A Worker’s Fantasy in “I Don’t Have To Be Me” by Steve Azar

Steve Azar once wrote a song appealing to the wishful side of us when it comes to work. Sometimes, we want to have a little break. More often, we want to just drift away and not be ourselves for a little while. Call it and early weekend or going off the deep, we all want one thing. At times, we want to tell ourselves,

“I don’t have to be me until Monday.”

“I Don’t Have To Be Me (’til Monday)” is a song co-written and recorded by country music artist Steve Azar. The song is a lead-off single in his breakthrough album Waitin’ on Joe. Becoming Azar’s highest-peaking single, it reached second on the US Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. Steve Azar co-wrote the song with R.C Bannon and Jason Young. In addition, it earned a spot on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 35 as his first and only Hot 100 entry, as well as his most successful single to date.

The Song’s Creation

In “I Don’t Have To Be Me (’til Monday)”, the character decides to call in sick on Friday so that he can have a three-day weekend. Steve Azar told the story of how the song came to mind. He got the idea from his roommate in college, his roommate the entire time. He described this man as killing the world with his hard-working attitude. Starting a business from scratch out of his garage, he became very successful but was really stressed. Until he beat himself to the point of no return. One day, he comes to Nashville from Chicago on a Thursday and tells Steve,

“I just gotta get away.”

So, they did. They did everything from bowling, playing golf, tennis, basketball. Everything they did made them sore, on Mondays. His roommate’s 10-year older face looked young again after all the relaxing they did. Suddenly he goes,

‘Man, it’s just great not to have to be myself.’

That same day, that line was stuck in Steve’s head.

Is it also one of your work fantasy? If you can relate, listen to Steve Azar’s “I Don’t Have To Be Me (’til Monday)” backed up with an artful video.