all the way up to #38 without receiving an official single release. George and Alan undoubtedly felt like it would be a little too controversial for an actual radio release, but there is no doubt that the song made its impact felt anyway! I really had no clue what to expect from this one either. It belongs in the top 10 for sure based on its impact, but it also isn't one that I listen to on repeat. It was not really a top 5 contender except for a couple lists in the middle because this rankdown is so strong, but was able to sneak there at the end thanks to taylor's top 10 rank on top of multiple top 3 votes from gardyfan, castleoblivion26, LBTrocks, and kw9461. This is the first song from the Extras rankdown to leave us! Clearly I made the right call in including these Alan Jackson duets here, lol.
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Post by bboat11 on May 11, 2021 19:33:12 GMT -5
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Post by tim on May 11, 2021 19:34:19 GMT -5
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Post by gardyfan on May 11, 2021 19:34:39 GMT -5
There's been an awful murder down on pulse music board.
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Post by bboat11 on May 11, 2021 19:35:54 GMT -5
4. "I Ain't Her Cowboy Anymore"
Album: It Just Comes Natural
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Post by tim on May 11, 2021 19:39:53 GMT -5
Well, I'm actually ok with this result so thank you taylor (that ranking still stinks nonetheless). "I Ain't Her Cowboy Anymore" has been a favorite since the album was released and is a song that George has mostly included in his live shows ever since. I'm sure he would've like to have seen it released as a single, but at almost five minutes long it certainly would've needed an edit which would've done the song an injustice. This used to be a favorite of mine, but as time has passed I find myself more than not skipping over it whenever I put the album on if only because I've heard George perform this a countless number of times over the years. I also have no shame in admitting that this in turn ended up becoming a bathroom break song for me
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Post by bboat11 on May 11, 2021 19:41:19 GMT -5
"I Ain't Her Cowboy Anymore" has multiple #1s from kw9461 and gonecountry , as well as a #2 from .indulgecountry , and literally everybody except for two people put it in their top 15. Even with that strong distribution of ranks it had trouble climbing into the top 10 at first! However once it did, it climbed steadily to the top until it was able to become a consistent #1 contender for the last couple lists........until taylor showed up with yet ANOTHER janky ass tank of an It Just Comes Natural song This has long been a fan favorite from this album, and I am not surprised to see it be a top 5 contender here at least! It Just Comes Natural was a damn near perfect era at radio, but if they had opted to go for a 5th single or even replaced "How 'Bout Them Cowgirls" with a different 4th single, this would have been a strong contender.
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Post by tim on May 11, 2021 19:44:01 GMT -5
This isn't necessarily the top 3 that I would've expected, but I'm happy with it overall!
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Post by tim on May 11, 2021 19:44:54 GMT -5
Ohhhhh....I spy a poll!
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Post by bboat11 on May 11, 2021 19:46:18 GMT -5
Now that we are down to the top 3, I have just put up a poll for which decade you would like to rank next! The options are the '80s and '90s. I don't really care which one we do next, because they're both awesome!! The '10s are not an option because I figured I would save them for last. On the off-chance that George releases another album while we're doing this series, we can then cram the new album into the '10s rankdown! Lol So go vote!!!!!!
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Post by bboat11 on May 11, 2021 19:50:26 GMT -5
3. "Honk If You Honky Tonk"
Album: Honkytonkville
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Post by bboat11 on May 11, 2021 19:55:20 GMT -5
This rankdown never did have a runaway winner....however "Honk If You Honky Tonk" was definitely the one that came the closest! Occupying the top spot at 5 different points in this rankdown, it just didn't quite have enough high passion to hold on at the end. This is our second least polarizing song, and the lack of bottom 10s definitely helped it to finish this high, even though it ended up nearly finishing higher than anybody had even ranked it!
If "As Far As It Goes" is the tragic missed hit opportunity from this album, "Honk If You Honky Tonk" is right on its heels!! This song has been a fan favorite from the moment it came out, has long been a live favorite, and no doubt would have been a huge hit on radio despite its silly nature. The Honkytonkville era was sooooo mismanaged, lmao.
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Post by bboat11 on May 11, 2021 19:56:05 GMT -5
The poll has confirmed that you and I are the only ones here!!! 😂
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Post by tim on May 11, 2021 19:57:13 GMT -5
Thrilled to see "Honk If You Honky Tonk" make it this far! This really should've been released as a single and why it wasn't still boggles my mind. George obviously liked this one just as much as he opted to perform this at the CMAs that year instead of an actual single and has also pretty much included this in his setlist ever since.
The entire Honkytonkville era was a head-scratcher for single choices as both "Tell Me Something Bad About Tulsa" and "Desperately" should've remained album tracks. If they had to go with three singles, I think they should've led with "As Far As It Goes" followed by either "Cowboys Like Us" or "Honk If You Honky Tonk" in whichever order. It's almost as if MCA was trying not to get another #1 hit so that they could follow up this era with the 50 Number Ones compilation (although to be fair "Cowboys Like Us" did manage to peak at #2).
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Post by tim on May 11, 2021 19:59:01 GMT -5
"If It's Gonna Rain" FTW!
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Post by bboat11 on May 11, 2021 20:00:49 GMT -5
2. "Designated Drinker" - Alan Jackson ft. George
Album: Drive (Alan)
1. "If It's Gonna Rain"
Album: George Strait
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