When Toby Keith releases a song, he doesn’t just release songs that means nothing. He is always ready to express how he feels. He is one who shares his opinion if he knows it’s right. His single “American Ride” says it all when he released it in 2009.
The Songwriters Interview
“American Ride” was penned by Joe West and Dave Pahanish. West told The Boot that they weren’t thinking of Keith when they wrote the song. It was Pahanish who was supposed to record it, just for fun, but eventually, Allison Jones recommended them to give it to Keith. When Keith decided to record the song he wanted to change the title. The songwriters named the song “American Life,” but Keith asked permission to change it to “American Ride.”
“American Ride” Content
The single painted the picture of living in America. The narrator speaks of growing up in a place where his mom usually watches Desperate Housewives, while his dad worked hard to provide for the family. The songwriters also included some incidents that happened in the past, such as the story of the 79-year old woman who underwent numerous surgery because she got a third degree burn from an extremely hot McDonald’s coffee.
Plasma gettin’ bigger, Jesus gettin’ smaller
Spill a cup of coffee make a million dollars
Chart Performance of the Song
Keith began performing this song on his shows, until he recorded it as a single, then included it as a track for his same-titled album. “American Ride” hit the top of the Billboard Country chart. Furthermore, the song reached number thirty-five on the Hot 100 chart. Surprisingly, the single made an appearance on the Swedish chart.
The song received mixed critics. Some don’t get the song as to whether it is a serious or a funny song. But, whatever the writers are trying to express we can say that this song has incorporated some political, and even religious topics in it.
Customs got a thug with an aerosol can
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Toby Keith