“There may not be a lot of roll left in that stone, but there’s still a little chicken left on that bone,” sings Craig Morgan on his new single.
There’s a little “tick” left in that “tock,” a little bit of crank left in that clock, a little bark left in that dog, a little bit of hop left in that frog, and very little brain function left after hearing these lyrics.
Morgan shouts his way through “Still a Little Chicken Left on That Bone,” a mind-numbing song about which the best thing I can say is that it does indeed contain words.
The song’s verses are comprised of two stock country music characters—a divorced 34-year-old woman and a shade-tree mechanic—and Brett Favre.
The woman gets ‘back on the saddle,’ the mechanic fixes up an old GTO, and Brett Favre doesn’t quite make it to the Super Bowl.
The point? “Hey, you’re never too old to make another go of it.” A sentiment which the song communicates to listeners by telling us not to pour out our Coca-Cola, “if it’s still got a little bit of fizz.”
Oh dear.
Trying to criticize a song like this on artistic merits is like trying to criticize a Double Whopper with Cheese for being unhealthy, but it is worth noting that this song—meant to inspire people by listing a bunch of things that aren’t worn out—contains a line, right before the hook, which gives an example of something that’s worn out.
The statement that there’s “not a lot of roll left in that stone” makes absolutely no sense in the context of these lyrics. Wouldn’t something like, “There’s still a little bit of roll left in that stone” be more in keeping with the spirit of the song?
The fact that this song will probably be a hit on country radio hurts my soul and steals a little bit of my remaining faith in society.
This song attempts to make a point, but goes about it all the wrong ways. This is one of those songs that makes me think “It’s going to be awful” as soon as I read the title. It sounds more like a Jason Aldean song than a Craig Morgan song, which is not a good thing.
I was hoping I’d never have to say this, but Morgan has released something worse than “Bonfire”.
At least Morgan enunciates as he’s screaming on “Bonfire”. I can hardly even hear what he’s wailing two-thirds of the way through the chorus, upon first listen.
And as most of us predicted, he has veered further towards chicken-fried metal with this release, even though Morgan’s high unintelligible notes (the minute he instantly hits a high note entering the chorus is painful) on the chorus actually overshadow all the electric instrumentation to the point you partially forget it’s a rocker until you get around to the next verse. The brief instrumental intro is a little nice, but otherwise it’s an unruly noise pollution festival, topped off with a wah-wah petal malestrom during the bridge.
Finally, lyrically, I can’t even hear what he’s singing throughout most of the chorus, but some of the lyrics really are painful (the Coca-Cola fizz analogy especially)
Easily a contender for worst country single of 2010, which is especially depressing considering it’s coming on the heels of one of the best country singles of 2010 (then again, one of the best country singles of 2010 came on the heels of one of the worst country singles of 2009, so what do we know? :P )
Namaste,
Lisping Hibiscus
I don’t expect this song to be a huge hit. Craig Morgan has had a rather inconsistent chart record lately, and I think it would take a stronger song than this to overcome the odds. It may crack the Top 20, but I don’t think it will become a recurrent song on country radio in years to come.
I tend to agree with Ben here.
Say what you will about “Bonfire”, but it was certainly just as immediate to my ears as it was embarrassing. This sounds a bit too chaotic of a mess to be a major hit to me. In fact, this is the type of up-tempo that probably would suit Toby Keith better, and we do know Keith’s recent up-tempos haven’t endured nearly as well as his ballads overall.
I totally disagree. I think this song makes a great point and it is written in a clever way. I disagree with Noah about the line “Don’t pour out your Coca Cola if it’s still got a little bit of fizz” …I think that’s a fresh statement about “never giving up” and I’ve never heard it put that way. Plus this is a killer rocking track that far exceeds “Bonfire” which I thought was cliche ridden with the worn out backwoods redneck been done before type lyric that is so common in Nashville these days. I give “Still A Little Chicken Left On That Bone” a big thumbs up and I think it will be a huge hit for Craig Morgan.
Remember when Craig Morgan used to do good songs? Those were the days.
No, Andrew. I do not.
I liked some of his music from the beginning of his career: “Every Friday Afternoon”, “Look at Us”, and “That’s What I Love about Sunday.”
