The second single from Eric Church’s forthcoming sophomore set, Carolina, picks up exactly where previous releases “How ‘Bout You” and “Guys Like Me” left off, with Church once again taking some time to show us what a good ol’ boy he is by running us through a pointless list of completely unrelated things he likes or believes in (good barbecue, NASCAR, and smallmouth bass all score shout-outs).
This time, though, the list is set up to show his woman that he appreciates her more than even the finest in material pleasures, even if (presumably) he’s not always so good at showing it. Housewife demographic: consider yourself pandered to.
Tom T. Hall once made this exact approach work in his #1 hit “I Love,” but that one sounded knowingly silly; Church actually tries to make a serious point with his take on it, and the result falls so very flat.
Meanwhile, where’s the guy who helped write “Two Pink Lines” and “Livin’ Part of Life”? I know radio’s being hard on you, dude, but come on – you can do so much better than this.
Grade: D-
Listen: Love Your Love the Most
I agree, Dan.
Given the context of this single in Church’s career, your rating was appropriate.
I really want the guy to succeed too, because I’ve enjoyed a lot of his stuff.
I love this song. Eric is the best!
Hes no Jamey Johnson but its good country music, gets a country boy fired up.
I’d really just LOVE to see these “music critics” try to write a good tune. Who are they anyway? Do they have degrees in sharing opinions? I didn’t think so…so why are they making money doing it? Well anyway, I hope ‘Dan Milliken’ keeps on writing bad reviews, because based on this one, he’d make a horrible songwriter. I mean, lighten up dude, it’s just a good-timin’ song…it doesn’t have to mean life or death.
Travis,
“Livin’ Part of Life”, which I mentioned in the review as an example of Church’s best writing, is also “just a good-timin’ song”; I just think it happens to be a lot more fun and a lot less ridiculous. I mean, I’m sorry, but telling a woman “I love mustard on my fries, but I love your love even more” – and doing it as seriously as this song does – is ridiculous. Why even say something like that? Is the woman really going to get jealous of his love for french fries? It seems unintentionally silly.
Anyways, you can find out who we are right here. As you’ll see, we’re pretty much just regular folks like you who happen to run a blog. Our opinions aren’t gospel, and nobody expects them to be. They’re just there for those who find them helpful.
Yeah I hear what you’re saying. The song may sound a bit too serious on the record for some of the lyrics in it. I think maybe our likings for the song my be different because I saw Church test the song out live at a show before the song was cut for the record, and as you probably know, live performances of a song can sometimes change how you listen to it later. And if you’ve seen Eric perform live I’m sure you can understand where I’m coming from. Ha, I think, in my opinion, he could take a Brittany Spears song and rock it. Okay, that’s a bit overboard. Anyway, I think Eric Church is a great songwriter and above that he’s “country,” which many so called country artists aren’t today. Country music is becoming extinct!
This is my least favorite track on the album. Will there be a full album review for Carolina? It is so much different from his Sinners Like Me album but I still love it. I don’t know if any of the songs on it will be huge radio hits but I have been listening to the whole album on repeat since it came out.
I saw this guy open for Dierks Bentley last night in Las Vegas and can honestly say it was one of the worst performances I have had the misfortune to endure. Note to Eric Church: name droppin’ Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash doesn’t make you relevant. And who puts mustard on their fries anyway?
I heard this on my radio for the first time in a while yesterday. It is such a bad song. One of the 10 worst songs of 2009, I think. This must be some of the laziest lyric writing I have heard in a while. His new song “Hell on the Heart” is also pretty lame – one of those songs that thinks its clever but instead is groan-inducing. Eric Church sounds like a no talent hack and I hope his career fails because I don’t want to be hearing more of Eric Church’s drivel on my radio. His voice is bad and he sings bad songs. And the Waylon shtick is so phony too. There are few singers I actively root against and Eric Church is one of them.
Bill puts mustard on his fries. Yuck.:)
I’m just pretty neutral about Eric Church. I’m definitely not actively rooting against him though. He’s got two songs that I love a lot.
I was thinking it over and its really mean to be “rooting against” someone. I mean, I don’t like his music, and I don’t want to hear it on radio, but I take rooting against him back. Its immature and wrong to root for someone to fail. I have nothing personal against Eric Church and I hope his life goes well for him. But I will change the station if his songs come on!
…in holland they put mayonnaise & ketchup plus mustard (occasionally) on their fries, all at the same time. in england they spray them with vinegar when having them with fish, wrapped in a newspaper page. soy sauce may do the trick too in some parts of the world. the song is a nice example of deep thoughts from a shallow minded guy in love, perfectly executed.”d-” for some, solid “b” for others. i’m “others” when it comes to this one. oh yeah, rooting against the singer of a ditty – how deep-thinking is that?
Eric, who? I find it amazing that there was so much hype about this guy and his talent just a few years ago. Everybody was saying how he had such great songs, great talent, and he would appeal to the older country crowd.
Now no one knows who he is because he was arrogant enough to think he could play by his rules. He blew his chance at opening for one of the biggest acts on the touring curcit, and he doesn’t appear to have any respect for anyone besides himself, considering he’s only opened for one other country act, which obviously didn’t do much to boost his “career.”
“Love Your Love The Most” is one of the most chilched songs of the past few years, and the lyrics aren’t even clever. So much for this guy’s potential. He seems like an ungrateful prick; I’ll be happpy if we never have to hear his “music” again.
I would not have discovered mustard on fries being a good combination if it weren’t for Mr. Church and this song