“My Second Home”
Tracy Lawrence
Written by Kenny Beard, Tracy Lawrence, and Paul Nelson
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
December 11, 1993
Tracy Lawrence moves in to the honky-tonk.
The Road to No. 1
Alibis produced four No. 1 singles in a row, and this is the third.
The No. 1
Here’s how you can be funny without being corny, and stay on the right side of novelty.
“My Second Home” is clever. The conceit is being stuck living at your neighborhood bar – “your second home just became your first” is the decision made by his fed-up partner. It could’ve been a mess, but the playful lyricism and his barely masked glee at being able to be there 24/7 make this a winner.
My favorite line is in the chorus. “I might die of a broken heart, but I’ll never die of thirst, now that my second home has become my first.”
But the whole thing is hilarious, and another reminder that Tracy Lawrence is an underappreciated great of his generation.
The Road From No. 1
There’s one more No. 1 single on deck from Alibis, and we will get to it in early 1994.
“My Second Home” gets a B+.
Every No. 1 Single of the Nineties
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Lawrence is in total control of his sound and artistry at this early point of his career. The song exudes an enthusiastic, sincere sense of silliness and depravity. This feature has touched on a number of songs that expertly stayed this side of novelty.
I remember my boss at my university work study job loving this song when he would hear it because he let me play K102 KEEY on the office radio during my shift. He thought it was hysterical and thought he was pretty close himself to making his local bar his second home. Even better, he referred to his favourite drinking spot as a “saloon.”
I don’t know what seems more distant or hard to imagine today, my being in university, a boss calling bars saloons, or anybody wanting to share country music by listening to what radio is playing?
Glory days! They’ll pass you by!