One Craig Morgan song that I really like is “Redneck Yacht Club.” There are a million ways a song like that could have gone wrong, but it captured the lightheartedness and fun that a good summer song should have, and it painted a humorous picture of Southern culture without sounding cliched. I’d take it over “Water” any day. Besides that, “International Harvester” is a guilty pleasure of mine.
If you apply the “AirHead Country Radio Programmer Mindset” approach to this song it takes on a far more favorable light! It has the sonic slam to help keep the prime demographic soccer mom awake before her first cup of coffee AND it will be audible inside the mini-van even when the kids are quarreling. Having intelligent and understandable lyrics aren’t required for background music if the song structure is punchy enough to keep ADHD types focused. Sure the song basically sucks, but that is by no means an impediment to hitting the Top 10 on mainstream country radio these days.
I think International Harvester was the best incest song to chart on country radio in recent years.
When he wants to be, Craig Morgan IS a gifted vocalist and a respectable songwriter as well, given his hand in penning many of his previous era songs, including the hit “Almost Home” and album tracks such as “302 South Maple Avenue”, “Something to Write Home About” and “Rain for the Roses”.
Morgan is a potentially decent artist………..he just sells himself pathetically short time and again, like he does here. But there are moments where he shines, including with his previous single.
I’ll give you guys “International Harvester.” You loose me after that one. “Redneck Yacht Club?” To me, country music’s not about rednecks, and I’m not especially attracted to songs that celebrate rednecks.
I just love reading merciless reviews written by people safely tucked away in the cheap seats. Great…you have an opinion. Ever think about the fact that, for the people actually connected to this song, this might be one of the best things that ever happened to them? Ever think they might google the title, find your stupid little review and read the things you’ve said?
I didn’t write this song, but I wish I had. Truth be told, you all do too. You have no idea what it took to create a song like this because you simply couldn’t do it. And you certainly couldn’t have come up with that guitar lick (nevermind a thousand more equally intricate and original guitar licks).
I love how one commentator blithely states that this song makes its point in all the wrong ways. Ok. I’ll bite. How should the point have been made? Do it if you can. Ohhhh, I forgot, all you do is snipe.
Chaotic mess? That’s funny. Write a better melody then. Something a little cleaner. Couldn’t find a better melody with a GPS unit could you?
“AirHead Country Radio Programmer?!!!” So I guess you personally know a lot of radio programmers. I guess you must know the ins and outs of the industry. Please enlighten us. Oh…here we are again bumping up against the rather inconvenient point that you don’t know shit.
There are creators in life and there are those who provide commentary on what the creators do. If the commentators could do what the creators do, they would. I’d wager none of you are truly qualified for either job though. So put on your Dockers, march back to your cubicle and do what you’re told for another 8 hours. Then tonight put on your Affliction shirt with all the glitter and skull heads on it, and go out on the town thinking somehow you blend in. I’ll think of all of you in a few weeks as I watch one of the most talented people I’ve ever known laughing his head off all the way to the bank.
I think a better way to make the song’s point would have been through examples that are more closely related to actual life situations than chicken and Coca-cola. There are some songs I wish I had written (with Sara Evans’ “Cheatin’” being foremost among them, but this isn’t one of them. Even if I had written it, I sure wouldn’t be having it shipped to country radio.
It really doesn’t matter if people can re-write the song or not. Everyone forms opinions when we hear music, and you don’t have to be a songwriter yourself in order to express your thoughts. Even if you couldn’t write a better song yourself, it doesn’t take that much songwriting chops to hear a song, and realize whether or not it worked. And for the record, I thought Jim’s “stupid little review” made its point just fine.
And all we do is snipe, huh? Haven’t you read any of the positive reviews?
By the way, Jim, I’m actually a pretty hard sell for redneck songs myself. I don’t like the dumb and stereotypical country-rock redneck anthems, but I consider “Redneck Yacht Club” to be a little different for the reasons I mentioned above. That song kind of beat the odds and made me like it, but it is the exception rather than the rule. “Backwoods”? Gawd, that was awful.
