#18 -- AND A LULLABY?

To celebrate the entrance of "I Wanna Make You Close Your Eyes" into the Top 20 this week, Ronna and I are excited to share a story and different perspective of the song with our fellow Congress members.

Most who read this are familiar with the story of honorary Congress member Bud, and familiar with his love of our President, Mr. Dierks Bentley. Recently, his mom (MOM-NOS) wrote a blog about "Close Your Eyes" and Bud's interesting take on it. As she writes:

Bud actually has a different vision for "I Wanna Make You Close Your Eyes." Last week as he was getting ready for bed, we were talking about songs and the emotions they convey. (I've found that this is an especially useful tool to help my little music fan try to adopt another person's perspective to sort out how that person feels and why s/he might feel that way.) We were making our way through Feel That Fire tracks ("Life on the Run" is angry and maybe afraid... "Sideways" is happy, but the "HEY! now" in the lyric might be a little surprised...) when Bud asked "And what kind of song is 'I Wanna Make You Close Your Eyes?'"

"Well," I said, "It's a love song."

"No," Bud replied. "It's a lullaby."

"A lullaby?"

"Yes," he said. "Dierks sings it to Evie when she needs to go to sleep."

I reviewed the lyrics in my head - the ones that, up until that moment, could only be about one thing - and suddenly I could see how, when taken from Bud's perspective, they could also be describing a daddy getting his baby ready for bed:

Girl I've been waiting on this long hard day to get over
So I can rest my head right here on your shoulder
I just wanna lay here and feel you breathe
Listen to the rhythm of your heartbeat ...
We're wide awake but, girl, I wanna make you close your eyes

What a fabulous, refreshing, and heartwarming take on the song! I should mention that Bud is, so far, 2-for-2 on "his" songs from "Feel That Fire" going to #1 on the charts, and 3-for-3 for choosing the singles from "Feel That Fire." It's a good thing he likes "Close Your Eyes" so much, because he's sure to hear a lot of it in the near future.

IWMYCYE is currently 4th in increased spins, both for the published (charting) stations, and all country stations. It's just about doubled it's spins from where it was just one week ago, up nearly 800 new plays! It is 4th on RateTheMusic.com in the "People 25-54" demographic (the largest demographic). It is 7th in overall audience gain (which you'll remember is what the charts are based on). With the amount of plays it's picking up, that audience number is sure to follow soon.

Based on that information, as well as at least one song moving to recurrent status next week, it appears IWMYCYE will move to #16. That's a conservative estimate ~ it's highly possible that it could be as high as #14, though quite a lot of things would need to fall into place for that to happen. Regardless, our Prez has a bona-fide hit on his hands -- not that we're surprised!

For those of you heading to Nashville this weekend for Miles and Music, I hope your travels are safe and your times are good!

~ Carrie S. (DBC Rep/Chart Reporter ~ NC)

Passing the Whiskey

We all know that "Whiskey Lullaby" (wrote by Bill Anderson and Jon Randall) is recorded by Dierks' current touring buddy, Brad Paisley. What you may not know is that Dierks had an opportunity to record it himself, but he decided to pass. He wasn't the only one who had his hands on the now hit song. The Dixie Chicks had dibs on "Whiskey Lullaby" first, and this was right before problems came up with the group.

Dierks explains to theboot.com why he didn't hold on to "Whiskey Lullaby":

"I turned down 'Whiskey Lullaby' (because) I never heard it as a duet. The guy who co-wrote that song is one of my good friends – Jon Randall. I thought, 'It's a great song, but it's pretty dang depressing.' I write plenty of songs like that. It was just not for me. That's why I end up writing most of my music ... every line has to be right for me because I'm singing these songs for the rest of my life. But, I love 'Whiskey Lullaby.' It's one of my favorite songs that Brad sings."

What if Dierks didn't pass up "Whiskey Lullaby"? Could it have been a hit song for him rather than Mr. Brad Paisley?