If you tend to embarrass easily, this song is likely to elicit some serious blushing, especially if you’re not alone when listening to it.
In this steamy ballad, Sara sings of how it’s been a long time since she’s felt comfortable enough to “let {her} guard down and let someone inside”, but she’s ready now and promises, “You don’t need to wonder, ’cause tonight you’ll get it all.” She elaborates by singing,”When the night closes in, I’m gonna pull you so close/Hold you so tight, gonna let it all go/And you can do what you want, you can take me right here…” And it continues.
Like the lyrics, Evans vocal performance holds nothing back. It is powerful and appropriately portrays the emotion of the song. Unfortunately, the song suffers from a formulaic melody and an uninspiring production. The Richard Marx like piano, prominent electric guitar solos and heavy drums culminates as a nice sounding Easy Listening Ballad rather than a potentially smoldering country music song.
Written by John Shanks, Sara Evans & Aimee Mayo
Grade: B-
Listen: Love You With All My Heart
Sara Evans has such a unique voice. I feel like she’s lost it recently trying to fit into country radio. I’ll hear one of her songs and I wonder who the bland new artist is. That shouldn’t happen to Sara Evans. It feels like she’s afraid to do a song as country as “Suds in the Bucket” again. That was a great song. This Rascal Flatts thing isn’t working for her.
I really like the sound of this new track – it invokes the sound of my favorite Evans single to date – ‘Tonight’, which peaked somewhere in the 50s on the chart. Hopefully, radio will embrace this one a little tighter.
The more I learn about Sara Evans… the less I want to know about Sara Evans.
Just saying….
Lynn, I much prefer “Suds In the Bucket” too. I wonder what her next album will offer. I believe this song is still from her Greatest Hits disc.
Sure wouldn’t mind being the subject of the song though…
Great love song! Such a powerful ballad! I really hope this song takes off.
this is a fairly average song. so, why did sara evans release it? my take is
that she’s just a happy woman again, after all the emotional turmoil that she was going through lately. a new man, new happiness and newly found desire – that’s her statement in this song, straight from the heart. musically not exactly great but great to see her being out of the dark.
Farbeit for me to speculate about Evans’ feelings about this song, but I believe she recorded it during all of her personal turmoil, since it’s on her Greatest Hits album. Of course, it could very well reflect how she’s feeling now, but I like having the real context for an artist’s song, not an artificial one that makes a good story.
leeann,
what’s wrong with a good story based on love and passion – two motifs that should never be underestimated. isn’t it a much better approach than just cynically thinking the label wanted her to do something “carry-style” because that’s what’s selling best at the moment.
Like I said, I like a good “story behind a song”, but I want it to be the *actual* story, not one that is created simply to make us feel good. To me, since this song was recorded during her divorce, she was not singing it as a result of her current happiness. Therefore, this particular recording has nothing to do with actual circumstances of her life. Instead, she got into the character of the song, which is certainly commendable. Now, however, when she sings this song on stage, for instance, I will fully believe that she is singing about her current situation if it’s what she claims. Because I don’t believe in being manipulated into liking a song, I’m pretty wary about assuming why someone records a song unless there’s sufficient evidence to back it up. And with this song, I don’t feel that there’s sufficient evidence, due to the timing which doesn’t technically match up.
By the way, Tom, when I first heard the song, I assumed the same thing that you did and was about to include it in my review….until I discovered it was on the greatest hits package.
fine review by the way, leeann
LeeAnn, that’s a solid review, and I agree with you about disliking feeling manipulated into getting into a single because of the artist’s personal life connection. If the song is good, and the singer is truly a vocal stylist (like, say, Wynonna in the clip above) it won’t matter if she is going through a divorce, happily married, or doing the Tia Tequila show.
Someone above stated it perfectly, the more I am forced to learn about Sara Evans’ personal life, the less I enjoy her music. I’m not just talking about the divorce but also about her and her new hubby and their frequent interviews about being celebate until marriage and then this mediocre song being released from an old album right after she gets married, complete with spreads in People, Country Weekly, etc. Then she also continues to pop up on my television in annoying forms — HGTV, some gameshow I saw advertising her as a guest, multiple in-depth up-close interviews on all the country channels. I don’t know. I realize that’s part of the game, but as a married mother now who was once a child of divorce myself (and no matter how common it is, it is still gutwrenching for kids), I always feel for her children having to endure all her personal business so publicly. Songs like this, which despite whether or not they were recorded with the intent, ending up being released to look like a celebration of her newfound happiness and sex with her husband is just unappealing to me.
That was way too much said for the fact that I, too, think Sara’s voice was unique and just wish she was more interested in developing artistically instead of being a media celebrity.
What’s with the photo of her in her underpants?
Actually, JR Journey, Tonight peaked at #41.