No, you don’t have to be able to write a song before you form an opinion. You’re right. But I wonder sometimes if people think about the difference between what they do and what we do. Nobody blogs about how much your TPS report sucks. There aren’t websites dedicated to reviewing how you look. Nobody walks up to you on a daily basis and says, “Man I’ve got a great upholstery idea for you.”
So assume – just for the sake of argument – that you could have done other things than what you do. Could’ve made an easier life for yourself. But you love this one thing more than anything else…and you happen to be pretty good at it. So you don’t take vacations; you drive to Nashville and try to meet people who can listen to your work and help you become a pro. And you don’t sleep that much; you work your job then stay up hours work-taping songs. Then after years of wondering if you’re a fool you finally do meet those people. Then you spend a couple more years courting them (while thousands and thousands of other people are trying to meet them and compete for the same one or two slots at a publishing company that you’re competing for). And you get signed to a deal.
That’s when the work really begins. You’re getting paid almost nothing, but you’re finally a professional – with nothing to show for it. You get on airplanes and the guy sitting next to you inevitably asks what you do. “I’m a songwriter” you say proudly. “Oh” they reply, “what have you written that I’ve heard of?”
Nothing. That’s all you can say and you know that despite the fact that you’ve somehow made it into the top .5% of your field, they still think it’s cute and you’re really a waiter.
So then…then…you finally get the phone call you’ve been waiting on. Craig Morgan’s about to cut one of the hundreds or thousands of songs you’ve written. Which one is it? One of the really brilliant singer/songwriter storysongs you’ve written (the stuff that would’ve satisfied all you snipers up on the ridge)? Nope. It’s the rockin’ up-tempo song you wrote one day, thinking its just one more three minute log on the pile. Is it your finest work? Probably not, but you know what it is?
It’s a light bill. It’s the validation you’ve been working for…for a longer time and with more intensity than you can probably conceive. I don’t say that arrogantly, like we have it harder than anyone else…it’s just that when I see that happen and I know the back story, I tend to get a little pissed at how easy it is for your opinion to show up on the internet…cause getting a song to show up on radio is a far more difficult process. Getting a song past a committee of publishers, A&R reps, the artist, their management, their radio promotion staff and then enough of those “air-headed program directors” to actually make it a hit is a lot harder. So this huge team of people who can lose their jobs if they make a bad decision on this song think it might just be a winner. And a songwriter or two or three have the moment they’ve been waiting for for a long time.
But you have an opinion. You and a few others feel entirely ok about getting on the internet and peeing all over – not a song – but a victory. Have your opinion, but maybe learn to be a little nicer. Maybe if you happen to sit next to someone on a plane and they wrote a song you don’t particularly care for, have the decency to be happy for someone rather than telling them their baby is ugly.
I personally hope this turns into a KFC jingle with Brett Favre holding a big bucket of chicken. And I hope you’ll all have the decency to smile a little when you flip through the channels and see it or when you hear it on the top 40 countdown.
This is so awful, it’s worse than his ususal fare- which is pretty low. I will admit I think Craig is talented, but he needs to give us more than this horrific redneck persona.
Given that getting a song cut and released is such an enormous victory, I don’t see why in the world one unfavorable review of it on the internet should matter in the slightest to the songwriter. If my core objectives are to feed my family, pay my bills, and get some amount of professional validation for my job, my desire to please every single person in the world should probably go on the back burner. Just as this review was able to go up on the internet easily through independent distribution, this song could have gone up on the internet easily through similarly independent means, and it probably wouldn’t have been trashed. But as it is, it’s a major-label release, and that’s a big kid’s world. Everything in the public eye gets scrutinized; it’s not always a fair or compassionate process, but it’s part of what creates the necessary pressure to achieve greatness.
I just love reading merciless reviews written by people safely tucked away in the cheap seats.
Safely tucked away in the cheap seats? My professional reputation rides on the quality of my work. It’s obvious that you have no idea that I do this for living, and it’s obvious that you don’t realize the thought and effort that goes in to creating one of these “merciless reviews.”
Great…you have an opinion. Ever think about the fact that, for the people actually connected to this song, this might be one of the best things that ever happened to them? Ever think they might google the title, find your stupid little review and read the things you’ve said?
And what? My review will hurt their feelings? What am I, a cheerleader? If you ask me, that’s what’s wrong with this city–too many people are way too concerned with playing nice. Toughen up a bit and learn to take some criticism.
