Chris Janson has served up a Song Of The Year level single with “Drunk Girl.” Cowritten by Janson and two of Nashville’s finest poet-hitmakers, Tom Douglas and Travis Hill, “Drunk Girl” is a masterclass in country songwriting.
Today, let’s dive into a few of the many reasons why this song is one that so many pro songwriters wish they’d written.
Read on.
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The title doesn’t give everything away.
When you hear the title “Drunk Girl,” you probably thought what I did: “Okay, he has a fun fling with a drunk girl. Big whoop-de-doo.” But, boy, was I wrong! The first clue was the melody and production. “A song called ‘Drunk Girl’ is a ballad??? What’s going on here?” You have my attention, Janson.
The twist isn’t saved until too late.
The first verse serves up the hook line “take a drunk girl home” twice, both leading the listener to think what we normally think is going to happen in a country song about a drunk girl at a bar: somebody’s hooking up.
And they could’ve played this out all the way to the bridge by having us ride along with the singer and the drunk girl as she leans on his shoulder, maybe trying to kiss him in the parking lot on the way to his car. We could’ve followed them as he drove through the night to her place as she talked about wanting to make her ex jealous. Then the bridge would’ve made it clear that the singer was just getting her home safely to sleep alone. No hooking up.
That would’ve been a huge mistake.
Most listeners would’ve checked out by then. It would’ve been way too creepy. We’d be getting that sick feeling in the pit of our stomachs. Lesser writers might be tempted to save the twist until late in the song in order to maximize the surprise. But there might not have been anyone left to hear it by that point.
No, these writers knew the danger, and they got to the twist at the top of the chorus. Now we can spend the rest of the song rooting for our hero.
The details make it real.
There are so many great little details in this lyric. In the first line we have “couple cover charge stamps got her hand looking like a rainbow.” So right off the bat we know she’s been bar-hopping. And they don’t stop there describing this girl, “dancing with her eyes closed like she’s the only one in the room,” “her hair’s a perfect mess” and “falling out of that dress” let us know she’s drunk before they ever call her that. We know she’s drunk just by the picture they’ve painted of her.
And just like they painted a vivid picture of the drunk girl, the next verse paints a stark picture of his loneliness. He’s watching happy couples pairing off while he gets “something bad to eat.” Then back at his apartment, his tv has the sound turned off and he can hear the “neighbor’s cigarette cough.”
Not only did the guy do the honorable thing, he’s paying a price for it. It’s not like he went back home to his wife and daughter. No. This guy had to go home to a lonely apartment. He could’ve avoided that loneliness for a night by taking advantage of that girl, but he didn’t. It makes you like this guy even more.
In a genre which has more than its share of beer and tailgate hook up songs, it’s a breath of fresh air to hear a song that speaks to our better angels. And it’s a song that works within the context of country music (bars, drunk girls, etc.), but comes at it from a much different place.
I encourage you to dig deeper into YOUR song ideas. Dig deeper into real-life conversations with your cowriters. Fun songs surely have their place in music- and they always will. But now and then, it sure does the soul good to hear music that reminds us that both the song AND the listener can be more than just a country cliche’.
If you want some more guidance on how to write “market-smart” songs that artists want to record and audiences want to hear, I have a great resource for you. It’s called, “Cut/able: Lessons In Market-Smart Songwriting,” and it’ll help you give your songs their best chance to get recorded.
Click here to take your songwriting to the next level.
God Bless and Enjoy the Journey,
Brent
Brent Baxter is a hit songwriter with cuts by Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, Lady Antebellum, Joe Nichols, Gord Bamford, Ruthie Collins, Ray Stevens and more. He’s written a top 5 hit in the US, a #1 in Canada, and a top 10 in Texas. He also hosts a top-rated songwriting and music business podcast called, “The C.L.I.M.B.” which can be found on iTunes or your favorite podcast app.
