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Standing Room Only

"It’s rare to find a song that has this much lyrical content and this much meaning, it says so much, but still have this sort of high energy. It’s rare to find that combination of not quite a ballad, not quite an up-tempo, but still deep, lyrically."
(Tim McGraw / The Bobby Bones Show, March 10, 2023)
 
It is the surprising title cut from the upcoming new project by Tim McGraw. Surprising, because it will already be studio album number-17, following his "Here On Earth" project from 2020, even though no release date has been confirmed yet. This year it is exactly 30 years since his debut album ("Tim McGraw", 1993) has been released. That makes him one of the last artists from the 1990s to still have radio hits.

A circumstance he not only owes to his maybe his exceptional fitness, but in part also to the success of Yellowstone prequel "1883", for which he was cast as the lead role. In any case the new single 'Standing Room Only' became the most added one on country radio in mid March, which eventually took it all the way to number 20 in its opening week on the radio (Billboard Country Airplay) chart.

Tim McGraw is not really considered as a songwriter and yet during his long musical career his music has inspired not only other artists such as Taylor Swift (who named an entire song after him), but also the wider audience. Something he was able to achieve by good intuition for finding the right songs. That for instance made 'Live Like You Were Dying' and 'Humble And Kind' some of the most touching and inspirational songs ever recorded.

An aspiration the new track (which just like 'Live Like You Were Dying' lists Craig Wiseman as one of the songwriters) wants to follow-up on. "It sort of completes the triangle, I guess, so to speak", Tim McGraw replies, when asked by Storme Warren of satellite radio SiriusXM. "They are all songs that just have good things to say. And I like being in a position to be able to do that. And to choose to be able to do songs like this. And [see] people will pay attention to them and listen."

And he adds in his conversation with media personality Bobby Bones: "Lyrically, there’s not a wasted line anywhere in this song. It’s such an impeccably written song, and then the melody I love. [But] when you get into the studio to record, you’re scared to death that you are going to go in and screw up a song. ‘Humble and Kind,’ I had that song for a year before I recorded it, because when you hear [“Humble and Kind” songwriter] Lori McKenna sing with just an acoustic guitar, it just doesn’t get much better than that."

'Standing Room Only' is a catchy mid-tempo song, which conveys life experience and wisdom. Both of which Tim McGraw is able to communicate authentically. Whoever has taken an interest in the topics of the song, will be familiar with them. And consequently know that wordly possessions won't matter in the end, that one always fails to realize fleeting time until the very last and that a happy life always has to start with oneself. But only rarely do we get reminded of that by ways of a catchy tune. A song wich at the same time holds up an explanation why Tim McGraw remains relevant as an artist, even 30 years after he started out.

I get so mad at things that don't matter way too much.
I let the way back when's and my old friends scatter like they were dust.
I get to chasin' that rainbow pot of gold right into the pourin' rain,
with nothin' to show for it, standin' there soakin' wet.
Lookin' up shakin' my fist as the thunder rolls,
now and then on nights like this I catch a thunderbolt.
 
I wanna live a life, live a life,
like a dollar and the clock on the wall don't own me.
Shine a light, shine a light,
like mama's front porch when I'm lost and lonely.
Start forgivin' and start forgettin',
be somebody that's worth rememberin'.
Live a life so when I die,
there's standing room only, standing room only.

I wanna take my grudges and my old regrets, and let 'em go.
I wanna learn how to say a lot more yes and a lot less no.
Girl, I wanna dance and shout and love out loud, and come alive,
don't wanna be the guy too cool to laugh and too scared to cry.
 
Stop judging my life by my possessions,
Start thinking 'bout how many headlights will be in my procession.
(Standing Room Only / Craig Wiseman, Tommy Cecil, Patrick Murphy)
 
 

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