You have no idea what it took to create a song like this because you simply couldn’t do it. And you certainly couldn’t have come up with that guitar lick (nevermind a thousand more equally intricate and original guitar licks).
That’s true. And, likewise, you have no idea what it took to create a review like this–because you simple couldn’t do it. So, why don’t we just stick to our respective professions, and not even get into this silly argument about who could do what.
It’s a light bill. It’s the validation you’ve been working for…for a longer time and with more intensity than you can probably conceive. I don’t say that arrogantly, like we have it harder than anyone else…it’s just that when I see that happen and I know the back story, I tend to get a little pissed at how easy it is for your opinion to show up on the internet…
Listen, I don’t understand why songwriters think they should be immune to criticism. An artist creates and the public responds. I’m part of the public, and this review is a response. Because of my education, background and talent, I get to respond for a living. If you don’t want the public to respond, then don’t put the art out into the world. That’s really the bottom line. I’m happy for anyone who gets a cut, especially today, when those cuts are fewer and farer between than ever. Indeed, kudos for rising from the pile.
Bad reviews are still reviews, and I reckon most songwriters would prefer that their songs are getting talked about at all. ‘Cause hey, it goes with the cut. And it wasn’t that long ago that the light bill was overdue.
Just goes to show you what I know – I REALLY like it!!!
I really like the song. But i’m in the age group that can understand and get its meaning.
Well this one is now tearing up the radio here in the south. There will always be a market for catchy tacky songs for the simple minded. Anyone that doesn’t take advantage of that fact in todays economy is missing out. It’s called “intertainment” and it’s not always about lyrical eligance. Good luck with your future predictions.
I wouldn’t say it is “tearing up the radio” if it has yet to even dent the Top 40 in its ninth week of release.
I love my share of simple-minded anthems, as plenty here and in other country blogging communities understand all too well. I even admit that “Farmer’s Daughter” is a guilty pleasure of mine. But this, in my opinion, is a mess even as far as intertainment is concerned. You can hardly hear what Morgan is singing amidst the heavy distortion, it is somewhat grandiose due to its heavy emphasis on words lyrically, and lacks any emotional payoff.
Obviously, given “Bonfire” had a lengthy chart run, after all, it would be too soon to write an obituary for this release, but signs regarding its current chart run don’t bode well for this release.
Some songs like this one are just fun songs. Who gives a shit whether the lyrics make sense! Should we only have English Majors writing songs?! idiots…..
Right on target Otis. While it is about money, (return on investment), if it aint fun, why do it? At least thats why I listen. If I need a song with a socially pertinent message, I’ll just go to church on Sunday How about you?.
Every song is socially pertinent. After all, they exist within society.
And no, I wouldn’t go to church to hear anything that has to do with social issues.
Agreed. Church should not be the place to get commentary on social issues.
Wow, really? Do you need to trash it like that?
Why don’t you trash the country pretenders instead. At least he has an actual southern accent. This song is catchy and has actually caught the attention of my non-country friends.
Oh, and if you are going to trash a song, know the lyrics, because the ones you referred to are wrong. Good job trying though.
Uh, Mr. Malec,
So, you’re a professional critic huh? I guess then that one might conclude then, that you are a professional writer. Uh, so when you wrote “fewer and farer between”… you friggin’ idiot; I bet whoever wrote the song you are so eager to slam knows you meant to say “fewer and farther between”. Yep, let’s all do what we do best; maybe you could get a job flipping burgers. I don’t think they require great lingual skills for that. Cocky, self-absorbed dumbass, nobody with a hit song needs your approval. I think that “mindnumbing” cha-ching they keep hearing might be validation enough. And after all, the money made from these songs comes across the shoulders of all us “uneducated rednecks” who don’t actually have a clue about whether a song is good enough or not, right. Go figure.
I have yet to understand why people think it’s reasonable to discount every idea a writer puts forth because he or she made a grammar or diction error, especially when that error is found outside of the actual body of work.
People that don’t like this song should just quit bitchin, keep there opinions to themselves and quit talkin shit, get a damn life…
Yes, freedom! Except, keep your damn mouth shut!